The Semiotic Challenge

I read this after studying Barthe's earlier Elements of Semiology, which serves as a comprehensive, if dry, primer to the methods of structural and textual analysis put into practice in the Semiotic Challenge. Parts of this book are entirely theoretical, concerned with polishing Barthe's meticulous system of interpretation, but the sections on Poe and Jacob's encounter with the angel, in particular, are masterful illustrations of Barthe's catch-all method in practice. I was delighted to discover that oftentimes Barthes is actually quite funny and readable, unlike some of the other big names in French Theory, like Lacan and Derrida, who I find mostly impenetrable. I'd recommend this book particularly to those interested in engaging with some of Barthe's shorter structuralist critiques, before taking up a much longer work like S/Z.