Summary

Part 1 is the longest of the book's sections, and in addition to setting up the plot it provides a lot of contextual information about semiology and the thought of Roland Barthes and Roman Jakobson. The section begins with the unnamed narrator speculating about Barthes's thoughts as he gets run over by a van after leaving a lunch meeting with socialist politician Francois Mitterand. Police superintendent Jacques Bayard is sent to investigate the incident, with the specific mission of digging up dirt on Mitterand, but when he arrives at the hospital to question Barthes, the scope of the case expands. Barthes can't speak, but Bayard figures out that he had a valuable document on him that was stolen after he was run over. Bayard goes to question Michel Foucault, who does not want to speak to him. Bayard realizes that he needs some context...