The Voracious Text – Hélène Cixous’ Vivre l’orange Cover Image

The Voracious Text – Hélène Cixous’ Vivre l’orange
The Voracious Text – Hélène Cixous’ Vivre l’orange

Author(s): Ioana Cosma
Subject(s): French Literature
Published by: Editura Universităţii din Piteşti
Keywords: "autobiography"; "food"; "alterity"; "language"; "politics";

Summary/Abstract: In her autobiographical texts, Hélène Cixous creates a strong connection between self, writing and place through the medium of consumption. Hers is a voracious writing which both consumes and creates the self. In her texts there is an intricate relationship – on the level of the signifier – between the narrating “I”, the letters of the text and referentiality. Perhaps one of the most conspicuous examples is her play upon words in Living the Orange, where orange is a pun made up of Oran, her birth place, and je which claims a central part in the text. In this way, Cixous ensures a non-objectified version of the self but one which is entrenched in a highly subjective space and language.

  • Issue Year: 2019
  • Issue No: 18
  • Page Range: 183-187
  • Page Count: 5
  • Language: English