Review by Choice Review
Cixous (1937- ) has published an abundance of works, including novels, plays, autobiography, and philosophical works. Her principal subject is feminine writing: she attempts to upset the rigid patriarchal status quo that has dominated society since the Greeks. According to Sellers, Cixous' prerequisite for writing is "the correlation between loss and self-definition"; she hopes to "challenge the present modes of perception and representation" and in so doing create a new concept of the relationship between the self and the Other. To accomplish this she must use language that she sees as life-inventing itself, since without words there is no life. Her painful reaction to the loss of her father is somewhat mitigated when she realizes what she has received from her mother. Cixous's ideas are forceful but her style makes for difficult reading. Expressions like "write the body" and "write the other" are irritating, and the endless succession of an/other, his/story, s/he m/other and (re)create, (re)birth, and (re)inscribe leave the reader with an uncomfortable impression of either/or and both/and. The endless puns are neither amusing nor informative. Nevertheless, Seller's introduction to Cixous should be read if one wants to understand the importance of the feminine writing movement in contemporary literature. F. C. St. Aubyn emeritus, University of Pittsburgh
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
