Cixous, Derrida and Psychoanalysis: The Principle of Intermittence, or Dwelling on the Angle

If we consider the role of psychoanalysis in Hélène Cixous's and Jacques Derrida's writing, we must assume that both differ considerably. Derrida's work, from its beginning, includes several essays on psychoanalysis. Cixous, faithful to her conception of writing as philosophical fiction, prefers to present the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, as a character in many texts, above all in her famous Portrait of Dora, but also in others like OR, Les lettres de mon père. I have chosen this book by Cixous for my analysis, since, in my view, OR proposes a performative way of thinking about ‘life death’ which Derrida conceptualizes in several of his books.