Philippines

Hélène Cixous is one of the world's leading writers. She is founder and former director of the Centre de Recherches en Études Féminines at Paris VIII University

• AcknowledgementsAuthor's Note PhilippinesOnomatelepathyNotes

"The bliss the author evidently takes in her games with reading and recollection is so disarming (and disarmed) that one willingly follows her down the rabbit-hole to enjoy a peculiarly phantasmagoric experience."The Guardian "The cross-cultural connections multiply and the image of the almond is sent back to us from everywhere, as though by telepathy. Cixous's vision snaps into focus: the almond is her sensory acrostic for the Proustian madeleine. Its 'telepathic' attraction for its lost other half, if we can tune into it, has the power to body forth the world."Times Literary Supplement"A fascinating text, whose highly personal exploration of the author's passion for certain books opens onto aconsideration of the relationship between reading and childhood in general."Mairéad Hanrahan, University College London"Read this enchanted book before it is too late to learn that childhood is indispensable for true reading, that the truth arrives too late, and that through the prison bars of ‘too late' lies the path - the telepathic path - to happiness. Each step counts."Sarah Wood, University of Kent