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Michèle Causse

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Michèle Causse
Michèle Causse
Born(1936-07-29)29 July 1936
Martel, Lot, France
Died29 July 2010(2010-07-29) (aged 74)
Zurich, Switzerland
OccupationAuthor
Known forRadical activism

Michèle Causse (29 July 1936 – 29 July 2010)[1] was a French activist, author, and self-proclaimed radical lesbian.

Early life

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Causse was born in the Martel region of Lot in France.[2][3] She later taught in Tunisia, and then lived for ten years in Rome, where she studied Chinese.[4] After that she moved to Martinique and then to the United States before emigrating to Canada.[5]

Theory

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Canadian academic Clive Thompson has referred to Causse as a "writer of radical lesbian texts."[6] In her works, she is critical of heterosexuality, stating that "as long as a woman wishes to please a man, she is inauthentic... She does not have the integrity, the un-corruptibility that comes with not wishing to please."[7]

Causse was also critical of both the Women's Movement and of the concept of a homosexual movement, stating, "I am not a feminist, I am not a homosexual, I am a radical lesbian." She believed that "the women's movement is sustained by lesbians in every country; it is a lesbian movement, profoundly lesbian."[8] She was also critical of the influence of patriarchy on lesbians, claiming that lesbians were "phallicized" in the 1980s by the male homosexual movement.[9]

Translations

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Causse translated between the French, English and Italian languages and was fluent in all three languages. Her translations of works included texts by Herman Melville, Gertrude Stein, Ti-Grace Atkinson, Djuna Barnes, Jane Bowles, Willa Cather, Mary Daly, Ignazio Silone and Alice Munro.

Last years and death

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In her last years, she lived in the southwest of France.[10] Causse chose to end her life on her 74th birthday, in association with Dignitas, an assisted suicide group in Switzerland.[11][12]

Although Causse had no terminal illness, she had several severe diseases.[which?] Her euthanasia was filmed and then shown on Swiss TV.[citation needed]

Bibliography

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  • Dé/figures du soi, (unpublished)
  • Hors de soi in ...Disent-ils, Ed. Ahla/Bagdam, Montréal / Toulouse, 2006
  • Concept d'amour né de l'écriture de ( ), Bagdam Espace Lesbien, Toulouse, 2006
  • Contre le sexage, le bréviaire des Gorgones, Ed. Balland, Paris, 2000
  • Court of appeal, récit en anglais, Revue Tessera, Montréal, 1996, in Anthologie Orlanda Frauenverlag, Berlin, 1997
  • Quelle lesbienne êtes-vous ?, Paroles de lesbiennes, Archives Recherches Cultures Lesbiennes ARCL, Paris, 1996, 72 p.
  • Duelle, Revue Treize, Montréal, 1994
  • Voyages de la grande naine en Androssie, Ed. Trois, Laval, Québec, 1993
  • L’Interloquée-Les Oubliées de l’oubli-Dé/générée, Ed. Trois, Laval, Québec, 1991
  • The world as will and representation in Lesbian Philosophies and cultures, Ed. Jeffner Allen, 1990, pages 259–274
  • L'ilote, Revue Trois, Montréal, 1990
  • A quelle heure est la levée dans le désert ?, Ed. Trois, Laval, Québec, 1990
  • (          ), (prononcer Parenthèses), Collection Topaze, Ed. Trois, Laval, 1987, 148 p.
  • Le monde comme volonté et représentation in Emergence d'une culture au féminin, Ed. St Martin, Montréal, 1986
  • Lettres à Omphale, Ed. Denoël-Gonthier, Paris, 1984
  • Rencontre avec Djuna Barnes in L'almanach des dames, Ed. Flammarion, Paris, 1982, Amsterdam, 1983, pages 139–160
  • Berthe ou un demi-siècle auprès de l'Amazone, Ed. Tierce, Paris, 1982
  • L'intruse, poésie, Ed. du Nouveau Commerce, Paris, 1980
  • Petite réflexion sur Bartleby, Ed. du Nouveau Commerce, Paris, 1980
  • Lesbiana. Seven Portraits, Ed. du Nouveau Commerce, Paris, 1980
  • Dire du corps, corps du dire in Journal d'une femme soumise de Mara, Ed. Flammarion, Paris, 1979, Amsterdam, 1981
  • Ecrits Voix d'Italie, Ed. des Femmes, Paris, 1977
  • L’encontre, Ed. des Femmes, Paris, 1975

