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"Leaving a space for the non-theorizable": self and other in Helene Cixous's writing for the theatre

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 19:37 authored by William McEvoyWilliam McEvoy
This essay argues that Hélène Cixous's writings on theatre demonstrate an ongoing concern with the non-theorizable as a fundamental element of her experience of theatre. This creates a tension between Cixous's role as a theorist and her role as a creative writer, and this essay explores how this tension manifests itself in her reflections on theatre. It looks at the strategies Cixous adopts to allow the non-theoretical to inflect her critical and creative writing, focusing on her denial of specialist knowledge about theatre, her conception of the theatre text in opposition to meditation and philosophical reflection, and on her attempts to model her own playwriting process on the practical work of actors and director Ariane Mnouchkine. Cixous's attraction to the non-theorizable, it is suggested, leads to a more poetic mode of criticism about the medium that draws both on embodied theatrical practice and the self/other relationships that structure theatre making

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

European Legacy

ISSN

1084-8770

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Issue

1

Volume

14

Page range

19-30

Department affiliated with

  • English Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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