literature

When we read Helene Cixous’ Laugh of the Medusa, I felt more inspired than I had in a very long time. Since then, I have been trying to figure out exactly what about her writing speaks to me so deeply. In a sense, I can see why I so strongly identify with the things she says; yet, at the same time, the more I manage to unravel, the more complex it all seems.

For my project I’ve decided to read a selection of Japanese books and manga, (popular Japanese comics), as well as essays on feminism in modern Japan. I will be attempting to define and explore what feminism means in modern Japanese literature, how it differs from American feminism, and why. I think that examining what feminism means in this culture will let me both learn about a different kind of feminism as well as see American feminism through a new lens. It will let me examine whether, as Paula

According to most versions of his life story, the Titan Prometheus stole fire from the Gods and gave it to the first human men. For this and his other insurgent crimes, Prometheus' punishment is to be chained to a cliff with daily visits from an eagle who eats his regenerating liver from his body. This is my current model of textual creation and critique. The texts we write are our regenerating livers. When critiquing, we are the eagle. Don't be scared off by the gory metaphor. I am going explain my reasoning and later even offer a additional myth of critique from which I hope to fashion a more palatable model.

I find Cixous’s article to be the richest one that we’ve had to date, maybe because of its “free” style that other people have commented on, which allows it to make bold assertions about the future of feminine writing, academic and personal, and also because it seemed full of commentary on what we’ve read so far.