ABSTRACT
Le Rire de la Méduse was published in France in 1975, a crucial date for the MLF (Movement of Liberation of Women) and a culminating point in Cixous’ critical feminist theory. This corresponded as well to a turning point in Cixous’ fictional writings. She started writing less theoretical texts per se, and more consistently blended her theory into the core of her fiction in the last two decades. Cixous is a prolific writer with a consistent output of a book each year, the latest being L’Ange au secret. It is obvious that interest in Cixous’ writings and criticism, far from waning in the United States, seems to be gaining momentum. In The Laugh of the Medusa, Cixous had already something to say on the concept of gift. In her early writings, she recognized the importance of the problematics of the gift, as seen by some as “the gift-that-takes.” She differentiated it from the true other gift, the “gift-that-gives.”
