Barthes's "From Work to Text" Summary

 

In Barthes's writing, "From Work to Text", he methodically compares the definition of work and text.  He describes seven ways in which they vary: method, genres, signs, plurality, filiation, reading and pleasure.  Barthes forms an image of text as something which is more meaningful in its process, rather than in its result.  Then in contrast, he describes work, whose true power comes from the product it creates.  Text is something elusive, its difficult to describe and to pinpoint.  One example Barthes uses to portray the significant difference between text and work, is by labelling work as the one being displayed, and text as the one being demonstrated.  Truly, Barthes challenges the fundamentals of language and writing in this piece.  He questions the links between reading and writing and the role in which the reader should and does play when reading or viewing a piece of work.