Gynesis: Configurations of Woman and Modernity by Alice B. Jardine (review)

248Rocky Mountain Review ALICE B. JARDINE. Gynesis: Configurations of Woman and Modernity. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985. 281 p. In contemporary' France it is possible to define two simultaneous, although mutually exclusive, feminine perspectives as practiced in the social and literary worlds. One is basically in line with the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States whose overall goal is that of ameliorating the existing feminine condition, while the other, called initially "Psy et Po" (Psychanalise et Politique), takes exception to the concepts of feminism and equality in favor of "liberation" and "difference." This latter group, created out of the turbulent events of May 1968 and headed by Helene Cixous, writer and editor of Editions des Femmes (which is not a bookstore as the author states on p. 62 but a prestigious and influential publishing house), aligned itself within Marxism and Lacanian psychoanalysis to which was added linguistic concepts, Derridian philosophy, and semiology. Due to the fundamental differences between these two groups, Po and Psy (it recently decided to switch its appellation) has chosen to attack not only the M.L.F. in France but the American feminist movement as well. Although these differences have been generally acknowledged and at times even intrinsically scrutinized since the 1960s, few authors have attempted to analyze the concept of woman and thefeminine within the confines of modernité (well articulated by Jardine as postmodernism). In her study, Alice A. Jardine seeks to rethink feminine approaches to cultural translation and to transform "woman and the feminine into verbs at the interior of . . . narratives that are today experiencing a crisis of legitimation " (25). She labels this rethinking process with the neologism indicated in the title of this fascinating critical work: gyn- signifying woman, and -sis designating process. This engaging study is divided into four distinctive and yet interlocking parts. The first, "Intersections," allows the author to discuss the problematization of woman primarily in contemporary French thought. She begins with an intriguing historical perspective of feminine discourse in order to better conceptualize possible new intersections for both modernity and feminism which she hopes will lead to a new creative feminist writing style. Furthermore, Jardine adroitly reenforces the tenet that feminist criticism is deeply rooted in its own time and history. This chapter also incorporates an informative historical presentation of male paranoia from medieval times through today. In chapter 2, "Interfacings," Jardine explores three major phenomenological topologies in French thought (the Cartesian Subject, Representation , and Man's Truth) and their eventual breakdown, default, and demise. It should be noted that a good knowledge of Lacan, Derrida, and Deleuze would help the reader decipher many of the philosophical and psychoanalytical premises inscribed not only in this second chapter but in the third, in which Jardine concentrates on major contemporary French writers who represent her concept of gynesis. In this third chapter, "Intertexts," she focuses mainly on feminine observations and feminine discourses found in the writings of the revolutionary Jacques Lacan and the deconstructionalist Jacques Derrida. The pages on Lacan's analysis of The Ravishing ofLoI Stein by Marguerite Duras are of particular interest especially for those wishing to encounter an analysis of disparate readings of the same text. "Interferences," the final chapter, takes up those themes found in the opening chapter but now directly applied to both French and American male texts while seeking evidence of the possibility of speaking of gynesis in contemporary American literature. Jardine ends her study by questioning that possibility and claiming her book to be only an introduction to potentialities of true and authentic feminine writing. It is, however, a notedly rich prolegomenon. Gynesis is not an easy interdisciplinary book for the uninitiated in philosophy, Book Reviews249 psychoanalysis, and contemporary theories of critical analysis. Idiosyncratic in nature, Jardine will undoubtedly mystify the unwarned student with her esoteric references to French feminist thinking, psychoanalytical terminology, existential jargon, and profound philsophical concepts, much of which will require deep doses of prior reading and study. Yet, her acute perceptions of the problems with the word feminism within the confines of modernity in France and postmodernism in the United States are intelligently stated, and her desire to not only open up the discussion but to internationalize that...