Hélène Cixous has been a major influence on most aspects of modern cultural and critical theory. Her concept of écriture féminine (feminine writing), and the avant-garde manner in which it was presented, forwarded in crucial ways the feminist movement of the 1970s both within the academy and among literary and artistic society at large. Although she was most influential during the late 1970s and early 1980s, her work since the introduction of écriture féminine has continued to develop strategies and tactics designed to challenge social and cultural patriarchal structures. As an internationally renowned feminist thinker, literary critic, cultural theorist, novelist, dramatist, and public intellectual, Cixous's reputation is multifaceted and her influence is pervasive.

The range and complexity of Cixous's body of work presents several difficult challenges for any critical summary. The first challenge is simply her productivity: Cixous...