Hélène Cixous
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Hélène Cixous (; ; born 5 June 1937) is a French
writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
,
playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
and
literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...
. She is known for her experimental writing style and great versatility as a writer and thinker, her work dealing with multiple
genres Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
: theater, literary and feminist theory, art criticism, autobiography and poetic fiction. Since 1967, she has published a considerable body of work consisting of some seventy titles, mainly published in the original French by Grasset, Gallimard, Des femmes and Galilée. Cixous is perhaps best known for her 1976 article "
The Laugh of the Medusa "The Laugh of the Medusa" is an essay by French feminist critic Hélène Cixous. Originally written in French as "Le Rire de la Méduse" in 1975, it was (after she revised it) translated into English by Paula Cohen and Keith Cohen in 1976. In the ...
", which established her as one of the early thinkers in
post-structural feminism Poststructural feminism is a branch of feminism that engages with insights from post-structuralist thought. Poststructural feminism emphasizes "the contingent and discursive nature of identities", and in particular the social construction of g ...
. Her plays have been directed by Simone Benmussa at the
Théâtre d'Orsay The théâtre d'Orsay was a theater located on the rive gauche of the Seine, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris It was inaugurated in 1972 in the former gare d'Orsay originally conceived by the architect Victor Laloux in 1898. Jean-Louis Barra ...
, by
Daniel Mesguich Daniel Mesguich (born 15 July 1952) is a French actor and director in theater and opera, and professor of stage acting school. Biography In 1970, he was admitted into the Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique, after which he opened ...
at the
Théâtre de la Ville (meaning the City Theatre) is one of the two theatres built in the 19th century by Baron Haussmann at Place du Châtelet, Paris, the other being the Théâtre du Châtelet. It is located at 2, place du Châtelet in the 4th arrondissement. Inc ...
and by
Ariane Mnouchkine Ariane Mnouchkine (; born 3 March 1939) is a French stage director. She founded the Parisian avant-garde stage ensemble ''Théâtre du Soleil'' in 1964. She wrote and directed ''1789'' (1974) and ''Molière'' (1978), and directed ''La Nuit Mirac ...
at the
Théâtre du Soleil Le Théâtre du Soleil (, "The Theater of the Sun") is a Parisian avant-garde stage ensemble founded by Ariane Mnouchkine, Philippe Léotard and fellow students of the '' L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq'' in 1964 as a collecti ...
. During her academic career she was primarily associated with the Centre universitaire de Vincennes (today's
University of Paris VIII Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis (french: Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis) is a public university in Paris, France. Once part of the historic University of Paris, it is now an autonomous public institution. It is one of the th ...
), where she founded the first centre of
women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...
at a European university.


Life and career


Personal life

Cixous was born in
Oran Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...
,
French Algeria French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...
, to Jewish parents, Eve Cixous, née Klein, (1910–2013) and Georges Cixous (1909–1948). Georges Cixous, a physician who had written his dissertation on tuberculosis, died of the disease in 1948. Eve Cixous became a midwife in
Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
following his death, "until her expulsion with the last French doctors and midwives in 1971." Cixous' brother, Pierre, "a medical student and a supporter of
Algerian independence An independence referendum was held in French Algeria on 1 July 1962. It followed French approval of the Évian Accords in an April referendum. Voters were asked whether Algeria should become an independent state, co-operating with France; 99.72 ...
" was condemned to death in 1961 by the
Organisation Armée Secrète The ''Organisation Armée Secrète'' (OAS, "Secret Armed Organisation") was a far-right French dissident paramilitary organisation during the Algerian War. The OAS carried out terrorist attacks, including bombings and assassinations, in an att ...
, and joined Cixous in Bordeaux. Her mother and brother returned to Algeria following the country's independence in 1962. They were arrested, and Cixous "obtained their release with the help of
Ahmed Ben Bella Ahmed Ben Bella ( ar, أحمد بن بلّة '; 25 December 1916 – 11 April 2012) was an Algerian politician, soldier and socialist revolutionary who served as the head of government of Algeria from 27 September 1962 to 15 September 1963 an ...
's lawyer." Cixous married Guy Berger in 1955, with whom she had three children, Anne-Emmanuelle (b. 1958), Stéphane (1960–1961), and Pierre-François (b. 1961). Cixous and Berger divorced in 1964.


