Transatlantic Barthes

To celebrate the centenary of the renowned philosopher Roland Barthes, US and French experts discussed the two-way traffic in ideas and images that has accompanied Barthes from the heyday of French structuralism to the present. One of the most significant and creative French intellectuals of the second half of the twentieth century, Barthes continues to influence cultural debate on both sides of the Atlantic. But what was Barthes for America and what was America for Barthes? How has he been perceived, and to what extent did he project himself, as a 'French' thinker and writer? 

Speakers:

Professor Jonathan Culler, Cornell University

Professor Phillipe Roger, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, University of Virginia, and New York University

Chaired by: Professor Diana Knight FBA, University of Nottingham

Image: © Ministere de la Culture - Mediatheque du patrimoine, Dist RMN - Grand Palais/Daniel Boudinet