PHL4290

Reading Irigaray

Proposed to be offered next in 1999

Elizabeth Grosz

8 points
* 2 hours per week
* First semester
* Clayton

Objectives To introduce students to the difficult and commonly mis-understood writings of Luce Irigaray; to provide the conceptual, historical and logical tools necessary for a close reading of Irigary's work; to proivde the resources by which her contributions to feminist theory can be assessed in relation to other feminist theorists; and to provide the critical and expressive resources to enable students to write clear, concise, accurate and independent essays on topics related to this reading.

Synopsis This subject examines the work of one of the more difficult and rewarding of the key figures in contemporary French thought, the psychoanalyst, philosopher and linguist, Luce Irigaray. The subject will involve a detailed reading of the key texts of Irigaray, from her earliest publications in 1974 to her current writings. Irigaray has published broadly in a number of academic disciplines (including psychology, psychoanalysis, European philosophy, literature and linguistics) and covered a range of different issues (from questions in ontology and epistemology to key issues in economic exchange and theology). This subject will provide a rudimentary intellectual context to Irigaray's work, and then proceed chronologically from her earliest writings through to her most recent.

Assessment Two essays (3000 words each): 100%

Presribed texts

Burke C and other (eds) Engaging Irigaray
Grosz E Sexual subversions: Three French feminists Allen and Unwin
Irigaray L Speculum of the other woman Cornell U P
Irigaray L This sex which is not one Cornell U P
Irigaray L Marine lover of Freidrich Nietzsche
Irigaray L Sexes and genealogies
Irigaray L Je, tous, nous
Irigaray L Elemental passions
Irigaray L An ethics of sexual difference
Whitford M (ed.) The Irigaray reader
Whitford M Luce Irigaray: Philosophy in the feminine