Coming to Writing and Other Essays

Of Helene Cixous's many and diverse writings, few have been translated into English. This collection presents six essays by one of France's most remarkable contemporary authors. Cixous is known for her work on sexual difference and its relations to literary text. Here she explores the problematics of a "feminine" mode of writing, basing her method on the premise that differences between the sexes - viewed as a paragdigm for all difference, which is the organizing principle behind identity and meaning - manifest themselves, write themselves, in texts. "Tancredi Continues" and "The Last Painting or the Portrait of God" question the enigma of sexual difference and the origins of writing through artistic practices analogous to writing (music and painting). The title essay explores Cixous's decision to become an author and the problems raised by a woman's writing herself into history and into a particular literary and cultural tradition. The remaining essays examine another aspect of her work: her ongoing dialogue with the Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector. "By the light of an Apple" and "Clarice Lispector: The Approach" are celebrations of Cixous's Brazilian contemporary.
In "The Author in Truth" Cixous quotes passages from Lispector and discusses them in detail, providing a sense of why Lispector has assumed such importance in her life. This volume aims to be of interest not only to scholars who are engaged in the task of understanding Cixous as writer and theorist but to all readers seeking a unique and exciting voice.