MYTHO LOGIES TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY RICHARD HOWARD/ ANNETTE LAVERS R 0 L A N D B A R T H E S Hu ao wane -ADIVISION OF FARRAR, STRAUS AND GIROUX Ne YorkHill and Wang A division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux 18 West 18th Street, New York 10011 Copyright © 1987 by Editions du Seu Translation of prefaces and Part Mythologies copyright © 2012 by Richard Howard Translation of Part T- Myth Today copyright © 1972 ty Jonathan Cape Lid Tranlator's note copyright © 2012 by Rickard Howard Editorial notes copyright ©2012 by Fart, Straus and Giroux All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Originally published in French in 1957 by Editions du Seuil, France, 28 Uytolgies Published in the United States in 2012 by Hilland Wang First American paperback edition, 2013 Annette Laver’ trandation of Pare Il: Myth Today originally appeared ina selected version of Roland Barthes's Myzholagies published in 1972 by Jonathan Cape Ltd, Great Briain, and Hill and Wang, New York ‘The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Barthes, Roland, [Mythologies. English] ‘Mythologies / Roland Barthes ; translated from the French by Richard Howard [and] Annette Lavers. po em, Originally published: France: Editions du Seuil, 1957. ISBN 978-0-374-53234-5 (hardback) 1, France—Social life and customs. 2. Judgment (Logic) 3. Semantics. I. Title AC25 .B3132 2012 844'912—de23 2011041658 Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8090-7194-4 Designed by Jonathan D. Lippincott wwwifagbooks.com 1357908642 CONTENTS Translator’s Note by Richard Howard vii Profnce to the 1970 Edition ix Profixce to the 1957 Edition xi PART I: MYTHOLOGIES 1 Inthe Ring 3 ‘The Harcourt Actor 15 Romans in the Movies 19 ‘The Writer on Vacation 22 The “Blue Blood” Cruise 26 Criticism Blind and Dumb 29 Saponids and Detergents 32 ‘The Poor and the Proletariat 35 Martians 38 Operation Astra 41 Conjugals 44 Dominici, or the Triumph of Literature 48 Iconography of Abbé Pierre 53 Novels and Children 56 Toys 59 Paris Not Flooded 62 Bichon Among the Blacks 66 A Sympathetic Worker 70 Garbo’s Face 73 Power and “Cool” 76 Wine and Milk 79What is a myth today? I shall give at the outset a first, very simple answer, which is perfectly consistent with etymology: myth isa type of specch* MYTHIS A TYPE OF SPEECH OF course, it is not any type: language needs special condi- tions in order to become myth: we shall see them in a minute: But what must be firmly established at the start is that myth is a system of communication, that it is a message. This allows ‘one to perceive that myth cannot possibly be an object, a con- cept, or an idea; it is a mode of signification, a form. Later, we shall have to assign to this form historical limits, conditions of use, and reintroduce society into it: we must nevertheless first describe it as a form. It can be seen that to purport to discriminate among mythical objects according to their substance would be en= tirely illusory: since myth is a type of speech, everything can be a myth, provided it is conveyed by a discourse. Myth is not defined by the object of its message, but by the way in which it utters this message: there are formal limits to myth, there are no “substantial” ones. Everything, then, can be a myth? ‘Ionumerable other meanings ofthe word myehcan be cited against this But Thave ‘tied to define chings, not words,