Women's Studies: French Feminist Theory

Call for Contributions to this page: If you have an article on French Feminism you would like to share on the web follow this link for details.
French Feminists and Anglo-Irish Modernists: Cixous, Kristeva, Beckett and Joyce: Jennifer Birket "discusses the importance ascribed to the work of Samuel Beckett and James Joyce by two major French feminists: the philosopher and psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva and the creative writer and philosopher Hélène Cixous." in Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies, Vol. 18 (1997). Full text downloads as a zipped file that unstuffs (Mac) or unzips (Windows) as a Microsoft Word document.

Hélène Cixous

Guardian of Language: An Interview with Hélène Cixous: March 1996 interview by Kathleen O'Grady, Trinity College, University of Cambridge. Reprinted from Women's education des femmes (12, 4) Winter 1996-7: pp. 6-10.
Hélène Cixous: A Bibliography: Not annotated, but searchable and organized by year of publication and alphabetically. Compiled by Eddie Yeghiayan, Special Collections, Main Library, University of California, Irvine.
Selected Texts on Hélène Cixous: A large, unannotated bibliography
Hélène Cixous: Entry on Cixous in Kristin Switala's Feminist Theory Website
Hélène Cixous: Entry on Cixous in the Philosophy Research Base by Erratic Impact
Hélène Cixous: Entry on Cixous in the Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism by Chiara Briganti and Robert Con Davis.
Introduction to Helene Cixous: Julie Jasken wrote this short introduction for a graduate class in rhetoric at Northern Illinois University.
Hélène Cixous home page at Stanford: Includes an excerpted biography from Sartori, Eva, and Dorothy Zimmerman, Editors. French Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Source Book. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991, and several commentaries of l'écriture féminine and short excerpts from Cixous' books.
Hélène Cixous: "The Laugh of the Medusa": "In Anglo-American academic discussion, it is common to refer to Helene Cixous, Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva, and others as "the French feminists." This terminology assumes that somehow these theorists represent or speak for ALL feminists who are French, thus silencing the voices and ideas of other feminists who are French… " This essay was written by Dr. Mary Klages, Associate Professor of English at the University of Colorado at Boulder
Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir, the: Gendered Phenomenologies, Erotic Generosities by Debra B. Berghoffen (publisher's summary)
Politics and Poetics of Hélène Cixous: By Snezana Zabic in Shine, issue 23, October-Novermber, 2001, a publication based in Macedonia.

Luce Irigaray

Luce Irigaray (Kristin Switala's Feminist Theory Web Site): Biographical essay by Bridget Holland and bibliography by Judith Poxon with help from Alison Stone.
Claire Goldstein on Luce Irigaray, "This Sex which is not one": An explanation of "what is she trying to do?" written for her students at the University of Pennsylvania
"Je--Luce Irigaray": A Meeting with Luce Irigaray: By Elizabeth Hirsh and Gary A. Olson, Translated by Elizabeth Hirsh and Gaëtan Brulotte in JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory,16.3 (1996).
on Irigaray, "Women on the Market": Seiko Yoshinaga wrote this short introduction for a graduate class in rhetoric at Northern Illinois University. Sean McDaniel's version can be read here.
Louise Bourgeois's 'Cells': Looking at Bourgeois through Irigaray's Gesturing Towards the Mother: By Hilary Robinson in N.Paradoxa: Issue 3, May 1997. "This essay was first published in Ian Cole (ed) Louise Bourgeois MOMA,Oxford Papers Vol 1 1996."
Luce Irigaray, "This Sex Which Is Not One": Mary Klages wrote these lecture notes for an Introduction to Literary Theory class at the University of Colorado at Boulder, last revised October 25, 2001.
Luce Irigaray: An essay by Brenda Harmon written for Mary Klages' class: English 2010: Modern Critical Thought, at the University of Colorado.
Luce Irigaray: Entry in Art and Culture
Irigaray and the Political Future of Sexual Difference [uiowa.edu or other subscribing institution only]: The Spring, 1998 issue of Diacritics dedicated to Irigaray. Special Editors: Pheng Cheah and Elizabeth Grosz.

