Date of Award
2009
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program
Theory and Criticism
Abstract
This project explores the relationship between bodies and language through Hélène Cixous’ notion of writing the body. Metaphor becomes a site where bodies and language speak to each other. Therefore, the metaphors of Cixous’ own theoretical writing become sites of inquiry. Cixous’ theory of écriture féminine coalescences around the metaphor of white ink and textual maternity. This theory also emphasises the importance of history and desire in empowering feminine subjects. Legitimatization of such subjects takes place through writing originating with embodied experience, a morphology rather than an economy. However, such experiences are also in turn written onto the body by social and cultural discourses. These discourses, which become evident in the metaphors and myths that dramatise these dominant ideologies, seek to determine, and thus delimit, the body. Such determination heightens the urgency with which bodies must write themselves out of and against harmful exclusions and into viable and vibrant subjectivities.
Recommended Citation
Krahn, Laura, "Eat Your Words: The Incorporation of Language and Body" (2009). Digitized Theses. 3815.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/3815