Ïan Larue, (2 September 1958) is a French

essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

author and

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

. She has published two

science fiction novels This is a list of science fiction novels, novel series and collections of linked short stories. It includes modern novels, as well as novels written before the term "science fiction" was in common use. This list includes novels not marketed as SF b ...

, ''La Vestale du calix'' and ''La fille geek''. One of her best-selling books, ''Libère-toi cyborg. Le pouvoir transformateur de la science-fiction féministe'', deals with the theme of cyborgs. Reflecting on the list of

feminist science fiction Feminist science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction (abbreviated "SF") focused on such feminist themes as: gender inequality, sexuality, race, economics, reproduction, and environment. Feminist SF is political because of its tendency to ...

authors cited at the end of

Donna Haraway Donna Jeanne Haraway (born September 6, 1944) is an American professor emerita in the history of consciousness and feminist studies departments at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a prominent scholar in the field of science and te ...

's Cyborg Manifesto (including

Octavia Butler Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer who won several awards for her works, including Hugo, Locus, and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to recei ...

), Ïan Larue redefines this founding figure in the philosopher's thought. According to the author, ‘The cyborg is the ultimate hybrid, a hybrid between a real woman and a character in a novel who is superimposed on her to endow her with a thousand new possibilities, including the fundamental one of breaking up

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

and

patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...

.’ In 2019 Ïan Larue was the winner of the

Grand prix de l'Imaginaire The (GPI, 'grand prize of the Imaginary'), until 1992 the , is a French literary award for speculative fiction, established in 1972 by the writer Jean-Pierre Fontana as part of the science fiction convention of Clermont-Ferrand. Initially pur ...

, in the ‘Essays’ category, for this non-fiction book.

Biography

After teaching at the

University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne The University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (; URCA), also known simply as the University of Reims, is a public university based in Reims, France. In addition to the main campus in Reims, the university has several campuses located throughout t ...

, Ïan Larue worked at the

Sorbonne Paris North University Sorbonne Paris North University () is a public university based in Paris, France. It is one of the thirteen universities that succeeded the University of Paris in 1968. It is a multidisciplinary university located in north of Paris, in the munici ...

teaching comparative literature.

''Libère-toi cyborg''

Her essay ''Libère-toi cyborg, le pouvoir transformateur de la science-fiction féministe'' (Set yourself free, Cyborg ! The transformative power of feminist science fiction), published in 2018, placed her among the leading French-language figures in feminist science fiction. In the essay, she comments extensively Donna Harraway's ''Cyborg Manifesto'', and reproduces in an appendix Harraway's ‘H-list’ of works by women science fiction novelists that she believed were must-reads for building a

utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', which describes a fictional island soci ...

future world free of

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

and

sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to gender roles and stereotypes, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is int ...

, or even one that embraces a hybridisation between nature and technology. Among these must read women SF writer ared : included :

(''Dawn'', part of the '' Xenogenesis Trilogy''),

Joanna Russ Joanna Russ (February 22, 1937 – April 29, 2011) was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as '' How to Suppress Women's Writing'', as ...

(''

The Female Man ''The Female Man'' is a feminist science fiction novel by American writer Joanna Russ. It was originally written in 1970 and first published in 1975 by Bantam Books. Russ was an ardent feminist and challenged sexist views during the 1970s with he ...

''),

Monique Wittig Monique Wittig (; 13 July 1935 – 3 January 2003) was a French author, philosopher, and feminist theorist who wrote about abolition of the sex-class system and coined the phrase "heterosexual contract." Her groundbreaking work is titled '' The ...

(''

Les Guérillères ''Les Guérillères'' is a 1969 novel by Monique Wittig.

'') and

James Tiptree, Jr Alice Bradley Sheldon, better known as James Tiptree Jr. (born Alice Hastings Bradley; August 24, 1915 – May 19, 1987), was an American people, American science fiction and fantasy author. It was not publicly known until 1977 that James Tiptre ...

(''Beyond the World's Walls''). In these worlds, cyborgs transgress gender and norms, while often incorporating aspects of

ecofeminism Ecofeminism integrates feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyze relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in her 1974 ...

and feminist figures of

witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...

, creating a path of emancipation and joyful liberation.

Painting

Ïan Larue is the granddaughter of the painter and film set designer Charles Mérangel. She has been painting since the age of eleven. She held exhibitions in the 2000s In 2020 she took part in the group exhibition ''Even the rocks reach out to ki''ss you, at the Centre d'art contemporain Transpalette in Bourges and the exhibition ''Rêver l'obscur'', at the Galerie d'art brut Christian Berst in Paris The curator of both exhibitions is Julie Crenn, an exhibition curator, art historian and specialist in ecofeminist art. She has also published an essay about the role of women painters throughout history from antiquity and medieval times, questioning the reasons of their disappearance from historical reviews.

Activism

In 2022 Ïan Larue protested against the eviction of Stéphanie Nicot from the festival Les imaginales by publishing a letter of support for Nicot with other authors among whom Floriane Soulas,

Sylvie Lainé Sylvie Lainé (born June 29, 1957) is a French science-fiction writer. Sylvie Lainé won a Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire in 2006. Activism In 2022 Sylvie Lainé protested against the eviction of Stéphanie Nicot from the festival Les imaginales b ...

Robin Hobb Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden (; born March 5, 1952), known by her pen names Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm, is an American writer of speculative fiction. As Hobb, she is best known for her fantasy novels set in the ''Realm of the Elderlings'', ...

, Estelle Faye, Sara Doke,

Sylvie Denis Sylvie Denis (born 10 November 1963 in Talence) is a French science fiction writer. She is also a translator and co-edited the magazine "Cyberdreams." A novelist, she won the Solaris Prize in 1988 for ''L'Anniversaire de Caroline'', the Prix Rosn ...

, Lucie Chenu, , and .

Publications

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References

External links

{{Feminist science fiction 20th-century French women writers French feminist writers 1958 births Feminist science fiction French painters Living people