Mythologies

What Hacker News says

1. aoristeApr 2010
   Listen... I studied Math (B.S), Philosophy (Minor), and Classical Literature(B.A). I'd like to take this opportunity to encourage a bit of perspective on your part.

   Sure, read some books, give them good thought, encourage others to read them too. Write poetry, publish articles, and start groups to discuss and reevaluate the social, psychological, and aesthetic relationships expressed by and represented in artistic productions. Think about, read up on, and be interested in history, social geography, food politics, 10th century Latin lyrics, the structuralist writings of Roland Barthes (Mythologies is one of my personal all time favorite books), and the consequences of modernism in the 21st century - do all of that. I'm saying do it. But do not attempt to argue that the study of the natural world is bereft of its own wonder, beauty, and artistry. Science, and more importantly, the scientific perspective, has liberated us (as a civilization) from the oppression of authority-as-truthmaker, and imbued us with an inquisitive fact-seeking attitude that serves the progress of humanity.

   I'm giving you a point up - you deserve a second chance.

   Show morethread
2. fmajidMar 2023
   Roland Barthes had an interesting take on the semiology of steak-frites in his book Mythologies.
   thread
3. danalivFeb 2021
   Any discussion of professional wrestling requires a mention of the famous Barthes essay, from his book Mythologies (1957): http://web.mit.edu/21l.432/www/readings/Barthes_WorldOfWrest...
   thread
4. mbrockFeb 2016
   This kind of cultural criticism often relies on intuition and aesthetic perceptions that can't easily be sourced or fact-checked. Like, look at Barthes's Mythologies for a whole bunch of examples. I wasn't really blown away by this essay, but Snowden as a symbol is a pretty interesting topic.
   thread