So Close: Writing That Touches

In a culture pervaded by a ‘law of tact’ (Derrida, 2005: 66), this paper presents a theory of ‘tactile poetics’ – writing that touches. Reading So Close (2009) by Hélène Cixous, I consider the reciprocal relationship between touch and feeling and the ways that writing can perform contact. Outlining the history of touch and its relationship to language, the essay examines the literary texture of Cixous's poetics, drawing on theoretical work by Renu Bora and Jacques Derrida in order to formulate a theory of writing that ‘in its essence touches upon the body’ (Nancy, 2008a: 11). Suggesting ways that writing can touch without tampering, I invite you to open up your own poetics to new textures of writing.