8.2 /10 1 Votes
Language English Media type Print Publisher Beacon Press | 4.1/5 Goodreads Publication date 1992 Originally published 1992 Genre Essay Country United States of America | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Original title The Straight Mind and Other Essays Similar Monique Wittig books, Feminism books, Woman books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Straight Mind and Other Essays is a (1992) collection of essays by Monique Wittig.
It was translated into French as La Pensée straight in 2001.
Summary
In April of 1979 Wittig delivered her essay, "The Straight Mind", as the morning keynote address at Barnard College's event, "The Scholar and the Feminist Conference, The Future of Difference". The essay appeared in French in Question Feministe, where the editorial collective, which included Wittig, splintered over "the lesbian question" leading to a dissolution of the collective and end to the publication. It also appeared in English in Feminist Issues.
"One Is Not Born a Woman," delivered in September 1979 at the "30th Anniversary Conference of the Second Sex" held at New York University, takes up the outcomes of Simone de Beauvoir's feminist political visions for lesbians. Wittig writes, "Lesbians are not women", under the assumption that the term "woman" is defined by men. Moreover, she compares lesbians to fugitive slaves.
"The Trojan Horse," explains her theory of literature as a "war machine", echoing Gilles Deleuze.