Multimedia

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  • La narrée navrée, lecture, Centenaire de Violette Leduc, video, Arras, 2007
  • Une écrivain en terres occupées, film de Michel Garcia-Luna, DVD 47mn20, Ed. Lunaprod, 2005
  • Corps de paroles, film of Suzanne Vertue and Dianne Heffernan, 37mn, Video-elles, Montreal, 1989
  • A la lettre, cassette, Ed. Anne-Marie Alonzo, Montréal

Articles

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  • Nomen est omen, post-face in "Défigures du soi", (inédit)
  • Claude Cahun ou la mutante héroïque, Pour une anthologie des créatrices lesbiennes dans la Résistance, a cura di Paola Guazzo, Bagdam Espace Lesbien, avril 2008
  • La narrée navrée, Centenaire de Violette Leduc, Revue Trésors à prendre, dir. Elisabeth Seys, 2007
  • Inside Deep throat, commentary on the film Deep Throat, in collaboration with Katy Barasc, Sysiphe, 2006
  • Pourquoi les gays ne peuvent-ils pas être les alliés objectifs des lesbiennes ?, Les Pénélopes, 2002, Bagdam Espace Lesbien, 2006
  • Noir dessein (lettre à Nicolas Hulot), Bagdam Espace Lesbien, 2006
  • Le genre comme espace de contention, Université de Beyrouth, 2005
  • A propos de Lynndie England : Tragédie de la mimesis ou comment muer l'objet en sujet répréhensible, in collaboration with Katy Barasc, Sysiphe, 2004
  • Qui a peur de Valerie Solanas ?, Bagdam Espace Edition, Toulouse, 2004, pages 19–35
  • Hommage à Monique Wittig, Tribute to Monique Wittig. Extrait du chapitre "La grande Pérégrine" in Voyages de la Grande Naine en Androssie (Ed. Trois, Montréal, 1993), numéro spécial, Labrys-études féministes, Brasilia-Montréal-Paris, septembre 2003
  • Sur le voile, Sisyphe, 2003
  • Une politique textuelle inédite : l'alphalecte in Lesbianisme et féminisme. Histoires politiques, Ed. L'harmattan, 2002
  • L'universite : Alma mater ou père indigne ?, 2e Colloque international d'études lesbiennes: La grande dissidence et le grand effroi, Actes du colloque Espace lesbien n° 2, Bagdam Espace Edition, Toulouse, 2001

References

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  1. ^ "Suisse. Décès de Michèle Causse, écrivain et militante lesbienne". Le Télégramme (in French). 30 July 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  2. ^ BIOGRAPHIE de Michèle CAUSSE, 'Revue Violette Leduc
  3. ^ Weil, Lise. Trivia: A Journal of Ideas, issue 20 (1992)
  4. ^ "Michèle Causse". Causse. 2009. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
  5. ^ "Michèle Causse". Archived from the original on 15 May 2008.
  6. ^ Thompson, Clive. Bakhtin and Feminist Projects: Judith Butler's Gender Trouble in Bakhtin: Carnival and Other Subjects, Ed: David Shepherd 1993 Rodopi, ISBN 90-5183-450-0, p213
  7. ^ Causse, Michele. La Parole métèque, 1991, Montreal, pp 17–18
  8. ^ Frédéric Martel, Jane Marie Todd, The Pink and the Black: Homosexuals in France Since 1968, Stanford University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8047-3274-4, p81
  9. ^ Frédéric Martel, Jane Marie Todd, The Pink and the Black: Homosexuals in France Since 1968, Stanford University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8047-3274-4, p. 176
  10. ^ Causse, Michèle. Trivia Magazine, Issue 3, Contributor notes Trivia Magazine Archived 17 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ "La mort de Michèle Causse | France Soir". Archived from the original on 6 August 2010. Retrieved 12 July 2011. France Soir
  12. ^ "Michèle Causse une vie-à-l'œuvre". michele-causse.com.
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