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These political, philosophical, and literary essays mark the first collection of theoretical writing from the acclaimed novelist and French feminist writer Monique Wittig.
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THE STRAIGHT MIND AND OTHER ESSAYS MONIQUE WITTIG Foreword by Louise Turcotte Beacon Press • Boston Beacon Press 25 Beacon Street Boston, Massachusetts 021 08-2892 www.beacon.org Beacon Press books are published under the auspices of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. © 1992 by Monique Wittig All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First digital-print edition 2002 Text design by Linda Koegel With the exception of "The Point of View: Universal or Particular?" and "The Site of Action," all of the essays in this volume were written in English and were first published in the following: "The Category of Sex, • Feminism Issues 2, no. 2 (Spring 1982); "One Is Not Born a Woman," Feminist Issues 1, no. 2 (Winter 1981); "The Straight Mind,' Feminist Issues 1, no. 1 (Summer 1980); "On the Social Contract," Feminist Issues 9, no. 1 (Spring 1989); "Homo Sum," Feminist Issues 10, no.2 (Summer 1990); "The Point of View: Universal or Particular?' originally published as "Avant-note" to La Passion by Kjuna Barnes (Paris: Ed. Flammarion, 1982), translated in Feminist Issues 1, no. 1 (Summer 1980); "The Trojan Horse,' Feminist Issues 4, no. 2 (Fall 1984); "The Mark of Gender,' Feminist Issues 5, no. 2 (Fall1985); "The Site of Action,' trans. Lois Oppenheim in Three Decades of the French New Novel (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1986), originally published as 'Le lieu de !'action,' Diagraphe 32 (1984). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wittig, Monique. The straight mind and other essays I Monique Wittig; foreword by Louise Turcotte. p. em. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8070-7917-0 1. Feminist theory. 2. Lesbianism. 3. Radicalism. 4. Feminism and literature. I. Title. HQ1190.W58 1992 305.42'01-dc20 91-18409 Contents Acknowledgments Foreword by Louise Turcotte Preface The Category of Sex One Is Not Born a Woman The Straight Mind On the Social Contract Homo Sum The Point of View: Universal or Particular? The Trojan Horse The Mark of Gender The Site of Action Notes Bibliography Vl Vll xiii 1 9 21 33 46 59 68 76 90 101 109 Acknowledgments I would like to thank Mary Jo Lakeland, Susan Ellis Wolf, Sande Zeig, Louise Turcotte, Pascale Noizet, Suzette Triton, Romany Eveleigh, Andrew Hrycyna, Beacon Press, and Susan Meigs for their help and support. Foreword CHANGING THE POINT OF VIEW If a single name has been associated with the French Women's Liberation Movement, it is surely that of Monique Wittig. Her reputation is largely due to her literary works, which have been translated into several languages. But if Monique Wittig has made her mark as a writer in this second half of the twentieth century, the spreading of her theoretical texts will also show her to be one of tlie great thinkers of our time. It is impossible to locate Wittig's influence entirely in literature, politics, or theory, for her work in fact traverses all three, and it is precisely from this multidimensionality that the great importance of her thought derives. Much has been written about her literary works, yet not enough has been said of her theoretical and political writings. This will be a more political testimony, then, for I have been very fortunate in knowing Monique Wittig personally since the early 1970s. While it is possible to articulate the immediate influence of Wittig's thinking, it is still quite difficult to anticipate the full · influence her work will have on the history of women's struggle for liberation. Her essays call into question some of