Language is Barthes's theme from beginning to end, and in particular the Saussurean insight that the sign is always a matter of historical and cultural convention.
the task of the critic is to subsume them into an atemporal frame of explanation
on the distinct units that compose the structure of narrative
deconstruction shows this by fastening on the 'symptomatic' points, the aporia or impasses of meaning
'Teleology', thinking of life, language and history in terms of its orientation to a telos or end, is a way of ordering and ranking meanings in a hierarchy of significance, creating a pecking order among them in the light of an ultimate purpose.
Writing seems to rob me of my being: it is a second-hand mode of communication, a pallid, mechanical transcript of speech, and so always at once remove from my consciousness
beautiful
