Derrida, Cixous, and the Impostor
Derrida, Cixous, and the Impostor
This chapter discusses Derrida's, Genèses, généalogies, genres et le génie (Geneses, genealogies, genres and genius), the text of a lecture given in 2003 to mark the gift made by Hélène Cixous of her archive to the Bibliothèque nationale de France. One year after the publication of the third volume of Kristeva's Le Génie féminin, genius and gender are once again associated in relation to an individual figure—in this case, the writer Hélène Cixous. As Derrida's compound title indicates, genius is not the sole topic of his discussion, but the occasion is the pretext for a thoroughgoing reevaluation of the notion as exemplified by Cixous herself and, in particular, as implied by the narrative of her past affair with an American boyfriend and self-proclaimed genius. The chapter examines Derrida's rethinking of the concept of genius, as well as the associations between genius and imposture.
Keywords: Jacques Derrida, Hélène Cixous, gender, imposture, counterfeit genius
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