On Monique Wittig

On Monique Wittig
Author: Namascar Shaktini
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2005
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 9780252029844

Monique Wittig, who died in January 2003, was a leading French feminist, social theorist, prose poet, and novelist--and an activist who helped start the lesbian and women's liberation movements in France. This collection of essays by Wittig and on her work is the first sustained examination in English of her broad-ranging political, literary, and theoretical viewpoints. On Monique Wittig contains twelve essays, representing French, Francophone, and U.S. critics, including three previously unpublished pieces by Wittig herself. Among the essays is Diane Griffin Crowder's discussion of the U.S. feminist movement, Linda Zerilli's consideration of gender and will, and Teresa de Lauretis's examination of the development of lesbian theory. Together, these essays situate Wittig's work in terms of the cultural contexts of its production and reception. This volume also contains the first authenticated chronology of Wittig's life and features the first translation of "For a Movement of Women's Liberation," which Wittig published with other "militantes" in May 1970. As the first book to appear on Wittig following her death, On Monique Wittig is an indispensable tool for feminist scholars.

The Straight Mind

The Straight Mind
Author: Monique Wittig
Publisher: Beacon Press
Total Pages: 132
Release: 1992-02-03
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780807079171

These political, philosophical, and literary essays mark the first collection of theoretical writing from the acclaimed novelist and French feminist writer Monique Wittig. “Among the most provocative and compelling feminist political visions since The Second Sex. These essays represent the radical extension of de Beauvoir’s theory, its unexpected lesbian future. Wittig’s theoretical insights are both precise and far-reaching, and her theoretical style is bold, incisive, even shattering.” —Judith Butler, Johns Hopkins University

Les Guerilleres

Les Guerilleres
Author: Monique Wittig
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 183
Release: 2007-08-27
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0252094743

One of the most widely read feminist texts of the twentieth century, and Monique Wittig’s most popular novel, Les Guérillères imagines the attack on the language and bodies of men by a tribe of warrior women. Among the women’s most powerful weapons in their assault is laughter, but they also threaten literary and linguistic customs of the patriarchal order with bullets. In this breathtakingly rapid novel first published in 1969, Wittig animates a lesbian society that invites all women to join their fight, their circle, and their community. A path-breaking novel about creating and sustaining freedom, the book derives much of its energy from its vaunting of the female body as a resource for literary invention.

The Lesbian Body

The Lesbian Body
Author: Monique Wittig
Publisher: Beacon Press (MA)
Total Pages: 174
Release: 1986
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

Back in print, this daring novel constitutes a rhapsodic hymn to women's bodies and women's relationships. "That rare work in fiction . . . the art and the courage are of the highest level." -The Boston Globe

Lesbian Peoples

Lesbian Peoples
Author: Monique Wittig
Publisher: Avon Books
Total Pages: 186
Release: 1979
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

A Constant Journey

A Constant Journey
Author: Erika Ostrovsky
Publisher: SIU Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 1991
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780809316427

From the creation of a neuter pronoun in her earliest work, L’Opoponax, to the confusion of genres in her most recent fiction, Virgile, non, Monique Wittig uses literary subversion and invention to accomplish what Erika Ostrovsky appropriately defines as renversement, the annihilation of existing literary canons and the creation of highly innovative constructs. Erika Ostrovsky explores those aspects of Wittig’s work that best illustrate her literary approach. Among the countless revolutionary devices that Wittig uses to achieve renversement are the feminization of masculine gender names, the reorganization of myth patterns, and the replacement of traditional punctuation with her own system of grammatical emphasis and separation. It is the unexpected quantity and quality of such literary devices that make reading Monique Wittig’s fiction a fresh and rewarding experience. Such literary devices have earned Wittig the acclaim of her critics and peers—Marguerite Duras, Mary McCarthy, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Nathalie Sarraute, and Claude Simon, to name a few. While analyzing the intrinsic value of each of Wittig’s fictions separately, Erika Ostrovsky traces the progressive development of Wittig’s major literary devices as they appear and reappear in her fictions. Ostrovsky maintains that the seeds of those innovations that appear in Wittig’s most recent texts can be found as far back as L’Opoponax. This evidence of progression supports Ostrovsky’s theory that clues to Wittig’s future endeavors can be found in her past.

French Feminism Reader

French Feminism Reader
Author: Kelly Oliver
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2000-05-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0742580814

French Feminism Reader is a collection of essays representing the authors and issues from French theory most influential in the American context. The book is designed for use in courses, and it includes illuminating introductions to the work of each author. These introductions include biographical information, influences and intellectual context, major themes in the author's work as a whole, and specific introductions to the selections in this volume. The contributors represent the two trends in French theory that have proven most useful to American feminists: social theory and psychoanalytic theory. Both of these trends move away from any traditional discussions of nature toward discussions of socially constructed notions of sex, sexuality and gender roles. While feminists interested in social theory focus on the ways in which social institutions shape these notions, feminists interested in psychoanalytic theory focus on cultural representations of sex, sexuality and gender roles, and the ways that they affect the psyche. This collection includes selections by Simone de Beauvoir, Christine Delphy, Colette Guilluamin, Monique Wittig, Michele Le Doeuff, Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, and Helene Cixous.

Feminism and Sexuality

Feminism and Sexuality
Author: Stevi Jackson
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 402
Release: 1996
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780231107099

A comprehensive overview of feminist debates surrounding sexuality identifying the main theoretical positions and trends. Contributors include Judith Butler, bell hooks, Luce Irigaray, Catherine MacKinnon, Adrienne Rich, Gayle Rubin, Judith Walkowitz and Monique Wittig.

The Body in French Queer Thought from Wittig to Preciado

The Body in French Queer Thought from Wittig to Preciado
Author: Elliot Evans
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2020-05-28
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0429632436

The Body in French Queer Thought from Wittig to Preciado: Queer Permeability identifies a common concern in French queer works for the materiality of the body, arguing for a return to the body as fundamental to queer thought and politics, from HIV onwards. The emergence of queer theory in France offers an opportunity to re-evaluate the state of queer thought more widely: what matters to queer theory today? The energy of queer thinking in France – grounded in activist groups and galvanised by recent hostility towards same-sex marriage and gay parenting – has reignited queer debates. Examining Paul B. Preciado’s experimentation with theory and pharmaceutical testosterone; Monique Wittig’s exploration of the body through radically innovative language; and, finally, the surgical performances of French artist ORLAN’s ‘Art Charnel’, this book asks how we are able to account for the material body in philosophy, literature, and visual image. This is an important work for academics and students in French studies, in Anglophone queer studies, gender and sexuality studies and transgender studies, and will have significant interest for specialists of cultural translation and visual art and culture.

Feminist Theory Reader

Feminist Theory Reader
Author: CAROLE MCCANN
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 1074
Release: 2013-06-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 113507383X

The third edition of the Feminist Theory Reader anthologizes the important classical and contemporary works of feminist theory within a multiracial transnational framework. This edition includes 16 new essays; the editors have organized the readings into four sections, which challenge the prevailing representation of feminist movements as waves. Introductory essays at the beginning of each section lay out the framework that brings the readings together and provide historical and intellectual context. Instructors who have adopted the book can email [email protected] to receive test questions associated with the readings. Please include your school and location (state/province/county/country) in the email. Now available for the first time in eBook format 978-0-203-59831-3.