The 7th Function of Language
Laurent Binet
Paris, 1980. Roland Barthes has just come from lunch with Francois Mitterrand, a slippery politician locked in a battle for the Presidency, when he is hit by a laundry van in a Paris street and dies soon afterwards. But was it an accident? Barthes was carrying a document explaining the seventh function of language – an idea so powerful it gives whoever masters it the ability to convince anyone, in any situation, to do anything. In the world of intellectuals and politicians, everyone is a suspect and truth itself is at stake. The 7th Function may be funny and playful, but it is also a clever and eye-wateringly sharp look at the uses and abuses of power. Binet himself is no stranger to politics, having spent time on the campaign trail with Francois Hollande in the run up to France’s 2012 election.