Discussion Questions: Barthes, "From Work to Text"

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1. How does a Text narrow "the distance between reading and writing"?

 

2. Apply Barthes' characterization of a Text to his essay ("From Work to Text"). Try to deal with it as a Text. What does this involve? How is it different from reading in the "normal" or traditional sense of the term?

 

3. Briefly summarize each of the seven propositions on the nature of the Text.

 

4. Do you think Barthes is being intentionally obscure? Explain.

 

5. Which of his propositions on the nature of the Text can you accept? Which do you reject? What are your reasons?

 

6. Is Barthes a formalist? Explain.

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Note: While dictionaries are almost always needed when reading theoretical texts, with this one even your best dictionary may fail you. On 443, Barthes says that the reading of a Text is "semelfactive". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics defines "semelfactive" in the following way: "(Verb, form of verb, etc.) used in reference to an event that happens just once: e.g. the past tense is semelfactive in He fell over yesterday, as compared with was falling in He was always falling over."

A useful online resource for difficult words is xrefer at: http://www.xrefer.com