Reading Notes
February 11, 1998
"The Laugh of the Medusa"
by Helene Cixous
Medusa
Classic myth made Medusa the terrible Gorgon whose look turned
men to stone...Actually, Medusa was the serpent-goddess of the Libyan
Amazons, representing "female wisdom"...She was the Destroyer aspect of
the Triple Goddess called Neith in Egypt, Ath-enna or Athene in North
Africa. Her inscription at Sais called her "mother of all gods, whom she
bore before childbirth existed." She was the past, present, and future:
"All that has been, that is, and that will be."...she was death and to see
her face to face was to die-...She was veiled also because she was the
Future, which always wears a veil...(from The Woman's Encyclopedia of
Myths and Secrets by Barbara Walker, "Medusa" p. 629)
Cixous states that "You only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see
her. And she's not deadly. She's beautiful and she's laughing" (355).
Men need femininity and death to be associated, but in reality they are
obviously not the same-just as the Medusa is not death, she is laughing
Her definition of "Woman"
Cixous' article must be read using her definition of woman. She states:
When I say 'woman,' I'm speaking of woman in her inevitable struggle
against conventional man: and of a universal woman subject who must bring
women to their senses and to their meaning in history. But first it must
be said that in spite of the enormity of the repression that has kept them
in the 'dark'-that dark which people have been trying to make them accept
as their attribute-there is, at this time, no general woman, no one
typical woman. (347)
Throughout the article, Cixous uses this definition of woman. She uses
woman as separate from man biologically.
Feminine Writing
Cixous envisions a separate language for women, a "feminine writing" based
on women's differences from men. She believes that female sexuality will
be included in women's writing because "woman must write her self: must
write about women and bring women to writing" (347).
She states that writing will allow women to "write herself" both
individually, by returning to her body, and based on her suppression
(350-351). She denies that writing is strictly something done with the
mind; it can be (and is) done with the body.
It is important for women to write because they have been excluded from
almost the "entire history of writing" (350). Writing has a stigma
attached to it; it is reserved for the "great men," not for "ordinary"
women (348). "It is time for women to start scoring their feats in
written and oral language" (351).
Cixous not only discusses feminine writing in this article, she also uses
her theories in her own writing. "Her [woman's] speech, even when
'theoretical' or political, is never simple or linear or 'objectified,'
generalized: she draws her story into history" (351). Cixous' writing is
neither simple nor linear. I think that by putting her theory into
practice, she makes her theses much stronger.
Psychoanalysis
Cixous, like other authors we have read, especially Irigaray, uses
psychoanalysis in her work. Cixous explores psychoanalysis by looking at
Lacan's and Freud's theories and by focusing on language, body, and the
mind. Cixous discusses the "Phallic period" that we live in and how women
are said to suffer from "castration's lack" (354-355).
She counters this
by saying that it is "evident that the penis gets around in my
tests...[but] I don't want a penis to decorate my body with." Futhermore,
"[t]he woman who still allow herself to be threatened by the big dick,
who's still impressed by the commotion of the phallic stance, who still
leads a loyal master to the beat of the drum: that's the woman of
yesterday" (360). Cixous challenges the way that these "classic"
psychoanalysts have viewed women; she states that "The Dark Continent is
neither dark not unexplorable" (354).
Sexual Difference
"In the beginning are our differences" (361) is the way that Cixous views
the relationship between women and men. Cixous clearly sees the world in
a two sex model, divided by sex. She places a strong emphasis on sexual
difference.
In her article she questions the separation and the hierarchy of the mind
and the body. Women are traditionally linked with the body, which is
inferior to the mind. Cixous declares that woman should create a new
language by writing through her body. Writing is not strictly done with
the mind. She states that the body should not be subordinate to the mind;
moreover, the body and the mind should not even be separated.
I thought that a major problem in Cixous' article is apparent when she
discusses sexual difference. She places too much emphasis on differences
between women and men. However, she does not quite believe that "biology
is destiny" because she states that "there are some men (all too few) who
aren't afraid of femininity" (355). Another problem is that she talks
only to women in this article. She attempts to change women's subordinate
place in society by convincing women that they are different. Cixous
tends to place other differences (such as race, religion,
ethnicity, age, class) subordinate to sex difference. I see this as an
important omission in her article.
reading notes done by Janice McCabe