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'When I Write, I am Sexless'

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Cécile Ladjali
Cécile Ladjali*
Affiliation:
Lycée Évariste Galois, Noisy-le-Grand

Abstract

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The intention of this paper's title is not to position the notion of androgyny solely on the side of women writers, even though they are the most quoted. I have considered the phenomenon among both sexes, and the authors who ‘forgot’ their sex early on, in order to create. This ‘forgetting’ even seems to be the condition for genius. Indeed the androgyne, who is more an idea than a character, becomes for many writers the complete expression of that compulsory mixture of strength and grace without which art and its claims remain incomplete. In fact authors have showcased themselves and have certainly thrown the dice for their own lives by creating an androgynous character, since that character has very often been a pretext for finding themselves through words and poetry.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , November 2005 , pp. 82 - 93
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2005

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