Hélène Cixous is well-known as a reader of 'modernist' writers: Joyce, Beckett, Kafka, Faulkner, Bachmann and others, while her own fiction writing forges many new directions in literature.

Foremost readers of the work of Hélène Cixous consider new interpretations of her vast literary and theoretical work, examining its relation and non-relation to modernism. Understanding Cixous, Understanding Modernism features an extended new interview with Cixous, conducted for the volume, in which she reflects on her relation to the critical category of 'modernism,' alongside a previously untranslated piece by the author.

As with other volumes in the series, Understanding Cixous, Understanding Modernism follows a three-part structure. Essays in the first section examine individual works by Cixous and the varied approaches her work has taken towards literature and art. The second section examines critical and aesthetic parameters of her writing practices. The final section contains a glossary of key terms and Cixous's neologisms recurrent throughout her work.