READING DIALOGUES: EXPLORING INTERAGDONS BETWEEN TEXT AND IDENTITY IN THE FICTION OF CHRISTIANE BAROCHE, HELENE CIXOIJS AND PAULE CONSTANT Thesis presented by Gillian Rye for the degree of Ph.D. University College London ProQuest Number: U641924 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest U641924 Published by ProQuest LLC(2015). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT This thesis is an exploratory study of the transformative potential o f reading, taking as its specific focus the interaction between fictional texts and the identity o f the reader. Based on close readings of post-1980 fiction by the three writers, Christiane Baroche, Hélène Cixous and Paule Constant, the textual analyses are situated largely within a framework o f feminist theory, although they are not restricted to gender issues. The first chapter sets out my conceptual framework, positing a dialogic model of reading and formulating a dynamic, mobile concept of identity. The remaining chapters are speculative explorations o f interactions between text and reader, each chapter considering examples fi^om each of the three writers. My approach is thematic, the topics being both suggested by the texts themselves and implicated in different ways with (sexual) identity; identification (Chapter 2), loss (Chapter 3), mother-daughter relations (Chapter 4) and difference (Chapter 5). The textual analyses are underpinned by a politics o f reading which is explicitly foregrounded in Chapter 2. My analyses draw out a series of reading effects - meditation, interrogation, speculation - and suggest that it is when these effects last beyond the reading of the text that reading is likely to be most transformative. Moreover, the most productive interactions between text and identity, whether they are psychological or political, are shown also to involve interactions between individual and collective identities. My thesis presents analyses of fiction texts which are not yet widely studied in anglophone countries, implements a sustained exploration of the effects of reading, and provides a conceptual framework for further investigations. I hope that in this way it will contribute to, and advance, knowledge in not only French studies but also both feminist literary studies and a growing body o f scholarly work on reading. In memory of my mother, Marjorie, (1920-1990) who taught me to read and to love books CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................................................................... 6 INTRODIJCTION.................................................................................................................................................................8 Endnotes.............................................................................................................................................................. 16 1. (WOMEN’S) WRITING AND (WOMEN’S) IDEIVDTY................................................................................................ 17 ECRITURE FEMININE.............................................................................................................................................. 19 READING.................................................................................................................................................................... 31 IDENTITY...................................................................................................................................................................38 IRIGARAY..................................................................................................................................................................49 SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 1................................................................................................................................... 54 Endnotes.............................................................................................................................................................55 2. TEXT/READER RELATIONS: INCLUSION/EXCLUSION, SEDUCTIONS AND THE POUTICS OF READING....................................................................................................................60 READING (ABOUT) READING.............................................................................................................................62 Reading Identifications: Textual Readers ............................................................................................................. 63 Example 1............................................................................................................................................................ 63 Example 2 ............................................................................................................................................................ 66 Example 3 ............................................................................................................................................................ 73 Example 4 ............................................................................................................................................................ 76 Text/Reader Relations.............................................................................................................................................81 Example 1 ............................................................................................................................................................ 81 Example 2 ............................................................................................................................................................ 84 Example 3 ............................................................................................................................................................ 91 Example 4 ............................................................................................................................................................ 94 READING ABOUT WRITING................................................................................................................................103 SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 2 ..................................................................................................................................118 Endnotes........................................................................................................................................................... 121 3. READING (ABOUT) LOSS: REMEMBERING LOSING IN ORDER TO CREATE (ONES SELF)..................................................................................................................................... 125 PAULE CONSTANT................................................................................................................................................130 Colonialism .............................................................................................................................................................135 Childhood ............................................................................................................................................................... 137 W omen....................................................................................................................................................................139 HELENE CIXOUS.................................................................................................................................................... 144 CHRISTIANE BAROCHE.......................................................................................................................................154 SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 3................................................................................................................................. 164 Endnotes...........................................................................................................................................................167 4. SUBJECTS IN LOVE? WOMEN-TO-WGMEN RELATIONSHIPS ............................................................................. 169 PAULE CONSTANT............................................................................................................................................... 177 CHRISTIANE BAROCHE...................................................................................................................................... 192 HELENE CIXOUS................................................................................................................................................... 201 SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 4 .................................................................................................................................211 Endnotes......................................................................................................................................................... 219 5. SEXUAL/TEXTUAL