The Literary Workshop
The Chaotic Space Where Books Are Made
Will be published approx. on 14. July 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-1-80429-445-1 (ISBN)
Description
Monique Wittig was a paradigm-shifting force in the second-wave feminist movement of both the United States and France, and recognized as one of the most brilliant authors of her generation. In this book, she takes the reader inside her literary workshop, showing writing to be a material practice and real labor.
Wittig diagnosed the "straight mind" of Western culture as both heterosexual and misogynist. Her challenge to sexual and gender oppression, along with her philosophical critique of mind-body dualisms, established her as a core thinker in the canon of feminist theory and made possible the field of queer feminism.
Wittig is part of a constellation of writers who revolutionized French literature, such as Nathalie Sarraute, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Claude Simon, Marguerite Duras, and Georges Perec, who all departed from the conventional realism of the nineteenth century in order to invent distinctly twentieth-century modes of writing the world.
In The Literary Workshop, Wittig, often bifurcated into either a theorist or an author, provides a complete account of how she thinks the literary and the political together than that of The Straight Mind. Wittig reveals the secret of her craft, showing how the work a writer does with language is at the heart of the political.
Wittig diagnosed the "straight mind" of Western culture as both heterosexual and misogynist. Her challenge to sexual and gender oppression, along with her philosophical critique of mind-body dualisms, established her as a core thinker in the canon of feminist theory and made possible the field of queer feminism.
Wittig is part of a constellation of writers who revolutionized French literature, such as Nathalie Sarraute, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Claude Simon, Marguerite Duras, and Georges Perec, who all departed from the conventional realism of the nineteenth century in order to invent distinctly twentieth-century modes of writing the world.
In The Literary Workshop, Wittig, often bifurcated into either a theorist or an author, provides a complete account of how she thinks the literary and the political together than that of The Straight Mind. Wittig reveals the secret of her craft, showing how the work a writer does with language is at the heart of the political.
Reviews / Votes
Wittig became a celebrity in the American women's movement. Her collection of essays, The Straight Mind (1992), is witty, imaginative and, as ever, experimental. It is her imaginative use of style-as-politics that will be her lasting legacy, influencing writers as diverse as Kathy Acker and Jeanette Winterson. * Guardian * Praise for Les Guerilleres -- : Ms. Wittig is a dazzling writer. Her words are lucid and gleaming like moonlight. -- Edna O'Brien A delectable epic of sex warfare. An extraordinary leap of the imagination into the politics of oppression and revolt. -- Mary McCarthy Praise for The Straight Mind -- : 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 Praise for The Lesbian Body -- : Wittig is a key figure in French feminism, perhaps the foremost theorist of a profoundly radical lesbianism. Half of the nine essays in this brief collection deal directly with the politics of gender, a battlefield on which Wittig has staked out a nearly unique position: "There is no sex. There is but sex that is oppressed and sex that oppresses.'' As a result, these ostensibly literary essays offer the most cogent statement of her political beliefs and, consequently, the most satisfying reading. * Publishers Weekly * That rare work in fiction. The art and the courage are of the highest level. * Boston Globe *More details
Edition
Paperback original
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
Weight
367 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80429-445-1 (9781804294451)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Monique Wittig was a feminist, activist and one of the most brilliant authors of her generation. A provocative thinker, she famously declared that lesbians are not women, and introduced women into a Marxist framework by treating women as a class. Wittig is the author of The Straight Mind, Les Guerilleres, and The Lesbian Body.
Content
FOREWORD by Sande Zeig
NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION by Ann Jefferson
THE LITERARY WORKSHOP
INTRODUCTION
Proposition 1
On The Heterogeneity and the Instability of the Components Present
Proposition 2
On the Materiality of Language
Proposition 3
On the Effect of Abstract Philosophical Categories on Social Reality
Proposition 4
On the Various Effects of Physical Language
THE LITERARY WORKSHOP
THE SOCIAL CONTRACT
PRE-EXISTING FORMS: LITERATURE
WORK ON LANGUAGE
1.From Conventional Words to Raw Words
2.Material Words
3.Signifieds
PHILOSOPHICAL CATEGORIES: THE EXAMPLE OF GENDER
CONCLUSION
THE MAKING OF WITTIG’S WORKSHOP by Christine Planté
NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION by Ann Jefferson
THE LITERARY WORKSHOP
INTRODUCTION
Proposition 1
On The Heterogeneity and the Instability of the Components Present
Proposition 2
On the Materiality of Language
Proposition 3
On the Effect of Abstract Philosophical Categories on Social Reality
Proposition 4
On the Various Effects of Physical Language
THE LITERARY WORKSHOP
THE SOCIAL CONTRACT
PRE-EXISTING FORMS: LITERATURE
WORK ON LANGUAGE
1.From Conventional Words to Raw Words
2.Material Words
3.Signifieds
PHILOSOPHICAL CATEGORIES: THE EXAMPLE OF GENDER
CONCLUSION
THE MAKING OF WITTIG’S WORKSHOP by Christine Planté