Hélène Cixous Book order

The luminous tale of a young French scholar who travels to the United States to consult the manuscripts of beloved authors

The first translation into English of Mother Homer is Dead, written in the immediate aftermath of the death of the Cixous's mother in the 103rd year of her life.

We defy augury. There's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come ... the readiness is all. Under the sign of Hamlet's last act, Hélène Cixous, in her eightieth year, launched her new book--and the latest chapter in her Human Comedy, her Search for Lost Time. Surely one of the most delightful, in its exposure of the seams of her extraordinary craft, We Defy Augury finds the reader among familiar faces. In these pages we encounter Eve, the indomitable mother; Jacques Derrida, the faithful friend; children, neighbors; and always the literary forebears: Montaigne, Diderot, Proust, and, in one moving passage, Erich Maria Remarque. We Defy Augury moves easily from Cixous's Algerian childhood, to Bacharach in the Rhineland, to, eerily, the Windows on the World restaurant atop the World Trade Center, in the year 2000. In one of the most astonishing passages in this tour-de-force performance of the art of digression, Cixous proclaims: "My books are free in their movements and in their choice of routes [...] They are the product of many makers, dreamed, dictated, cobbled together." This unique experience, which could only have come from the pen of Cixous, is now available in English, and readers are sure to delight in this latest work by one of France's most celebrated writer-philosophers.

"In 1968-69 I wanted to die, that is to say, stop living, being killed, but it was blocked on all sides," wrote Hélène Cixous, esteemed French feminist, playwright, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist. Instead of suicide, she began to dream of writing a tomb for herself. This tomb became a work that is a testament to Cixous's life and spirit and a secret book, the first book she ever authored. Originally written in 1970, Tombe is a Homerian recasting of Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis in the thickets of Central Park, a book Cixous provocatively calls the "all-powerful-other of all my books, it sparks them off, makes them run, it is their Messiah." Masterfully translated by Laurent Milesi, Tombe preserves the sonic complexities and intricate wordplay at the core of Cixous's writing, and reveals the struggles, ideas, and intents at the center of her work. With a new prologue by the author, this is a necessary document in the development of Cixous's aesthetic as a writer and theorist, and will be eagerly welcomed by readers as a crucial building block in the foundation of her later work.

An inventive literary account of Cixous's remarkable journey to her mother's birthplace and of the Jewish community of a German town that was wiped out in the Holocaust.

The collection features essays by Hélène Cixous, delving into the intersection of theatrical performance and contemporary politics through a feminist lens. Cixous employs a unique performative and poetic writing style to examine ethical considerations within political contexts, highlighting the transformative power of theater.

In "Los, A Chapter," Hélène Cixous reflects on her elusive dream of writing "The Book-I-Don't-Write." Inspired by memories and relationships, particularly with her late friend Carlos, she explores time and existence through scenes from 1960s Paris. The book blends playfulness with depth, reclaiming lost moments in a philosophical narrative.

"Death Shall Be Dethroned" is a profound exploration of loss and memory, emerging from Hélène Cixous's hidden writings. It delves into the narrator's complex relationship with "Carlos" and the discovery of his archives at Princeton, symbolizing forbidden knowledge. The book serves as a logbook of grief and reflection.

Helene Cixous has dreamed for years of The Book-I-Don't-Write, but each time she approaches it, it withdraws. The-Book-I-Don't-Write is always just out of reach.