Wittig, Monique (1935–2003)
Wittig, Monique (1935–2003)
French feminist writer and literary theorist. Born July 13, 1935, in Dannemarie, Alsace, France; died Jan 3, 2003, in Tucson, AZ; dau. of Maria Wittig and Henri Dubois (poet); sister of Gilberte Wittig; attended the Sorbonne; lived with Sande Zeig.
Lesbian and radical feminist, founded the group Féministes Révolutionnaires; was one of the major players in the movement to reject the social convention that allows women to be marked by gender in language; published 1st novel L'Opoponax (1964, English trans. The Opoponax, 1966), winning the Prix Médicis; wrote Les guérillères (1969, Eng. trans. 1972), a Utopian allegory; other books include Le Corps lesbien, (1973, Eng. trans. The Lesbian Body, 1975), Virgile, Non (1984, Eng. trans. Across the Acheron, 1987), La pensée straight (1980, Eng trans. The Straight Mind and Other Essays,); with Sande Zeig, made the film, The Girl (2001); moved to US to teach at University of California at Berkeley (1976); taught at the University of Arizona (1990–2002).