Angst

by Hélène Cixous, Sophie Lewis (Translator)

A woman replays her abandonment by her mother, who is sometimes addressed as a male mother-god. She is also abandoned by her lover, to whom she is in thrall. She tries repeatedly to make or receive phone calls with the beloved figures, without success. She waits for their letters and imagines their contents. In a dream-like, torrid sequence, suffering, fear, fatigue and imperfection are apostrophised. Forgetting is examined and toyed with from every angle. Mythical hybrid creatures are invoked: a snake-headed lion, wolf-snakes, a wolf-peacock. How did this come to be? In a cunningly, wittily wrought rush, the unique, unpredictable voice of the narrator speaks from multiple perspectives to express powerful anguish and, ultimately, catharsis.

Genres: Fiction, Philosophy, France, Literature, Death, Novels

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Hélène Cixous is a Jewish-French, Algerian-born feminist well-known as one of the founders of poststructuralist feminist theory along with Luce Irigaray and Julia Kristeva. She is now a professor of English Literature at University of Paris VIII and chairs the Centre de Recherches en Etudes Féminines which she founded in 1974.

She has published numerous essays, playwrights, novels, poems, and literary criticism. Her academic works concern subjects of feminism, the human body, history, death, and theatre.

Reviews

[Mira · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is like a personal purging of her own angst on paper. You can get a bit nauseous if you read too fast too long. Issues with the mother and things like that. But I love the pace and quick wit of it, and the many associations. You feel like youre actually listening to someones thoughts when you read a book like this. It takes an extraordinary writer to be able to capture all of those things that go through your head in some kind of rational order while maintaining the pace.

[Linda Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very difficult. Maybe the Covid-19 atmosphere, and being an OLD reader of 79 years, isn't the best atmosphere and state of mind! Also, echoing another review, you just cannot sit down and read all the way through. BEST definitely in bites, possibly "snacks" but not full four-course (219pp) meal. There is NO dessert except the interesting style. Too depressing. Her style, which I'm trusting is perfectly and well-shown-off by the translator Jo Levy. I got a few writing ideas...not content but style ... from reading this. Images, staccato rhythm sometimes, I admit, I didn't read carefully the last half...just got tired, and was unable to find another book to pick up instead. WHAT I LIKED: Short declarative sentences • The use of second person (you, your, yours) along with first person. The POV is always personal, I guess you'd say first person, but it's as if Cixous addresses herself as another self. The book is a very strange love story, and I felt sorry for the man upon whom the character depended. Just a little sample..." His face. He had a black patch over one eye. I think it was the left eye. An old pain prevents me from going into details. Perhaps I only spoke to avoid looking him in the face. And yet I did look at him. Will you always be there? His correct tone, with no kindness in it: –– That's up to you. "
~ Linda Campbell Franklin

[Tram Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

its as if i just witnessed something extremely violent unfold.

(i always say i am a fan of down bad literature but i didnt realise one could be down quite this bad.)

[andreea. · Rating 4 out of 5]

.

[Emily Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Partially read, the prose is fast-paced so I found it hard to stay in tune with it. Beautifully written. Cixous poetically expresses her inner turmoil; her wants, fears and anxieties.

[milliebrewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow okay this is a lot. so intense, violent, and yes, angsty. i'll be honest- i skim read the last 100 pages, not because i wasn't finding value in this, but because the intensity of the text, along with cixous' abstract allegorical writing, was just too much for me at this current time. which is saying a lot, because i love intense themes and abstract writing. maybe if my brain wasn't absolutely fried with school atm i would've fared better with this. still a 4-star read though; cixous so perfectly describes what it means to be a woman existing in the modern world, what it means to suffer as a woman, and whether existence and suffering are one and the same. guaranteed to cause an existential crisis, if you can figure out what the hell is going on.

[M. Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

i did not understand what was going on much of the time while i was reading this, but when i did understand, i feel like i understood deeply. the prose is of a style that necessitates thinking, so i could only read about 10 pages a day so i would have enough time to think on the text before moving forward. sometimes i would get it in a way that i couldn’t articulate and other times articulation is what got me to understanding it. i like any book that requires me to think some because it usually means i’m engaged with it the whole way through and never passively consuming it. that’s why i give it five stars, even though i don’t think i’d want to read it again. at least not for a while

[Dol Leander · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a traditional narrative by any means. Reality is abstracted into primal-brained emotion. Every single time you think you know something concrete, you don’t. There is an imagery in this text that perfectly aligns with the true nature of angst, one that makes you question if existence itself is nothing without the turmoil of abandonment. Even forgetting takes its place at the table, turning one action into a hurricane of possibilities. This book feels as though you’ve snuck away in a corner with someone’s private journal and are rushing through the pages while you hear them wail, looking for it in the other room. It is a reflection of a pain you are not supposed to know about, one that draws you in and strokes your hair before turning the knife.

[El · Rating 4 out of 5]

heart breaking and the kind of thing that makes you feel nauseous the whole way through but i love the writing style as it feels like a stream of consciousness and plays into a fever dream that’s hard to really keep up with. Was a hard read not just for the content but also was nearly impossible for me to find the English translation to this so hoped for the best and prayed my translations from it weren’t taking anything from it. I could still feel her disgust and anger and angst thru the rough transitions and translations. Kind of like reading a fast written scribbled vent diary , reminded me lots of my own as a teenage girl

[Bob Lopez]

Oof, had to DNF. Read about half of the book, could barely discern what was happening. TBF, it wasn't a traditional narrative; more of a stream-of-consciousness from within a dark dream, that sort of flits from idea to idea, person to person. All of this combined to make it a very challenging read. It was more a screed. It may have been layered, it may have a feminist bent to it, I just couldn't get past the writing to see it. Just not for me.

[Stella · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*. I never know how to fairly review fever dream books like these. I guess that’s largely because my brain can’t keep up lmao 🥲.

There were definitely parts that I understood and related to (which I enjoyed), but also chunks that I felt I had to dissociate somewhat whilst reading in order to feel the essence of them. If there had been more of the former, it would have hit a 4*

[Isaac H · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Send it in the three languages that I don't understand anymore."

[\tonio]

if i die, god dies
as if he could lose his life

[Rioux · Rating 5 out of 5]

changed my life entirely

[Elisefur · Rating 5 out of 5]

a revelation.

[Wren West · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[isha]

she was big mad

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hélène Cixous uses Angst to slice through the polished theater of modern politics and show who really reaps the benefits when the dust settles.

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Angst isn't asking for your approval; Hélène Cixous lays down a sharp, unfiltered breakdown of how leverage is applied to maintain the status quo.