This book is a clear and accessible introduction to the writings of Helene Cixous, novelist, dramatist and critic, whose work has had a major impact on feminist theory and practice.
Susan Sellers, a major scholar on Cixous, provides a lucid account of Cixous's theoretical position, and in particular her distinctive theory of an'écriture féminine'. She discusses the development of Cixous's literaryoeuvre in the context of this theory, and analyses a selection of the works in detail to illustrate the different stages in Cixous's writing career.
Focusing on the key novels and plays, Sellers explores a range of issues and themes central to her work; the correlation between the death of Cixous's own father and her 'coming-into-being' as a writer; the psychological process of separation and individuation and the creation of a female authorial self; the discovery of the other and the dramatization of love; the delineation/depiction of an alternative form of relationship between self and other which would have a significance in a wider sphere than that of the merely personal.
This much-needed book will be welcomed by students in literature and literary theory, feminism and women's studies, English and French studies and philosophy.
Susan Sellers is a British author, translator, editor and novelist. She is Professor of English and Related Literature at the University of St Andrews, and co-General Editor of the Cambridge University Press edition of the writings of Virginia Woolf.
Preface.
Introduction.
1. The Early Texts.
2. Creating a Feminine Subject.
3. Writing with the Voice of the Other.
4. Cixous and the Theatre.
5. Recent Writings.
Conclusion.
Notes.
Bibliography.
Index.