Julia Kristeva

An Interview with julia Kristeva: Conducted by Nina Zwancevici in Paris, March-April, 2001 for NY Arts magazine.
An Introduction to Julia Kristeva: Extract from Julia Kristeva: Art, Love, Melancholy, Philosophy, Semiotics and Psychoanalysis, Crescent Moon, 1997 by Kelly Ives.
Julia Kristeva: A Bibliography of Primary and Secondary Sources in French and English 1966-1996: Kathleen O'Grady, Editor - alas, this is only the description of the book that was awarded the American Theological Library Association Bibliographer's Award, 1997. Ordering information can be found here.
The Abject: Kristeva and the Antigone: Extract from: "The Abject: Kristeva and the Antigone" by Clifford Davis in Paroles Gel&eacut;es, a UCLA French Studies journal.
Chao-Footnotes to Kristevan Semiotics: Fred Abraham blends Kristeva with chaos theory. This is an abstract -- scroll to the bottom for link to paper.
The Uncanny Style of Kristeva's Critique of Nationalism: (Available only to Project Muse subscribers. U. Iowa is subscriber) Ewa Ziarek examines J. Kristteva's "attempts to articulate a different concept of sociality, based on the "respect for the irreconcilable." Free version here
Introduction to Julia Kristeva: Alice Kelsey wrote this short introduction for a graduate class in rhetoric at Northern Illinois University.
Julia Kristeva: The Stranger's Stranger: An introduction to Kristeva by Dr Anna Smith, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
Kristeva and Feminism (Kristin Switala's Feminist Theory Web Site): Summary of Major Themes by Kelly Oliver
Julia Kristeva: A large site on Kristeva by Lynn Chrenka at Michigan State University featuring these sections: Profile, Feminism and the Politics of Marginality, Fiction: The Samurai, The Old Man and the Wolves, Dialogism, Intertextuality, Linguistic Theory, Rupturing with The Yellow Wallpaper, Shattering Language, Works Cited. Internal links are broken so you will have to return to the homepage to get from section to section.
Julia Kristeva: Entry in Art and Culture
Julia Kristeva: Entry in Philosophy Research Base by Erratic Impact
Julia Kristeva - review essay: Clare O'Farrell reviews John Lechte's 1990 book Julia Kristeva
Julia Kristeva: A Bibliography: Hélène Volat, Compiler - Reference Librarian / Bibliographer, State University of New York at Stony Brook
Julia Kristeva - Histories d'Amour: An interview in French in Nuit Blance by Johanne Jarry
Narcissus: Outline of the Myth: Excerpted from Kristeva's Tales of Love
On Julia Kristeva's Powers of Horror: A short essay by Trudy Mercer.
On Yury Lotman: By Julia Kristeva, published in Publications of the Modern Language Association (PMLA) 109(3), 375-376 (1994).
The Unspeakable Well Spoken: Rumina Sethi reviews Anne-Marie Smith's book on Kristeva in the Sunday Tribune (India)
Why Theory Matters: A Review of Julia Kresteva's Possessions by Rebeca Brittenham posted March 15, 1999.

Rosi Braidotti (not a French Feminist, but closely allied)

Nomadic Philosopher: A Conversation with with Rosi Braidotti: In this interview with Kathleen O'Grady, Rosi Braidotti discusses her recent work at the intersection of feminist and environmental activism, the central role of feminism in the redefinition of philosphy, the polemics between continental and anglo-American feminist discourses, and the development of women studies programs in Western Europe and North America.
Cyberfeminism with a difference: "In this article, I will first of all situate the question of cyber-bodies in the framework of postmodernity, stressing the paradoxes of embodiment. I will subsequently play a number of variations on the theme of cyber-feminism, highlighting the issue of sexual difference throughout." --Rosi Braidotti
Rosi Braidotti's Homepage: Braidotti's home on the Web at the Universty of Utrecht includes a short QuickTime movie, links to her projects, a list of recent publications and links to her syllabi.
Rosi Braidotti: Bibliography page at Kristin Switala's Feminist Theory Web site.
Rosi Braidotti: entry in Philosophy Research Base by Erratic Impact
In The Sign of the Feminine: Reading Diana: Political mythology in the making: Diana and Tony - Braidotti article in Theory & Event, 1.4
Is Metal to Flesh like Masculine to Feminine?: by Rosi Braidotti "Resting on some aspects of Deleuze’s philosophical nomadology, as well as on Irigaray’s theory of sexual difference, the article argues that the representation of the changes induced by technology is in itself a very contested area."
Difference, Diversity and Nomadic Subjectivity: A lecture posted on Magda Michielsens' Web site, where she writes: "This lecture will provide a working definition of postmodern female subjectivity in the framework of the trans-national economy. It will address theoretical issues of sexual difference, European citizenship and the question of how to relocate 'whiteness' in a strategic anti-racist manner. Issues of entitlement and empowerment of women will be raised."
Rosi Braidotti Interview: Nathalie Muller interviews Braidotti. Other interviews with Anne Balsamo, Constance Penley, Sadie Plant, and Vivian Sobchack can be found on Muller's homepage.
Nomadism, The European Union, and Embedded Identites: An Interview: Conducted during the 1996 International Association of Philosophy and Literatire Conference by Robert Marzec. This is an excerpt only. Full interview in Crossings: A Counter-Disciplinary Journal
Life in Theory: Three Feminists Thinkers on Transition(s) (UI access only): Kathy Davis and Helma Lutz in European Journal of Women's Studies, Aug. 2000 7:3. Restricted access - other universities may have access through EBSCOhost. "Focuses on the contributions of feminist theorists Avtar Brah, Seyla Benhabib and Rosi Braidotti on women migration in Europe. Reference on the personal experiences of theorists on migration; Influence of experience on the writing styles of feminist thinkers; Career history of Brah, Benhabib and Braidotti. "

