Hélène Cixous
Hélène Cixous: A Life of Literature and Revolution
Full Name and Common Aliases
Hélène Cixous was born on June 5, 1937, in Oran, Algeria (then a French colony). She is commonly known as Hélène Cixous or Simone Kayser, her birth name.
Birth and Death Dates
Hélène Cixous was born on June 5, 1937. Her current status is alive.
Nationality and Profession(s)
French-Algerian by birth, Hélène Cixous is a French writer, philosopher, and feminist critic. She has been a prominent figure in the fields of literature and feminist theory for over five decades.
Early Life and Background
Growing up in Oran, Algeria, Hélène Cixous was raised in a Jewish family. Her early life was marked by the trauma of World War II, during which she witnessed the Nazi occupation of France. This experience would later influence her writing and philosophical perspectives. Cixous' family moved to Paris when she was 16 years old, where she began studying literature at the Sorbonne.
Major Accomplishments
Hélène Cixous is a prolific writer, publishing numerous novels, essays, and plays. Her groundbreaking work in feminist theory has been instrumental in shaping modern feminist thought. Some of her notable accomplishments include:
Founding the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris, where she taught as a professor.
Publishing influential works such as "The Laugh of the Medusa" and "The Book of Promethea."
Contributing to various literary and philosophical journals, including the French feminist magazine _Questions Féministes._Notable Works or Actions
Hélène Cixous' writing often explores themes of identity, subjectivity, and the relationship between language and reality. Some notable works include:
The Laugh of the Medusa (1975): A seminal essay that argues for women's liberation through writing.
The Book of Promethea (1982): A collection of essays that explore the intersection of mythology, feminism, and philosophy.
Angels: One (1993): A novel that reimagines the figure of the angel as a symbol of feminine power.
Impact and Legacy
Hélène Cixous' work has had a profound impact on feminist theory, literature, and philosophy. Her ideas have influenced generations of writers, scholars, and activists worldwide. As a pioneering figure in feminist thought, she continues to inspire new perspectives on identity, language, and subjectivity.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
Hélène Cixous is widely quoted and remembered for her groundbreaking contributions to feminist theory and literature. Her innovative writing style, which blends philosophy, mythology, and personal narrative, has made her a celebrated figure in intellectual circles. As a vocal advocate for women's liberation and social justice, she remains an important influence on contemporary thought and culture.
Hélène Cixous' life and work embody the complexities of identity, language, and subjectivity. Her legacy serves as a testament to the transformative power of literature and feminist theory, inspiring new generations of thinkers, writers, and activists.
Quotes by Hélène Cixous
Hélène Cixous's insights on:
I do believe in poetry. I believe that there are creatures endowed with the power to put things together and bring them back to life.
Decisive moment: the one when you will be really alone. And it is perhaps this that makes her hesitate: not the void, but the vastness of the solitude. It’s as well if you are frightened of solitude. It’s a sign that you have come to the moment of your birth.
When I write, it’s everything that we don’t know we can be that is written out of me, without exclusions, without stipulation, and everything we will be calls us to the unflagging, intoxicating, unappeasable search for love. In one another we will never be lacking.
You only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see her. And she’s not deadly. She’s beautiful and she’s laughing.
Woman must write her self: must write about women and bring women to writing, from which they have been driven away as violently as from their bodies - for the same reasons, by the same law, with the same fatal goal. Woman must put herself into the text - as into the world and into history - by her own movement.
And I was afraid. She frightens me because she can knock me down with a word. Because she does not know that writing is walking on a dizzying silence setting one word after the other on emptiness. Writing is miraculous and terrifying like the flight of a bird who has no wings but flings itself out and only gets wings by flying.
Writing is the passageway, the entrance, the exit, the dwelling place of the other in me.
She alone dares and wishes to know from within, where she, the outcast, has never ceased to hear the resonance of fore language. She lets the other language speak - the language of 1,000 tongues which knows neither enclosure nor death. To life she refuses nothing. Her language does not contain, it carries; it does not hold back; it makes possible.
Thinking is trying to think the unthinkable: thinking the thinkable is not worth the effort.