By Hélène Cixous
Translated by Eric Prenowitz
Paperback: 9781628976946
eBook: 9781628976953
Publication Date: April 20th, 2027
Description
Hélène Cixous’ famous manifesto reemerges in a new definitive translation, articulating a feminist vision of writing both timeless and timely.
Originally published in 1975, The Laugh of the Medusa issued women an ultimatum: to be trapped by a language that does not allow them to express themselves, or to move beyond the constraints and conventions of language into a new mode of expression. Hélène Cixous outlined a vision of écriture feminine: a practice of writing against the phallocentric tradition, which would go on to influence feminist thinking and writing for decades to come.
In Eric Prenowitz’s new translation, conceived in close collaboration with Cixous herself, The Laugh of the Medusa stands as a rallying cry not just for women writers, but for all the “peripheral figures that no authority can ever subjugate.” Both intellectually rigorous and accessible to philosophical newcomers, the manifesto is essential reading from one of the most famous and influential feminist philosophers of the past century.
Biographical Note
Hélène Cixous is a writer, philosopher, poet, playwright, and literary critic, widely considered one of the preeminent French intellectuals in the sign of deconstruction. Born in 1937 in French Algeria, Cixous has published more than 70 collections of philosophy, theory, poetry, plays, novels, and hybrid works.