Simone de Beauvoir

The Ethics of Ambiguity

Full text by Simone de Beauvoir, translated from the French by Bernard Frechtman. See Also: lecture notes on The Ethics of Amiguity by G.J. Mattey, Philosophy Department, U.C. Davis.

Is The Second Sex Beauvoir's Application of Sartrean Existentialism?

By Margaret A. Simons, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville "An analysis of Beauvoir's recently discovered 1927 diary, written while she was a philosophy student at the Sorbonne, two years before her first meeting with Sartre, challenges this interpretation [that Sartre was the origin of Beauvoir's central thesis]."

Labyrinth: International Journal for Philosophy, Feminist Theory and Cultural Hermeneutics

Special issue: Simone de Beauvoir: 50 Years after The Second Sex, Vol. 1, No. 1 Winter 1999.

Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir

The Gendered Phenomenologies, Erotic Generosities - Debra B. Bergoffen. Book jacket blurb from the State University of New York Press, part of their Feminist Philosophy series.

The Second Sex

The Second Sex, 1949, translated by H M Parshley.

Simone de Beauvoir

Biographic sketch, commentary, Quotes and bibliography by Dennis Holt, for his students at Southeast Missouri State University.

Simone de Beauvoir

A short biographic entry in "The Window, the comprehensive clearinghouse for philosophy on the Web."

Simone de Beauvoir's The Ethics of Ambiguity

Lecture notes for an Introduction to Philosophy course by G.J. Mattei, U. C. Davis.

Simone de Beauvoir (Kristin Switala's Feminist Theory Web Site)

John Drabinski's bibliography

Simone de Beauvoir

Entry on de Beauvoir in the Philosophy Research Base by Erratic Impact.

Simone de Beauvoir

From the Philosophy Pages site - biographical sketch, resources and recommended readings.

Simone de Beauvoir

from Art and Culture

Simone de Beauvoir

A section of Christopher Scott Wyatt's Web site "Existentialism: An Introduction" -- includes a biography, commentary, a chronology,. a list of works and quotes.

Simone de Beauvoir Trading Card

From a collection of theorists on trading cards from www.theory.org.uk

Simone de Beauvoir at the cry! Existentialism and Art

Biographical timeline, works, images, quotes and links.

Simone de Beauvoir and Existential Phenomenology

A bibliography compiled by Theodore A. Toadvine, Jr. at the Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology

Walk on the Wild Side

BBC notes on a program about Simone de Beauvoir and Nelson Algren's 15-year relationship and how they influenced each other's writing. Also see "Letters from Simone de Beauvoir" See Also: A review of de Beauvoir's book Beloved Chicago Man: Letters to Nelson Algren 1947-64 by Joan Smith.

Monique Wittig

Entry in Queer Theory site

A Short Feminist Reading of Monique Wittig's " Across the Acheron"

by Ingrid Hoofd, currently teaching at Utrecht University - written while at the University College Dublin in 1997.

Catherine Clement

French Feminism Listserv

FRENCH-FEMINISM is an electronic forum for discussion and experimentation rooted in the works of writers who, taken as a loosely-cohering group, constitute French feminist thought. FRENCH-FEMINISM is an open list - all interested parties are invited and encouraged to participate.

To subscribe, send the message: subscribe french-feminism; to this address: majordomo@jefferson.village.virginia.edu; You can also visit the archives that keeps past dialogs on file.

URL: http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/wstudies.frenchfem.html
Last modified March 8, 2007