Academic career

Cixous earned her
agrégation In France, the ''agrégation'' () is a competitive examination for civil service in the French public education system. Candidates for the examination, or ''agrégatifs'', become ''agrégés'' once they are admitted to the position of ''professe ...
in English in 1959 and her ''
Doctorat ès lettres Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...
'' in 1968. Her main focus, at this time, was
English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
and the works of
James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
. Cixous became ''assistante'' at the
University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (French: ''Université de Bordeaux'') is a public university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bordeaux, Dax, Gradignan, Périgueux, Pessac, and Ta ...
in 1962, served as ''maître assistante'' at the Sorbonne from 1965 to 1967, and was appointed ''maître de conférence'' at
Paris Nanterre University Paris Nanterre University (French: ''Université Paris Nanterre''), formerly Paris-X and commonly referred to as Nanterre, is a public research university based in Nanterre, Paris, France. It is one of the most prestigious French universities, ma ...
in 1967. In 1968, following the French student riots, Cixous was charged with founding the
University of Paris VIII Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis (french: Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis) is a public university in Paris, France. Once part of the historic University of Paris, it is now an autonomous public institution. It is one of the th ...
, "created to serve as an alternative to the traditional French academic environment." Cixous would, in 1974, found the University's center for
women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...
, the first in Europe. Cixous is a professor at the University of Paris VIII and at the
European Graduate School The European Graduate School (EGS) is a private graduate school that operates in two locations: Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and Valletta, Malta. History It was founded in 1994 in Saas-Fee, Switzerland by the Swiss scientist, artist, and therapist, Pao ...
in
Saas-Fee Saas-Fee () is the main village in the Saastal, or the Saas Valley, and is a municipality in the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. The village is situated on a high mountain plateau at 1,800 meters (5,900 feet), surrounded ...
,
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
.


