Is there any such thing as revolutionary literature? Can literature, in fact, be
political at all? These are the questions Roland Barthes addresses inWriting De
gree Zero, his first published book and a landmark in his oeuvre. The debate had
engaged the European literary community since the 1930s; with this fierce manif
esto, Barthes challenged the notion of literature's obligation to be socially co
mmitted. Yes, Barthes allows, the writer has a political and ethical responsibil
ity. But the history of French literature shows that the writer has often failed
to meet it--and from Barthes's perspective, literature is committed to little m
ore than the myth of itself. Expert and uncompromising, Writing Degree Zero intr
oduced the themes that would soon establish Barthes as one of the leading voices
in literary criticism.
