New Criticalgathers Roland Barthes's essays on classic texts of French literature, works by La Rochefoucauld, Chateaubriand, Proust, Flaubert, Fromentin, and Lori. Like an artist sketching, Barthes in these essays is working out the more fascinating details of his larger theories.

In the innocuously names "Proust and Names" and "Flaubert and Sentences," Barthes explores the relation of the author towriting that begins his transition to hislater thought. In his studies of La Rochefoucauld's maxims and the illustrative plates of the Encyclopedia, Barthes reveals new vistas on common cultural artifacts, while "Where to Begin?" offers a glimpse into his own analytical processes. The concluding essays on Fromentin and Loti show the breadth of Barthes's inquiry. As a whole, the essaysdemonstrate both the acuity and freshness of Barthes's critical mind and thegracefulness of his own use of language.