Publications

In 1968, Cixous published her doctoral dissertation ''L'Exil de James Joyce ou l'Art du remplacement'' (''The Exile of James Joyce, or the Art of Displacement'') and the following year she published her first novel, ''Dedans'' (''Inside''), a semi-autobiographical work that won the
Prix Médicis The Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by and . It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent." The award goes to a work of fiction in the French language. In 19 ...
. She has published widely, including twenty-three volumes of poems, six books of essays, five plays, and numerous influential articles. She published ''Voiles'' (''Veils'') with
Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...
and her work is often considered deconstructive. In introducing her Wellek Lecture, subsequently published as ''Three Steps on the Ladder of Writing'', Derrida referred to her as the greatest living writer in his language (French). Cixous wrote a book on Derrida titled ''Portrait de Jacques Derrida en jeune saint juif'' (''Portrait of Jacques Derrida as a Young Jewish Saint''). Her reading of Derrida finds additional layers of meaning at a
phonemic In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...
rather than strictly
lexical Lexical may refer to: Linguistics * Lexical corpus or lexis, a complete set of all words in a language * Lexical item, a basic unit of lexicographical classification * Lexicon, the vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge * Lex ...
level. In addition to Derrida and Joyce, she has written
monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...
s on the work of the Brazilian writer
Clarice Lispector Clarice Lispector (born Chaya Pinkhasivna Lispector ( uk, Хая Пінкасівна Ліспектор); December 10, 1920December 9, 1977) was a Ukrainian-born Brazilian novelist and short story writer. Her innovative, idiosyncratic works exp ...
, on
Maurice Blanchot Maurice Blanchot (; ; 22 September 1907 – 20 February 2003) was a French writer, philosopher and literary theorist. His work, exploring a philosophy of death alongside poetic theories of meaning and sense, bore significant influence on post- ...
,
Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...
,
Heinrich von Kleist Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist (18 October 177721 November 1811) was a German poet, dramatist, novelist, short story writer and journalist. His best known works are the theatre plays '' Das Käthchen von Heilbronn'', ''The Broken Jug'', ''Amph ...
,
Michel de Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a liter ...
,
Ingeborg Bachmann Ingeborg Bachmann (25 June 1926 – 17 October 1973) was an Austrian poet and author. Biography Bachmann was born in Klagenfurt, in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the daughter of Olga (née Haas) and Matthias Bachmann, a schoolteacher. Her fa ...
,
Thomas Bernhard Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet who explored death, social injustice, and human misery in controversial literature that was deeply pessimistic about modern civilizati ...
, and the Russian poet
Marina Tsvetaeva Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva (russian: Марина Ивановна Цветаева, p=mɐˈrʲinə ɪˈvanəvnə tsvʲɪˈtaɪvə; 31 August 1941) was a Russian poet. Her work is considered among some of the greatest in twentieth century Russia ...
. Cixous is also the author of essays on artists, including
Simon Hantaï Simon Hantaï (7 December 1922, Biatorbágy, Hungary – Paris, 12 September 2008; took French nationality in 1966) is a painter generally associated with abstract art. Biography After studying at the Budapest School of Fine Art, he traveled ...
,
Pierre Alechinsky Pierre Alechinsky (born 19 October 1927) is a Belgian artist. He has lived and worked in France since 1951. His work is related to tachisme, abstract expressionism, and lyrical abstraction. Life Alechinsky was born in Schaerbeek. In 1944 he att ...
and
Adel Abdessemed Adel Abdessemed (born 1971) is an Algerian-French contemporary artist. He has worked in a variety of artistic media, media, including animation, installation art, installation, performance art, performance, sculpture and video art, video. Som ...
to whom she has devoted two books. Along with
Luce Irigaray Luce Irigaray (born 3 May 1930) is a Belgian-born French feminist, philosopher, linguist, psycholinguist, psychoanalyst, and cultural theorist who examined the uses and misuses of language in relation to women. Irigaray's first and most well know ...
and
Julia Kristeva Julia Kristeva (; born Yuliya Stoyanova Krasteva, bg, Юлия Стоянова Кръстева; on 24 June 1941) is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, psychoanalyst, feminist, and, most recently, novelist, who has ...
, Cixous is considered one of the mothers of
poststructuralist Post-structuralism is a term for philosophical and literary forms of theory that both build upon and reject ideas established by structuralism, the intellectual project that preceded it. Though post-structuralists all present different critique ...
feminist theory Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's social roles, experiences, interests, chores, and feminist ...
. In the 1970s, Cixous began writing about the relationship between
sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
and language. Like other poststructuralist feminist theorists, Cixous believes that our sexuality is directly tied to how we communicate in society. In 1975, Cixous published her most influential article "Le rire de la méduse" ("The Laugh of the Medusa"), which was revised by her, translated into English by Paula Cohen and Keith Cohen, and released in English in 1976. She has published over 70 works; her fiction, dramatic writing, and poetry, however, are not often read in English.


The Bibliothèque nationale de France

In 2000, a collection in Cixous' name was created at the
Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...
after Cixous donated the entirety of her manuscripts to date. They then featured in the exhibit "Brouillons d'écrivains" held there in 2001. In 2003, the Bibliothèque held the conference "Genèses Généalogies Genres: Autour de l'oeuvre d'Hélène Cixous". Among the speakers were Mireille Calle-Gruber, Marie Odile Germain, Jacques Derrida, Annie Leclerc, Ariane Mnouchkine, Ginette Michaud, and Cixous herself.


Film

Hélène Cixous is featured in Olivier Morel's 118-minute film ''Ever, Rêve, Hélène Cixous'' (France, USA, 2018).


Accolades and awards

Cixous holds honorary degrees from Queen's University and the
University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...
in Canada;
University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...
in Ireland; the
University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...
and
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
in the UK; and
Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
,
Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...
, and the
University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...
in the USA. In 2008 she was appointed as A.D. White Professor-at-Large at
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
until June 2014.


Influences on Cixous' writing

Some of the most notable influences on her writings have been
Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...
,
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
,
Jacques Lacan Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, , ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud", Lacan gave yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, and pu ...
and
Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he starte ...
.


Sigmund Freud

Psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: + . is a set of Theory, theories and Therapy, therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a bo ...
Sigmund Freud established the initial theories that would serve as a basis for some of Cixous' arguments in developmental psychology. Freud's analysis of gender roles and sexual identity concluded with separate paths for boys and girls through the Oedipus complex, theories of which Cixous was particularly critical.


