Featured Author last updated February, 2003
Featured Author |
Mariza
De Athayde/Caméra Press |
Monique Wittig(1935-2003)
|
Obituary, January 6, 2003
Monique Wittig, French novelist, poet and social theorist, born July 13, 1935 in Alsace, France, died January 3, 2003 in Tucson, Arizona. Wittig's first novel, The Opoponax (1964), brought her major critical acclaim and the coveted Prix Medicis. As a founding leader in the French feminist movement, Wittig's literary and theoretical works were recognized as essential contributions to feminist thought in Europe and the U.S. and to the emerging movement for lesbian and gay rights. After moving to the U.S. in the mid-1970s, Wittig held a number of university teaching positions, and was currently a professor in Women's Studies and French at the University of Arizona, Tucson.Wittig's work has had a fundamental impact upon feminist theory and lesbian and gay theory worldwide. Her novels, including Les Guérillères (1969), The Lesbian Body (1973), Lesbian Peoples: Materials for a Dictionary (co-authored with Sande Zeig, 1975), and Virgile, non (1984, translated as Across the Acheron in 1987) combine a sensitivity to the nuances of language and style with a powerful illustration of her philosophy of lesbian materialism, a theoretical position she set forth in a series of essays collected in The Straight Mind (1992), a term she coined. Her work has been translated into a dozen languages, including German, Dutch, Finish, Japanese, and Spanish. Her collaboration with Zeig resulted in the imaginative staging of her play The Constant Journey (1985) in the U.S. and in Paris, and most recently a feature film based on her short story, The Girl (2001), directed by Sande Zeig.
Wittig is survived by her partner, Sande Zeig, mother, Maria Wittig, sister, Gilberte Wittig, and niece, Dominique Samson. -- from queertheory.com
Picture from University of Arizona website
Bibliography
Les Guerilleres
Translator David Le Vay
1985 - Beacon Press
$16.00
The Lesbian Body
Translator David LeVay
1986 - Beacon Press
$16.00
The Straight Mind and Other Essays
1992 - Beacon Press
$17.00
These titles are Out of Print. However, they do sometimes appear in our used books section. Please call for availability.
Across the Acheron, 1985 (for more info...)
Lesbian Peoples: Material for a Dictionary, 1975
The Opoponax, (Daughters Inc., 1966)
The Girl
A film noir in the tradition of Bound.
Set in Paris, The Girl follows the spiraling affair between two women: the film's narrator -- a beautiful painter (Agathe de la Boulaye, Jefferson in Paris) -- and a stunning cabaret singer who she calls The Girl (Claire Keim, Marriages, Ripper: Letter from Hell).
On their first night together, The Girl insists it will only be this one time. However, the two are soon involved in an ongoing relationship. While their passion for each other is consuming, a relationship from the past threatens to tear them apart.
From a story by Monique Wittig
A film by Sande Zeig
Produced by Dolly Hall
VHS $59.95
Other links of interest:
http://www.coh.arizona.edu/newandnotable/wittig/wittig.html
