In this unfinished article, published posthumously, Roland Le Huenen examines the semiological writings of Roland Barthes in order to reveal their singular posture. On one hand Barthes promoted semiology and the writings of his contemporaries; on the other hand his work and the issues he raised constantly led him to extend or bend the very principles he defended. From this dual position emerged the notion of Text and a relation to literature that, in the end, was more ethical than aesthetic.