Mouth ghosts: the taste of the os-text

Abstract

This chapter proposes a radical connection between femininity and orality. In particular it proposes the new term 'os-text' to describe the relationship between writing and speaking one's own text in performance. The 'os-text' incorporates the uttering mouths (the 'os'), the kissing (osculation) of words into being, and the oscillation between writing and speaking. Examining the work of half/angel as example, the chapter develops the idea of the 'os-text' in relation to the feminist theory of Helene Cixous and Luce Irigaray.