The Divivacities of Cixous and Derrida (with a Bracketed Response

In: Somatechnics: journal of bodies, technologies, power, Volume 4, Issue 1, p. 9-38

Abstract

This pair of texts, article and response – a performance poem of sorts – focuses on the sexual and textual erotics which circulate in the texts written by Jacques Derrida and Hélène Cixous for and about each other. It is based on Michael O'Rourke's 'The Divivacities of Cixous and Derrida', a keynote lecture delivered at the Bodies in Movement conference at Edinburgh in May of 2011 and Kamillea Aghtan's response to O'Rourke. It seeks to discuss the textual intimacies of Hélène Cixous, Jacques Derrida (and by reflection Michael O'Rourke and Kamillea Aghtan) and the various sensual bodies of text created between them. As O'Rourke enfolds his textual subjects, Aghtan repositions O'Rourke's conception of textual friendship and love in terms of her response and, by doing so, suggests a new kind of (un)balanced relationship in its writing, the creation of different amalgams and further bodies of text that are thoroughly contingent, multiplying and obstinately open-ended.