Wittig, Monique

▪ 2004

      French avant-garde feminist writer (b. July 13, 1935, Dannemarie, France—d. Jan. 3, 2003, Tucson, Ariz.), used an experimental approach to language and subject in an attempt to break down definitions and create a language and world free of the dictates of heterosexual society. Wittig's first published work, L'Opoponax (1964; The Opoponax, 1966) won the Prix Médicis. Les Guérillères (1969; The Guérillères, 1971), a lyrical evocation of a women's society at war with men, became an iconic work of the feminist movement in France and the U.S. Her other works included Les Corps lesbien (1973; The Lesbian Body, 1975) and Virgile, non (1985; Across the Acheron, 1987), a feminist reworking of Dante's Divine Comedy. With her partner, Sande Zeig, she produced a dictionary, Brouillon pour un dictionnaire des amantes (1976; Lesbian Peoples: Material for a Dictionary, 1979). A collection of Wittig's essays, The Straight Mind and Other Essays, appeared in 1992.

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▪ French writer

born 1935, Dannemarie, France

died January 3, 2003, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.

      French avant-garde novelist and radical feminist whose works include unconventional narratives about utopian nonhierarchical worlds, often devoid of men.

      Wittig attended the Sorbonne and immigrated to the United States in 1976. Her first novel, L'Opoponax (1964; The Opoponax), is an examination of childhood experiences viewed through the consciousness of a rebellious young girl in a convent school. Its unorthodox, minimally punctuated, and nonchronological narrative established Wittig's course as a writer. She sought to avoid traditional forms and accepted devices, the use of which, she asserted, gave unspoken assent to the male-oriented power structure that had established them. Her second novel, Les Guérillères (1969; The Guérillères), is a two-part series of prose poems—the first part descriptive, the second episodic—about women warriors in a female-oriented culture. Wittig's other works include Le Corps lesbien (1973; The Lesbian Body), a collection of fierce prose poems extolling lesbian love and the female body; the novel Virgile, non (1985; Across the Acheron), a feminist parody of Dante's Divine Comedy; and (with Sande Zeig) the play Le Voyage sans fin (1985; The Constant Journey), a feminist send-up of Don Quixote. She also collaborated with Zeig to produce a feminist dictionary entitled Brouillon pour un dictionnaire des amantes (1976; Lesbian Peoples: Material for a Dictionary). A collection, The Straight Mind and Other Essays (1992), was published in English.

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