Jacques Derrida

Contemporaries, lifelong friends, and intellectuals,
Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...
and Cixous both grew up as French Jews in Algeria and share a "belonging constituted of exclusion and nonbelonging"—not Algerian, rejected by France, their Jewishness concealed or acculturated. In Derrida's family "one never said 'circumcision' but 'baptism,' not 'Bar Mitzvah' but 'communion.'" Judaism cloaked in Catholicism is one example of the undecidability of identity that influenced the thinker whom Cixous calls a "Jewish Saint". Her book ''Portrait of Jacques Derrida as a Young Jewish Saint'' addresses these matters. Through
deconstruction The term deconstruction refers to approaches to understanding the relationship between text and meaning. It was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who defined it as a turn away from Platonism's ideas of "true" forms and essences w ...
, Derrida employed the term ''
logocentrism "Logocentrism" is a term coined by the German philosopher Ludwig Klages in the early 1900s. It refers to the tradition of Western science and philosophy that regards words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality. It holds the ...
'' (which was not his coinage). This is the concept that explains how language relies on a
hierarchical A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...
system that values the spoken word over the written word in
Western culture Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''. image:Plato Pio-Cle ...
. The idea of
binary opposition A binary opposition (also binary system) is a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning. Binary opposition is the system of language and/or thought by which two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against one ...
is essential to Cixous' position on language. Cixous and
Luce Irigaray Luce Irigaray (born 3 May 1930) is a Belgian-born French feminist, philosopher, linguist, psycholinguist, psychoanalyst, and cultural theorist who examined the uses and misuses of language in relation to women. Irigaray's first and most well know ...
combined Derrida's logocentric idea and Lacan's symbol for desire, creating the term ''
phallogocentrism In critical theory and deconstruction, phallogocentrism is a neologism coined by Jacques Derrida to refer to the privileging of the masculine ( phallus) in the construction of meaning. The term is a blend word of the older terms '' phallocentri ...
''. This term focuses on Derrida's social structure of speech and binary opposition as the center of reference for language, with the phallic being privileged and how women are only defined by what they lack; not A vs. B, but, rather A vs. ¬A ( not-A). In a dialogue between Derrida and Cixous, Derrida said about Cixous: "Helene's texts are translated across the world, but they remain untranslatable. We are two French writers who cultivate a strange relationship, or a strangely familiar relationship with the French language – at once more translated and more untranslatable than many a French author. We are more rooted in the French language than those with ancestral roots in this culture and this land."


Major works


''The Laugh of the Medusa'' (1975)

Cixous' critical feminist essay "The Laugh of the Medusa", originally written in French as ''Le Rire de la Méduse'' in 1975, was (after she revised it) translated into English by Paula Cohen and Keith Cohen in 1976. It has become a seminal essay, particularly because it announces what Cixous called ''
écriture féminine ''Écriture féminine,'' or "women's writing", is a term coined by French feminist and literary theorist Hélène Cixous in her 1975 essay "The Laugh of the Medusa". Cixous aimed to establish a genre of literary writing that deviates from tradi ...
'', a distinctive mode of writing for women and by women.


Bibliography


Published in English


Selected books

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * co-authored with Jacques Derrida. * * * * Foreword by Jacques Derrida. * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Plays

* "The Conquest of the School at Madhubai," trans. Carpenter, Deborah. 1986. * "The Name of Oedipus," trans. Christiane Makward & Miller, Judith. In: ''Out of Bounds: Women's Theatre in French.'' Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 1992. * "The Terrible but Unfinished Story of Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia," trans. Juliet Flower MacCannell, Judith Pike, and Lollie Groth. University of Nebraska Press, 1994.


Published in French


Criticism

* ''L'Exil de James Joyce ou l'Art du remplacement'' (The Exile of James Joyce, or the Art of Displacement). 1969 (1985). * * * * * * * *


