Hélène Cixous facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hélène Cixous
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Hélène Cixous, Sept. 2011.
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| Born | 5 June 1937 |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Continental philosophy French feminism |
| Institutions | University of Paris VIII European Graduate School Cornell University |
| Doctoral students | Frédéric Regard |
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Main interests
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Literary criticism |
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Influences
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Influenced
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Hélène Cixous (born 5 June 1937) is a well-known French writer. She is also a playwright and a literary critic. She helped start the University of Paris VIII in 1969. There, she created the first center for women's studies in a European university.
Cixous is famous for her unique writing style. She has written over seventy books. These books cover many different types of writing. They include plays, feminist ideas, art reviews, and stories about her own life.
She first became known in 1969 with her book Dedans (Inside). This novel was partly about her own life. It won the Prix Médicis award. The book explored ideas about who we are, memories, death, and writing. She is perhaps best known for her 1976 article "The Laugh of the Medusa". This article made her an important thinker in early post-structural feminism. She has worked with many artists and directors. Many people think she could win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Contents
About Hélène Cixous
Her Early Life
Hélène Cixous was born in Oran, French Algeria. Her parents, Eve and Georges Cixous, were Jewish. Her father, Georges, was a doctor. He sadly died from tuberculosis in 1948.
After her father's death, her mother, Eve, became a midwife. She worked in Algiers. Later, in 1971, she was forced to leave Algeria. Hélène's brother, Pierre, was a medical student. He supported Algerian independence. He faced serious trouble in 1961. Hélène helped her family during these difficult times.
Hélène Cixous married Guy Berger in 1955. They had three children together. They later divorced in 1964.
Her Studies and Teaching
Cixous studied English literature. She earned her teaching degree in English in 1959. She then got her higher doctorate degree in 1968. Her main focus was the writings of James Joyce.
She started teaching at the University of Bordeaux in 1962. Later, she taught at the Sorbonne. In 1967, she became a senior lecturer at Paris Nanterre University.
In 1968, after student protests in France, Cixous helped create the University of Paris VIII. This new university offered a different way of learning. In 1974, she started Europe's first center for women's studies there. Today, Cixous is a professor at the University of Paris VIII. She also teaches at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.
Her Published Books
In 1968, Cixous published her doctoral paper. It was about James Joyce. The next year, she published her first novel, Dedans (Inside). This book was partly about her own life. It won the Prix Médicis award.
She has written many books. These include twenty-three books of poems. She has also written six books of essays and five plays. Her work is often seen as "deconstructive." This means it breaks down ideas to understand them better. A famous philosopher, Jacques Derrida, called her the greatest living writer in French. Cixous also wrote a book about Derrida.
Besides Derrida and Joyce, she has written about many other writers. These include Clarice Lispector, Franz Kafka, and Marina Tsvetaeva. She has also written essays about artists like Simon Hantaï.
Cixous is seen as one of the founders of poststructuralist feminist theory. In 1975, she published her most famous article, "Le rire de la méduse" ("The Laugh of the Medusa"). This essay was later translated into English. She has published over 70 works.
Hélène Cixous in Film
Hélène Cixous appears in a film called Ever, Rêve, Hélène Cixous. It was made in 2018 by Olivier Morel.
Awards and Honors
Cixous has received many honorary degrees. These are special awards from universities. She has them from universities in Canada, Ireland, the UK, and the USA. From 2008 to 2014, she was a special professor at Cornell University.
People Who Influenced Hélène Cixous
Some important thinkers influenced Hélène Cixous's writing. These include Jacques Derrida, Sigmund Freud, and Jacques Lacan.
Sigmund Freud's Ideas
Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud created ideas about how our minds work. These ideas helped Cixous develop some of her own arguments.
Jacques Derrida's Influence
Jacques Derrida and Cixous were friends and thinkers. They both grew up as French Jews in Algeria. They shared a feeling of not fully belonging anywhere. This idea of not having a clear identity influenced Derrida's thinking. Cixous wrote a book about him called Portrait of Jacques Derrida as a Young Jewish Saint.
Derrida used the term logocentrism. This idea explains how Western culture often values spoken words more than written words. Cixous also uses the idea of "binary opposition." This means looking at things as pairs of opposites, like good and bad.
Cixous, along with another thinker named Luce Irigaray, combined Derrida's idea of logocentrism with other concepts. They created the term phallogocentrism. This term describes how language can sometimes favor male perspectives.
Derrida once said that Cixous's writings are translated all over the world. But he also said they are "untranslatable." This means her unique way of using the French language is hard to fully capture in other languages.
Key Writings
The Laugh of the Medusa (1975)
Cixous's famous feminist essay is "The Laugh of the Medusa." It was first written in French in 1975. It was later translated into English. This essay is very important. It introduced the idea of écriture féminine. This is a special way of writing for women and by women.
See also
In Spanish: Hélène Cixous para niños
- Antinarcissism
- List of deconstructionists
- Jean-Louis de Rambures, "Comment travaillent les écrivains", Paris 1978 (interview with H. Cixous)
