Understanding Cixous, Understanding Modernism
1st Edition
Published on 11. December 2025
336 pages
979-8-7651-3202-9 (ISBN)
Description
Hélène Cixous is well-known as a reader of 'modernist' writers: Joyce, Beckett, Kafka, Faulkner, Bachmann and others, while her own fiction writing forges many new directions in literature.
Foremost readers of the work of Hélène Cixous consider new interpretations of her vast literary and theoretical work, examining its relation and non-relation to modernism. Understanding Cixous, Understanding Modernism features an extended new interview with Cixous, conducted for the volume, in which she reflects on her relation to the critical category of 'modernism,' alongside a previously untranslated piece by the author.
As with other volumes in the series, Understanding Cixous, Understanding Modernism follows a three-part structure. Essays in the first section examine individual works by Cixous and the varied approaches her work has taken towards literature and art. The second section examines critical and aesthetic parameters of her writing practices. The final section contains a glossary of key terms and Cixous's neologisms recurrent throughout her work.
Foremost readers of the work of Hélène Cixous consider new interpretations of her vast literary and theoretical work, examining its relation and non-relation to modernism. Understanding Cixous, Understanding Modernism features an extended new interview with Cixous, conducted for the volume, in which she reflects on her relation to the critical category of 'modernism,' alongside a previously untranslated piece by the author.
As with other volumes in the series, Understanding Cixous, Understanding Modernism follows a three-part structure. Essays in the first section examine individual works by Cixous and the varied approaches her work has taken towards literature and art. The second section examines critical and aesthetic parameters of her writing practices. The final section contains a glossary of key terms and Cixous's neologisms recurrent throughout her work.
More details
Series
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
1 b&w illustration
ISBN-13
979-8-7651-3202-9 (9798765132029)
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
Other editions
Additional editions
Peggy Kamuf
Understanding Cixous, Understanding Modernism
Book
approx. 01/2026
Bloomsbury Academic USA
€123.70
Not yet published
Person
Peggy Kamuf is Professor Emerita of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California, USA. She is a principal translator of the work of Jacques Derrida and has edited a number of his seminars. She has also translated several texts by Cixous. Her published work includes six monographs, and numerous essays and anthologies.
Content
List of Abbreviations of Works by Hélène Cixous
Introduction
Peggy Kamuf, University of Southern California, USA
Part I. Conceptualizing Cixous
1. Bookcities and Cityscapes: Going Places with Cixous (alongside Joyce and Kafka)
Laurent Milesi, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
2. Scars Poetica
Laura Hughes, Independent Scholar
3. The Bee and the Coffee Machine: Writing Apparatuses and Machineries in Hélène Cixous's Works
Olivier Morel, Notre Dame University, USA
4. Another Analysis: Hélène Cixous's Magical Thinking
Elissa Marder, Emory University, USA
5. (S)He War, or Rethinking, War-Peace, and Crime with Cixous
Ginette Michaud, Université de Montréal, Canada
6 Hélène Cixous and Philosophy
Brigitte Weltman-Aron, University of Florida, USA
7. Full Flush: An Interview with Hélène Cixous
Peggy Kamuf, University of Southern California, USA, and Nicholas Royle, University of Sussex, UK
Part II. Cixousian Aesthetics
8. The Apparatus of Death: Kafka, Baudelaire, Poe (from Seminar of 1 June 2024)
Hélène Cixous
9. Countersigning Proust
Mairéad Hanrahan, University College London, UK
10. Cixous Reading Kafka
Christa Stevens, Independent Scholar
11. Life-Death, Invisible Wrestlers, and Siamese Twins
Marta Segarra, University of Paris VIII, France
12. Fugue on a Theme of Hélène Cixous
Naomi Waltham-Smith, Warwick University, UK
13. Ghostvoices in Hyperdream: Homonymy, Homophony, Repetition
Esther von der Osten, Freie Universität, Germany
14. "Write!": Medusa's Cixous
Eric Prenowitz, University of Leeds, UK
15. Mdeilmm: Mole Speech (excerpt)
Hélène Cixous
Part III. Glossary
16. Algériance
Christa Stevens, Independent Scholar
17. Appellation
Olivier Morel, University of Notre Dame, USA
18. Cry
Naomi Waltham-Smith, Warwick University, UK
19. Dream
Olivier Morel, University of Notre Dame, USA
20. Libidinal Economies
Christa Stevens, Independent Scholar
21. Mole
Nicholas Royle, University of Sussex, UK
22. Plusje
Christa Stevens, Independent Scholar
23. Puisse
Naomi Waltham-Smith, Warwick University, UK
24. The Book
Laura Hughes, Independent Scholar
Endnotes
Notes on Contributors
Index
Introduction
Peggy Kamuf, University of Southern California, USA
Part I. Conceptualizing Cixous
1. Bookcities and Cityscapes: Going Places with Cixous (alongside Joyce and Kafka)
Laurent Milesi, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
2. Scars Poetica
Laura Hughes, Independent Scholar
3. The Bee and the Coffee Machine: Writing Apparatuses and Machineries in Hélène Cixous's Works
Olivier Morel, Notre Dame University, USA
4. Another Analysis: Hélène Cixous's Magical Thinking
Elissa Marder, Emory University, USA
5. (S)He War, or Rethinking, War-Peace, and Crime with Cixous
Ginette Michaud, Université de Montréal, Canada
6 Hélène Cixous and Philosophy
Brigitte Weltman-Aron, University of Florida, USA
7. Full Flush: An Interview with Hélène Cixous
Peggy Kamuf, University of Southern California, USA, and Nicholas Royle, University of Sussex, UK
Part II. Cixousian Aesthetics
8. The Apparatus of Death: Kafka, Baudelaire, Poe (from Seminar of 1 June 2024)
Hélène Cixous
9. Countersigning Proust
Mairéad Hanrahan, University College London, UK
10. Cixous Reading Kafka
Christa Stevens, Independent Scholar
11. Life-Death, Invisible Wrestlers, and Siamese Twins
Marta Segarra, University of Paris VIII, France
12. Fugue on a Theme of Hélène Cixous
Naomi Waltham-Smith, Warwick University, UK
13. Ghostvoices in Hyperdream: Homonymy, Homophony, Repetition
Esther von der Osten, Freie Universität, Germany
14. "Write!": Medusa's Cixous
Eric Prenowitz, University of Leeds, UK
15. Mdeilmm: Mole Speech (excerpt)
Hélène Cixous
Part III. Glossary
16. Algériance
Christa Stevens, Independent Scholar
17. Appellation
Olivier Morel, University of Notre Dame, USA
18. Cry
Naomi Waltham-Smith, Warwick University, UK
19. Dream
Olivier Morel, University of Notre Dame, USA
20. Libidinal Economies
Christa Stevens, Independent Scholar
21. Mole
Nicholas Royle, University of Sussex, UK
22. Plusje
Christa Stevens, Independent Scholar
23. Puisse
Naomi Waltham-Smith, Warwick University, UK
24. The Book
Laura Hughes, Independent Scholar
Endnotes
Notes on Contributors
Index
