Cixous, Hélène

(1937– )

Algerian-born French academic and feminist. In 1974 Cixous became director of the Centre de Recherche en Études Féminines at the university of Paris at Vincennes. She is particularly associated with the use of psychoanalytic themes in feminist literary theory. Although closely identified with the ‘ Psych et Po ’ (psychology and politics) movement in literary Paris of the 1960s and 1970s, unlike Kristeva she believes in a special form of female or bisexual writing, akin to song, forward-looking, and reflecting the multiple nature of female libido and sexuality. She has analysed the role of myth in representing the patriarchal order, and has written fictions and plays. Her works include Dedans (1969, trs. as Inside, 1986), Révolutions pour plus d’un Faust (1975), and Le Livre de Prométhéa (1983).