Books

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Theater

* ''La Pupulle'', Cahiers Renaud-Barrault, Gallimard, 1971. * ''Portrait de Dora'', Des femmes, 1976. * ''Le Nom d'Oedipe. Chant du corps interdit'', Des femmes, 1978. * ''La Prise de l'école de Madhubaï'', Avant-scène du Théâtre, 1984. * ''L'Histoire terrible mais inachevée de Norodom Sihanouk, roi du Cambodge'',
Théâtre du Soleil Le Théâtre du Soleil (, "The Theater of the Sun") is a Parisian avant-garde stage ensemble founded by Ariane Mnouchkine, Philippe Léotard and fellow students of the '' L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq'' in 1964 as a collecti ...
, 1985. * ''Théâtre'', Des femmes, 1986. * ''L'Indiade, ou l'Inde de leurs rêves'', Théâtre du Soleil, 1987. * ''On ne part pas, on ne revient pas'', Des femmes, 1991. * ''Les Euménides d'Eschyle'' (traduction), Théâtre du Soleil, 1992. * ''L'Histoire (qu'on ne connaîtra jamais)'', Des femmes, 1994. * "''Voile Noire Voile Blanche'' / Black Sail White Sail", bilingual, trad. Catherine A.F. MacGillivray, New Literary History 25, 2 (Spring), Minnesota University Press, 1994. * ''La Ville parjure ou le Réveil des Érinyes'', Théâtre du Soleil, 1994. * ''Jokasta'', libretto to the opera of Ruth Schönthal, 1997. * ''Tambours sur la digue'', Théâtre du Soleil, 1999. * ''Rouen, la Trentième Nuit de Mai '31'', Galilée, 2001. * ''Le Dernier Caravansérail'', Théâtre du Soleil, 2003. * ''Les Naufragés du Fol Espoir'', Théâtre du Soleil, 2010.


Selected essays

* ''L'Exil de James Joyce ou l'Art du remplacement'' (doctoral thesis), Grasset, 1969. * ''Prénoms de personne'', Le Seuil, 1974. * ''The Exile of James Joyce or the Art of Replacement'' (translation by
Sally Purcell Sally Purcell (1 December 1944 – 4 January 1998) was a British poet and translator. She produced several English translations of poetry and literary works, including the first English translation of Hélène Cixous's ''The Exile of James Joyce ...
of ''L'exil de James Joyce ou l'Art du remplacement''). New York: David Lewis, 1980. * ''Un K. Incompréhensible : Pierre Goldman'', Christian Bourgois, 1975. * ''La Jeune Née'', with Catherine Clément, 10/18, 1975. * ''La Venue à l'écriture'', with Madeleine Gagnon and Annie Leclerc, 10/18, 1977. * ''Entre l'écriture'', Des femmes, 1986. * ''L'Heure de Clarice Lispector'', Des femmes, 1989. * ''Photos de racines'', with Mireille Calle-Gruber, Des femmes, 1994. * ''Lettre à Zohra Drif'', 1998 * ''Portrait de Jacques Derrida en Jeune Saint Juif'', Galilée, 2001. * ''Rencontre terrestre'', with Frédéric-Yves Jeannet, Galilée, 2005. * ''Le Tablier de Simon Hantaï'', 2005. * ''Insister''. À Jacques Derrida, Galilée, 2006. * ''Le Voisin de zéro : Sam Beckett'', Galilée, 2007 * ''Défions l'augure'' (on the quote 'we defy augury' from
Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
), Galilée, 2018


See also

* Antinarcissism *
List of deconstructionists This is a list of thinkers who have been dealt with deconstruction, a term developed by French philosopher Jacques Derrida (1930-2004). __NOTOC__ The thinkers included in this list ''have Wikipedia pages'' and satisfy at least one of the three ...
*
Jean-Louis de Rambures Jean-Louis Vicomte de Bretizel Rambures (; 19 May 1930 – 20 May 2006) was a French journalist, author, translator of literature, literary critic, and cultural attaché. He introduced contemporary German literature to a broader French audience by ...
, "Comment travaillent les écrivains", Paris 1978 (interview with H. Cixous) *
Phallic monism Phallic monism is a term introduced by Chasseguet-Smirgel to refer to the theory that in both sexes the male organ—i.e. the question of possessing the penis or not—was the key to psychosexual development. The theory was upheld by Sigmund Freu ...


References


Further reading

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External links


"The Laugh of the Medusa", by Hélène Cixous, translated into English by Keith Cohen and Paula Cohen
* approach the notion of affinity through a discussion of "Disruptive Kinship," co-sponsored by Villa Gillet and the School of Writing at The New School for Public Engagement.


Mary Jane Parrine: Stanford Presidential Lectures' Cixous page

Carola Hilfrich: Hélène Cixous Biography at ''Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia''


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