Deborah Spanfelner

Hélène Cixous: a Space for the Other: in Between Forgetting, Remembering and Rewriting Deborah Spanfelner

Hélène Cixous: A Space for the Other ¿ in Between Forgetting, Remembering and Rewriting¿ is a study in intertextuality that examines the narrative position of the Subject in relation to the Other in Hélène Cixous¿s works: Or, les lettres de mon père (1997), Les Rêveries de la femme sauvage: scènes primitives (2000) and her writing on Clarice Lispector. Cixous rewrites the identity of the Subject/Other in such a way that the boundaries between the two are blurred. The androgynous nature of the protagonists in her works subverts the gender binary opposition bringing issues of plurality and culture to the fore in terms of subject identity. It analyzes the ramifications that the volatility of the Subject/Other positions have for elements of autobiographical narrative. Cixous challenges us to question the role of the ¿critic.¿ The conclusion speculates on the possibilities for change in terms of gender norms and the impact that writing will have in bringing about systemic changes in society