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Manna for the Mandelstams for the Mandelas Hélène Cixous |
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$69.00 cloth |
A lyrical meditation on political resistance by a preeminent feminist thinker—now in paperback! They didn't know each other, but they knew the same suffering. A Russian Jewish poet who died in exile in Siberia; a South African political leader who survived his banishment to prison: These two men, Osip Mandelstam and Nelson Mandela, so far apart in time and space, are brought together in this story, their shared destinies unraveled in light of the Jewish and African diasporas. In this act of willful writing, by turns lyrical and intense, Cixous brings Osip Mandelstam and Nelson Mandela together through the common first syllables of their names, the dates of their respective exiles, and the women, Nadezhda Mandelstam and Winnie-Zami Mandela, who disclose and restore their partners' lives through language. For Cixous, politics is approached most openly and freely through poetry; social change cannot exist without linguistic change. Her poetic language moderates the historical, political and personal tales of Mandelstam and Mandela to produce a new sense of individual tragedy and cultural possibility. This intriguing and beautiful book is an act of emancipation as it releases its subjects—along with its readers—from the restricted language of constraint and exile. Perhaps France's best-known feminist thinker, Hélène Cixous is the author of over thirty volumes of fiction and critical theory. Catherine A. F. MacGillivray is assistant professor of English and women's studies at the University of Northern Iowa. 360 pages | 5 x 8 | 2000 |
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$23.00 paper