4 Quotes & Sayings By Monique Wittig

Monique Wittig was born in Paris, France on July 2, 1942, the only daughter of a distinguished and internationally acclaimed writer and a French woman of German descent. Her father was a charter member of the French Resistance and his wartime work earned him a posthumous medal of honor from the U.S. government. At the age of two, Monique fell ill with meningitis; she spent six months in an isolation ward and then went into a severe depression Read more

When she emerged from that state, she could not speak or walk. Her mother took her to a Freudian analyst who diagnosed her as having "a complex of castration complex." After two years of analysis, Monique was still unable to speak; she began writing poetry. An aunt introduced her to Jungian psychology, which became the primary philosophy informing her work throughout her life.

1
There was a time when you were not a slave, remember that. You walked alone, full of laughter, you bathed bare-bellied. You say you have lost all recollection of it, remember .. . You say there are no words to describe this time, you say it does not exist. But remember. Make an effort to remember. Or, failing that, invent. Monique Wittig
2
A text by a minority writer is effective only if it succeeds in making the minority point of view universal. ('The Universal and the Particular')". . In claiming the lesbian point of view as universal, she overturns the concepts to which we are accustomed. For up to this point, minority writers had to add "the universal" to their points of view if they wished to attain the unquestioned universality of the dominant class. Gay men, for example, have always defined themselves as a minority and never questioned, despite their transgression, the dominant choice. This is why gay culture has always had a fairly wide audience. [From the Foreword "Changing the Point of View" by Louise Turcotte]. Monique Wittig
3
... I am with fire between my teeth and still nothing but my blank page. Monique Wittig