Elemental Passions

by Luce Irigaray

Explores the man/woman relationship in a series of lyrical meditations on the senses and the four elements.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Feminism, Theory, France

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Luce Irigaray is a Belgian-born French feminist, philosopher, linguist, psycholinguist, psychoanalyst and cultural theorist. She is best known for her works Speculum of the Other Woman and This Sex Which Is Not One. Presently, she is active in the Women's Movements in both France and Italy.

Reviews

[xenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

ｓｈｅ　ｇｏｔ　ｔｈａｔ　ｐｕｓｓｙ　ｐｏｗｅｒ

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

exceptional. reminded me so much of helene cixous esp her book of promethea and the third body. excellent and beautiful and scathing critique of heteronormativity in which the woman in the relationship gives to the man to the ultimate denigration of her self. a return to the concept of women as life-givers but examining it not in the light of motherhood but in light of girlfriend/wife; irigaray is working within the psychoanalytic tradition but distinctly in the feminist tradition (much like cixous!) and it shows but i thought it was well done: a woman as creating an almost placenta-like or womb-like metaphorical life, light, love-giving bubble around the man she’s in a relationship with which the man takes for granted seeing as it is invisible. commentary on the invisibility of traditional women’s labour of love. ugh excellent. BEAUTIFUL writing. heterosexually focused but i found her theorisations of time to be really relevant for conceptions of queer time, especially her analysis of kissing as such. MWAH can’t wait to read more of irigaray!!!!

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can I say about Luce and her writing style, her content, fluid and deep? I will risk doing violence if I go beyond the following. It affects me, deeply, with strange and fresh words full of bright resonance for a hope of better love between two, as two, toward one another. She has opened new paths of thinking, feeling and, more importantly, for living.

[Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an insightful and fascinating read, by feminist philosopher Luce Irigaray. The author superbly, and in simply beautiful writing, outlines many of the challenges inherent in modern heterosexual relationships, so often predicated on childbirth and unequal agency between partners. Rather, she makes a compelling case for partnerships of equals, premised on mutual recognition, love, and autonomy, as an effective guard against relationships completely subsuming inklings of independence.

I hadn’t read a book quite like this before, and really appreciated Irigaray’s fierce and eloquent critique of gender inequality, as manifested through traditional relationships, and its negative effects on society, for individuals, personal freedom, and sexual independence.

[Margareta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think I've ever read a more poetic nor more rousing assault on the ownership of women, domesticity, the violence of forced childbearing, and the limits placed on women's expressions of sexuality. Irigaray's writing is subversive and deeply sublime, and her message is just as strong. This is quickly going into my list of favourite books, and possibly it might have just become my favourite feminist book.

[Bram · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too straight.
Also: please stop calling your vagina a flower.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

“is fire not joy? is burning with you not grace? the very lightest, dancing. the lightest, and the densest.” (80)