The Book of Promethea
by Hélène Cixous
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Description
In writing Le Livre de Promethea Hélène Cixous set for herself the task of bridging the immeasurable distance between love and language. She describes a love between twonbsp;women in its totality, experienced as both a physical presence and a sense of infinity. The result is a stunning example of Pecriture feminine that won kudos when published in France in 1983. Its translation into English by Betsy Wing will extend the influence of a writer already famous for her novels and contributions show more to feminist theory. In her introduction Betsy Wing notes the contemporary emphasis on "fictions of presence." Cixous, in The Book of Promethea, works to "repair the separation between fiction and presence, trying to chronicle a very-present love without destroying it in the writing." show lessTags
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Member Reviews
No, we do not speak at all the same languages. Things she lets bubble up in a shower of sparks, I would like to collect and bind. She burns and I want to write out the fire!
This 200 page prose poem again allows fiction, philosophy and memoir to blend in an aching harmony. Often maddening, this is a departure for Cixous. Usually her sensuality maintains a literary edge, not here, this is tactile and lustful. This is a dreamish account of affair between two women with images from the caves at Lascaux to a refugee camp in Lebanon. It is often was captivating, at times frustrating. We should heed the advice offered: Because Promethea asks me for a bowl of words before she goes to sleep.
This 200 page prose poem again allows fiction, philosophy and memoir to blend in an aching harmony. Often maddening, this is a departure for Cixous. Usually her sensuality maintains a literary edge, not here, this is tactile and lustful. This is a dreamish account of affair between two women with images from the caves at Lascaux to a refugee camp in Lebanon. It is often was captivating, at times frustrating. We should heed the advice offered: Because Promethea asks me for a bowl of words before she goes to sleep.
Finally gave this one up halfway through; nonstop effusion going nowhere. A real disappointment compared to Cixous's Double Oblivion of the Ourang-Outang, which was stellar.
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Author Information
140+ Works 2,410 Members
Born in 1937 in Algeria, Helene Cixous came to Paris, where she is currently professor of English, in 1955. After a dissertation on James Joyce, The Exile of James Joyce (1968), she began to publish novels, critical essays, and plays, most notably Le Portrait de Dora (1976), a feminist retelling of a Freudian case history. Jacques Derrida has show more named Helene Cixous the greatest contemporary French writer. Cixous has been an active participant in the development of literary criticism after structuralism and has been a leading figure in the French feminist movement. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Book of Promethea
- Original title
- Le livre de Promethea
- Original publication date
- 1983
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, LGBTQ+
- DDC/MDS
- 843.914 — Literature & rhetoric French Literature French fiction 1900- 20th Century 1945-1999
- LCC
- PQ2663 .I9 .L5813 — Language and Literature French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese literatures French literature Modern literature 1961-2000
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 138
- Popularity
- 237,642
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.85)
- Languages
- English, French
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
