"The Death of the Author" (1968)

1. What is the difference between an author and a "scriptor"? Between an individual and a "subject"? Between "literature" and "text"?

2. What is the relationship between scriptor and text?

3. What is a "text" made of? How does Barthes redefine what it means to be a writer and a reader?

4. Why is the "death of the author" the "birth of the reader"?

5. Why is classical, biography-based criticism hypocritical, according to Barthes? How does it -- and even formalism -- work to enhance the power of the author?

From Mythologies

1. What is the difference between the marketing strategies used for chlorinated liquids and washing powders?

2. What is the symbolic role of foam in the ads of washing powders?

3. Einstein in “The Brain of Einstein” is analysed not as a physicist, but as a pop-cultural image. How do his portrayals in photos and cartoons differ?

4. In what way is Einstein's life similar to the life of mythological heroes?

5. What do the candidates express by the choice of particular poses for their posters?

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