This book is one of the key works by the French semiotician and philosopher Roland Barthes, in which he explores the nature of the pleasure derived from reading texts. The author analyzes various aspects of the reader's interaction with the text, viewing reading as a special kind of aesthetic and intellectual enjoyment. In this work, Barthes develops his theory of the text, distinguishing between the concepts of pleasure and bliss (or jouissance), and offers a new perspective on literature and the process of reading.