Susan Sellers

Broschiertes Buch

Helene Cixous

Authorship, Autobiography and Love

Beschreibung

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 literary oeuvre 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.

Autor

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.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Polity Press
• Seitenzahl: 216
• Erscheinungstermin: 11. April 1996
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 153mm x 17mm
• Gewicht: 331g
• ISBN-13: 9780745612553
• ISBN-10: 0745612555
• Artikelnr.: 22267153

Rezensionen

"The exceptional clarity of Sellers expositions are backed up by anunerring choice of the clearest and most approachable quotationsfrom Cixous's work. Her ability to do this stems from herunrivalled knowledge of Cixous's work. She has done an excellentjob of making a notoriously difficult writer accessible toundergraduates." Dr Elizabeth Fallaize, St. John's College,Oxford

"A clear and scholarly introduction to the fiction and drama ofFrance's foremost "poet-thinker" (to borrow Derrida's phrase).Using a novel approach for Polity's excellent Key ContemporaryThinkers series, Sellers concentrates primarily on Cixous's work inpractice, and not in theory ... thus she offers an exposition ofCixous's (elusive) statements on

écritureféminine, which should itself prove useful to theuninitiated reader. Sellers remains appropriately dispassionate,yet she is an enthusiastic reader ... Sellers allows anotherCixous, Cixous the author, to be reborn in her reading." TimesLiterary Supplement

"Hélène Cixous: Authorship, Autobigraphy andLove provides an ideal way in to the fiction ofHélène Cixous. Sellers's account of Cixous's complexitiesis refreshingly clear and accessible, while her insights areconvincingly articulated." Professor Whitford, Queen Mary andWestfield College, University of London

"Sellers brings to Cixous, a notoriously difficult writer, anadmirable lucidity of her own. She presents Cixous in a clear,comprehensible fashion and her choice of quotation is excellent,such that the book provides a wonderful taster for Cixous's work ingeneral. Further, Sellers adopts a chronological approach that laysout Cixous's development without any distractions and provides veryhonestly her own reactions to Cixous's work, in a manner thatintriguingly undercuts Cixous's own claims." Nate News

"This book offers an accessible, jargon-free introduction toHelene Cixous that is clearly aimed at a student market."MLR

"This book is essential reading as an introduction not only toCixous' writing in all its facets - critical theory, plays, fiction- but to the whole area of writing in the feminine. With welcomeclarity, but faithfulness to complexity, Sellers makes accessible"écriture femine" and the gamut of dramatisations which occuracross Cixous' oeuvre. Undergraduates and graduates alikewill find this a springboard to an understanding of French feminismand a fine example of how to write well." Forum for ModernLanguage Studies

"Sellers' book operates best as a general introduction,differing from existing introductory studies, by not only followinga particular trajectory in Cixous's work, but also includingsustained analyses of her fiction and her writing for thetheatre...The format Sellers chooses...brings welcome clarity tothe complexity of Cixous's prolific oeuvre...Sellers has athorough knowledge of Cixous's work and her readings do fulljustice to its richly connotative poetical language, to its themeswhich impact on personal, political and ethical issues, and to theopen-ended nature of the texts wherein, to my mind, lies Cixous'sreal generosity as a writer."

"Feminist theory and practice will always be indebted to thisbook... Her evocative prose, her uncompromising political stand andher regard for the politics of difference..." Shelly Walia,Spectrum