About
Hélène Cixous- life and legacy
Early Life and Education
Cixous (pronounced sik-soo) was born to Jewish parents in Algeria, when it was still a french colony. She speaks six languages: Spanish, German, Hebrew, Arabic, French and English. It is from this multicultural perspective that she creates essays, poems, and fiction novels. However, little of her work has been translated to English, as her french prose is full of metaphors, allusions, and intricate word play.
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She has a notable career in academics, as at 31 she became the youngest person to receive a Ph.D. She went on to teach at the University of Nanterre during the student uprisings of 1968 and went on to establish an experimental branch of university in response to these protests. Through this program, the student/professor dynamic was disregarded, as students did not need to have traditional academic preparation and could study multiple academic disciplines. However, Cixous states that she does not believe these reforms were effective. Most notably, the traditional hierarchy of student and professor is necessary in an academic setting.
Ideology
Cixous's writing is strongly influenced by Jacques Derrida and other post structuralists. This is reflected through her discussion of gender binaries within the western culture and the power structures they promote. In her work, she applies a two-pronged approach:
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She deconstructs the existence of binaries in literature by questioning the proposed inevitability of their existence
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She attempts to develop a non-hierarchical writing practice, that she calls “feminine” writing.
From this, she concludes that masculinity and femininity are roles that are culturally constructed for each individual from birth. She also believes that these roles have profound psychological impacts on one's understanding of the self and of society.
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In analyzing literature, Cixous utilizes a Freudian method of pyschoanalysis as the basis for her interpretation. Cixous believes that an author is expressing their inner life through their work, whether it is done consciously or unconsciously. This is called Autofiction. Cixous represents this idea in her earliest works, though autobiographical elements are more subtly weaved within her later works.
Ecriture Féminine
Originating in France in the early 70s, Ecriture Feminine is defined as "women's writing" and refers to a type of writing that aims to reflect women's sexuality and awareness of their own bodies. Cixous is a forerunner of this theory, as it is the subject of "The Laugh of the Medusa" and first coined within this essay. Essentially, this theory promotes the idea that language and writing are inherently a phallocentric tool that exists within a male-dominated system. Ecriture Feminine, therefore, is a means of escape for women to write without about themselves and their experiences within the male instrument of language. In order to learn more about Ecriture Feminine and Cixous's exploration of it, please continue to the summary and analysis of the essay.