Helene Cixous
Activist
An Algerian-born author, academic, philosopher, critic, and feminist, she is best known for her 1975 work, The Laugh of the Medusa. Her other publications include Angst (fiction) and Portrait de Dora (theater).
During her early academic studies, she focused on the works of James Joyce.
Her work is in line with post-structuralist feminist theory and deals with the link between language and sexuality.
She was born in French Algeria to a German-Jewish mother and a French-Jewish father.
Her philosophical, psychological, and feminist writings were greatly influenced by the work of psychological theorist Sigmund Freud.