Mythologies (Vintage classics)

by Roland Barthes

[clementine]

3.5 stars

I liked Mythologies a lot but didn't find it quite as resonant as Camera Lucida. This is a study of myth (a type of speech which presents a specific ideology as natural and ahistoric) in two parts. The first is a series of essays deconstructing the myths behind many everyday practices and objects, some as banal as milk, cleaning supplies, and children's toys. The second part, a longer essay called "Myth Today", is essentially Barthes' definition of myth and how it works. Crucially, Barthes posits myth as essentially a right-wing construction - unsurprising given the fact that much of his work is clearly aligned with Marxism.

Many of the essays in this book are very specific to 1950s France and therefore difficult to follow without knowledge of that context. But there are many essays that are extremely elegant pieces of rhetoric which I do find relevant and enjoyable. Some of my favourites: "In the Ring", "Dominici, Or The Triumph of Literature", "Novels and Children", "Toys", "Wine and Milk", "Depth Advertising", "Shock Photos", "Ornamental Cuisine", "African Grammar", "Striptease", "Literature According to Minou Drouet", "The Great Family of Man". I especially enjoy Barthes' critiques of the bourgeoisie, French colonialism, and patriarchy, which are themes underlying many of his essays - though more obvious in some than in others.

I find it interesting that the essay "Myth Today", which explains Barthes' definition of myth and how myths actually work ideologically, comes after the analytical essays. I can't help but feel that introducing the theoretical and conceptual framework first might have made the analytical essays that much more poignant and illuminating.

I think Mythologies is a great cultural text, especially in terms of the (still very relevant) theoretical framework Barthes sets out. In my undergrad I read "Myth Today" and a selection of the other essays as assigned reading, and I think this was the best way to do it: there's a large number of essays which are resonant to a 21st century Canadian reader, which illustrate Barthes' larger point and which serve as a jumping off point in the application of his theory, but there's also quite a handful of essays in the book that I personally could have done without.