Arabel Summent

The book contains nine essays by Monique Wittig, written between 1980 and 1990, and published for the first time in English in 1992 under the title "The Straight Mind" (a reference to Lévi-Strauss' "The Savage Mind"). In the first part of the book, Wittig describes her political and philosophical approach as "materialist lesbianism," characterizing heterosexuality as a political regime based on the oppression and exploitation of women. In the second half of the essay collection, Wittig engages with the practice of writing itself, as well as literature and language as the material of writing.