barthesian means of or relating to Roland Barthes (1915–1980), French literary theorist, philosopher, linguist, critic, and semiotician who influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, social theory, anthropology and poststructuralism. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 82 out of 100.
Why this word is great
BARTHESIAN — [Adjective] Of or relating to the theories, critical methods, or semiotic analyses of the French philosopher and literary theorist Roland Barthes. From the surname Barthes (of Roland Barthes) + the English adjectival suffix -ian, or a calque of the French barthésien. Unlike "Saussurean" (which maps the formal structure of the linguistic sign) or "Derridean" (which pursues the endless deferral of meaning), Barthesian is the art of reading the world as a text. It is the decoding of a wrestler's posture as tragic theater, the reading of a black soldier's salute as a signifier for empire, and the quiet liberation found in pronouncing the author deceased. A Barthesian gaze finds the myth in the mundane, knowing every object hums with a story it was hired to tell.
adj
- Of or relating to Roland Barthes (1915–1980), French literary theorist, philosopher, linguist, critic, and semiotician who influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, social theory, anthropology and poststructuralism.
noun
- A proponent of the theories of Roland Barthes.“At their most de-humanizing, the Barthesians see authors as repeating something that has been done before, so that they are rather characterless.”