Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes (1915–1980) was a French literary critic, writer, philosopher, and cultural and literary theorist. From 1960 he taught at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, and from 1977 at the Collège de France, where he taught semiology. Barthes was one of the most influential French thinkers of the postwar period and is regarded as a founder of modern semiology. His major works include *Mythologies*, *S/Z*, *The Semiological Adventure*, and *Mourning Diary*. In addition to literature and the theory of signs, he was deeply interested in music and worked as a pianist and composer.