Cicoux
The Laugh of the Medusa
Author(s): Hélène Cixous, Keith Cohen and Paula Cohen
Source: Signs, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Summer, 1976), pp. 875-893
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3173239 .
Accessed: 08/04/2013 21:16
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VIEWPOINT
The Laugh of the Medusa
Helene Cixous
Translated by Keith Cohen and Paula Cohen
I shall speak about women's writing:about whatit willdo. Woman must write her self: must write about women and bring women to writing, from which they have been driven away as violentlyas from their bodies-for the same reasons, by the same law, withthe same fatalgoal.
Woman must put herself into the text-as into the world and into history-by her own movement.
The futuremustno longer be determinedbythe past. I do not deny that the effectsof the past are stillwith us. But I refuse to strengthen the them by repeating them, to confer upon them an irremovability equivalent of destiny,to confuse the biological and the cultural.Anticipation is imperative.
Since these reflections takingshape in an area just on the point are of being discovered,theynecessarilybear the mark of our time-a time the during whichthe new breaksaway fromthe old,
Author(s): Hélène Cixous, Keith Cohen and Paula Cohen
Source: Signs, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Summer, 1976), pp. 875-893
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3173239 .
Accessed: 08/04/2013 21:16
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp .
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
.
The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Signs.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 129.59.95.115 on Mon, 8 Apr 2013 21:16:10 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
VIEWPOINT
The Laugh of the Medusa
Helene Cixous
Translated by Keith Cohen and Paula Cohen
I shall speak about women's writing:about whatit willdo. Woman must write her self: must write about women and bring women to writing, from which they have been driven away as violentlyas from their bodies-for the same reasons, by the same law, withthe same fatalgoal.
Woman must put herself into the text-as into the world and into history-by her own movement.
The futuremustno longer be determinedbythe past. I do not deny that the effectsof the past are stillwith us. But I refuse to strengthen the them by repeating them, to confer upon them an irremovability equivalent of destiny,to confuse the biological and the cultural.Anticipation is imperative.
Since these reflections takingshape in an area just on the point are of being discovered,theynecessarilybear the mark of our time-a time the during whichthe new breaksaway fromthe old,