The Lesbian Body

The Lesbian Body is a 1973 novel by Monique Wittig, translated into English in 1975. Wittig, a writer associated with the French avant-garde and with feminist thought, conceived the book with the female body and desire between women at its center.

The novel explores the love between women through fragmentary language and intense bodily imagery. According to critics, lesbian lovers literally invade each other's bodies as an act of love, an idea that breaks with narrative conventions and with the traditional representation of sexuality.

Wittig said that when she came upon the title, the association of the two words made her laugh, as it seemed absurdly sarcastic. That irony is part of the work's intention, which questions inherited codes about the body and desire.