Portrait of Jacques Derrida as a Young Jewish Saint

Hélène Cixous

2001

This is a story that begins with J. It was the fifteenth of July 1930.

It’s about J; it’s about a consonant still a little vowelish, a little i-ish in the aftermath of a magic philology.

Were I not “Jewish,” I say to myself, holding the word to my lips shyly, in and with respect, were I unable to address this word to myself in some way…

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Creator Bio

Hélène Cixous

b. 1937
Born in Oran, Algeria, Hélène Cixous is a French feminist theorist, professor, and fiction writer. In 1968, she received her doctorate and the following year published her first novel. Cixous helped establish the University of Paris VIII, where she taught literature and organized the Centre d’études féminines. A recipient of the Prix Médicis, Cixous is a founder of poststructuralist feminist theory.

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