Roland Barthes

Graham Allen (University College Cork)
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Roland Barthes was born in Cherbourg, France on November 12, 1915, the son of Henriette (neé Binger) and Louis Barthes. Barthes's father was a naval officer and he died in action a month before his son's first birthday. Barthes's childhood was spent in Bayonne in the south-west of France near the border with Spain, here he lived with his mother, his paternal grandmother, Berthe Barthes, and his aunt Alice, a piano teacher who helped instil in Barthes his lifelong interest in music. In 1924 Barthes and his mother moved to Paris:, although Barthes continued throughout his life to consider Bayonne as his true home and Paris as somewhere in which it was necessary to pursue a career. Barthes's promising academic career was interrupted from 1934 onwards by illness: from 1934 to 1947 he…

1415 words

Citation: Allen, Graham. "Roland Barthes". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 September 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=282, accessed 19 March 2024.]

282 Roland Barthes 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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