French Literature Reviews - 2026
Sarah-Anaïs Crevier Goulet, Entre le texte et le corps. Deuil et différence sexuelle chez Hélène Cixous
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics
Sarah-Anaïs Crevier Goulet, Entre le texte et le corps. Deuil et différence sexuelle chez Hélène Cixous
No 131. 2015. 1 vol., 296 p., paperback, 15.5 × 23.5 cm. ISBN 978-2-7453-2783-3.
What could a literary work—specifically that of Hélène Cixous, shaped from its very beginnings by loss and the question of mourning—possibly have in common with the philosophical work of gender theorist Judith Butler, who views mourning and melancholia as the very origin of sexual identity? How do literature, philosophy, and psychoanalytic approaches enter into dialogue when the question of mourning—framed as an inquiry into the place of loss in the constitution of the subject—lies at the heart of their respective concerns? What value is there in juxtaposing two radically different corpora, two different genres of thought, in an attempt to reflect upon the far-from-obvious relationship between mourning and sexual identity? By journeying through Hélène Cixous's oeuvre through the lens of mourning and its ties to sexual difference, this book seeks to define the singular position of literature, which, through the very labor of words and of the body, is able to welcome the body of the deceased other.
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Hélène Cixous’s literary oeuvre is examined in light of the philosophical work of Judith Butler, who viewed the origin of sexual identity in mourning and melancholy. The literary is thus made to resonate with the philosophical and the psychoanalytical, with a view to delineating the singular position of literature.
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Sarah-Anaïs Crevier Goulet holds a PhD in French Literature and is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Research on the Imaginary at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve. She is also a lecturer at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University (Paris 3). She has co-edited Pensées du corps. La matérialité et l’organique vus par les sciences humaines (2011) with Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, and Fictions des genres (2013) with Éditions Universitaires de Dijon.
The relationship between literature, philosophy, and psychoanalysis has long occupied scholars of modern French thought, particularly in the ways these disciplines approach the constitution of the subject through loss. By examining the oeuvre of Hélène Cixous alongside the theoretical framework of Judith Butler, this study engages with broader currents in feminist theory, gender studies, and contemporary poetics. The inquiry centers on how textual creation intersects with bodily experience, situating itself within ongoing critical conversations about writing, mourning, and identity in twentieth-century French literature, while touching upon themes related to the body and the work of grief.
Readers interested in contemporary French literature, feminist theory, and the intersections between philosophy and literary creation may find this volume relevant to their inquiries. The study addresses the singular position of literature in relation to mourning and sexual difference, drawing on psychoanalytic approaches and philosophical inquiry as presented in the text. While the book focuses closely on the works of Hélène Cixous, it reflects wider methodological efforts within the humanities to read literary corpora alongside theoretical texts concerning the body and grief in academic research today.