Technologies of Gender

Book excerpt: "Technologies of Gender builds a bridge between the fashionable orthodoxies of academic theory (Lacan, Foucault, Derrida, et al.) and the frequently-marginalized contributions of feminist theory. . . . In sum, de Lauretis has written a book that should be required reading for every feminist in need of theoretical ammunition—and for every theorist in need of feminist enlightenment." —B. Ruby Rich " . . . sets philosophical ideas humming. . . . she has much to say." —Cineaste "I can think of no other work that pushes the debate on the female subject forward with such passion and intellectual rigor." —SubStance This book addresses the question of gender in poststructuralist theoretical discourse, postmodern fiction, and women's cinema. It examines the construction of gender both as representation and as self-representation in relation to several kinds of texts and argues that feminism is producing a radical rewriting, as well as a rereading, of the dominant forms of Western culture.