Hélène Cixous: Dreamer, Realist, Analyst, Writing - Paperback

by Nicholas Royle (Author)

A lucid, original and inventive critical introduction to Helene Cixous (1937-). Royle offers close readings of many of her works, from Inside (1969) to the present. He foregrounds Cixous's importance for 'English literature' as well as creative writing, autobiography, narrative theory, psychoanalysis, ecology, gender studies and queer theory.

Front Jacket

Nicholas Royle's funny, insightful, elegant, erudite book is not only a creative and thought-provoking, highly sensitive reading of Cixous's literary oeuvre, but is also - to adopt the idiom shared by Hélène Cixous and Jacques Derrida - a ULO (unidentifiable literary object) in its own right. Royle's book both introduces the English-language reader to the distinctive pleasures of Cixous's inventive writing and takes the reader on an exhilarating linguistic adventure that reveals how apparently ordinary English words contain secret treasures and startling insights. Elissa Marder, Emory University At once expository and playful, original and funny, Nicholas Royle's micrological approach to the work of Hélène Cixous enables a new critical understanding and appreciation of her writing. If there is complexity in her work, Royle suggests, there is also uncanny simplicity and great pleasure. The book focuses on key motifs such as dreams, the supernatural, psychoanalysis, creative writing, realism, sexual differences, laughter, secrets, the 'Mother unconscious', drawing, painting, autobiography as 'double life writing', telephones, non-human animals, telepathy and the 'art of cutting'. Particular stress is given to Cixous's work in relation to Freud and Derrida, as well as to her importance in the context of 'English literature'. There are close readings of Shakespeare, Emily Brontë, P. B. Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Lewis Carroll, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, for example, alongside in-depth explorations of her own writings, from Inside (1969) up to the present. Royle's book will be of particular interest to readers coming to Cixous's work for the first time, but it will also appeal to readers interested in contemporary literature, creative writing, life writing, narrative theory, deconstruction, psychoanalysis, trauma studies, feminism, queer theory, ecology, drawing and painting.

Back Jacket

Nicholas Royle's funny, insightful, elegant, erudite book is not only a creative and thought-provoking, highlysensitive reading of Cixous's literary oeuvre, but is also - to adopt the idiomshared by Hélène Cixous and Jacques Derrida - a ULO (unidentifiable literaryobject) in its own right. Royle's book both introduces theEnglish-language reader to the distinctive pleasures of Cixous's inventivewriting and takes the reader on an exhilarating linguistic adventure thatreveals how apparently ordinary English words contain secret treasures andstartling insights.
Elissa Marder, Emory University

At once expository and playful, original and funny, NicholasRoyle's micrological approach to the work of Hélène Cixous enables a new critical understanding andappreciation of her writing. If there is complexity in her work, Roylesuggests, there is also uncanny simplicity and great pleasure. The book focuseson key motifs such as dreams, the supernatural, psychoanalysis, creative writing, realism, sexual differences, laughter, secrets, the 'Mother unconscious', drawing, painting, autobiography as 'double life writing', telephones, non-human animals, telepathy and the 'art of cutting'. Particular stress isgiven to Cixous's work in relation to Freud and Derrida, as well as to herimportance in the context of 'English literature'. There are close readings ofShakespeare, Emily Brontë, P. B. Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Lewis Carroll, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, for example, alongside in-depthexplorations of her own writings, from Inside (1969) up to the present.
Royle's book will be of particular interest to readerscoming to Cixous's work for the first time, but it will also appeal to readersinterested in contemporary literature, creative writing, life writing, narrative theory, deconstruction, psychoanalysis, trauma studies, feminism, queer theory, ecology, drawing and painting.

Author Biography

Nicholas Royle is Professor of English at the University of Sussex