Roland Barthes, a leading exponent of semiology in literary and cultural theory, became notorious for his announcement of 'The Death of the Author' in 1968. ''Barthes and the Empire of Signs'' follows him in exploring the nature of 'representation' itself. Is it possible to reconcile appearance and reality? Or imaginitive recreation and fact? How do we understand the meaning of the world we experience around us? And what does this imply about the reading and writing of culture and its 'empire of signs'? Barthes' fictive rendering of 'Japan' through its surface of signs marks a crucial shift in his work away from the Western obsession with meaning regarding the social and historical contingency of signs. And, in turn, this move from linguistic semiology to culture as an 'empire of signs' has encouraged a broader critical inquiry into the fields of mass media and popular culture. This book is a welcome, concise introduction to the significance of Barthes' semiological theory in contemporary criticism.