S/Z

First published in 1970, this is Barthes' structuralist interpretation of Balzac's short story `Sarrasine'. As he untangles the way various `codes' of the text function to give meaning, Barthes also begins to make the move from a structuralist to post-structuralist approach to reading.Like Barthes' other works this is difficult, and is the sort of text that needs to be read in a theoretical context. As with all theory, it's designed to be provocative, to stimulate us into arguing back, developing and building on Barthes' foundation.So whatever your relationship to theory, this is of central significance to the way in which literature is thought about in academia: it's certainly not a book to read once, digest and absorb - its influence is far more amorphous than that - but it is a book I come back to repeatedly.