L’Opoponax is a 1964 novel by Monique Wittig

Monique Wittig

Monique Wittig was a French author and feminist theorist who wrote about overcoming socially enforced gender roles and who coined the phrase "heterosexual contract". She published her first novel, L'Opoponax, in 1964...

. It was translated into English in 1966.

Plot introduction

L'Opoponax is about 'typical childhood experiences like the first day of school and the first romance'.

Literary significance and criticism

The novel won the Prix Médicis

Prix Médicis

The Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by Gala Barbisan and Jean-Pierre Giraudoux. It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent."...

 in 1964.

The New Yorker

The New Yorker

The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...

called it 'a charming feat of virtuosity'. The New York Times Book Review

The New York Times Book Review

The New York Times Book Review is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry. The offices are located near Times Square in New York...

said Wittig has 'made what can only be called a brilliant re-entry into childhood.'.