Roland Barthes was one of France's leading literary critics and cultural commentators who died in 1980. This work, first published in 1977 has come to be seen as one of the author's key works. It is a kind of autobiography, both personal and theoretical, giving an account of his tastes, his childhood, his body then and later in life, his education, his passions and regrets. Other works by Roland Barthes include "Writing Degree Zero", "The Pleasure of the Text", "S/Z", "On Racine", "Elements of Semiology" and "Mythologies" and "Camera Lucida".