In 1973 she published Le Corps lesbien (translated into English in 1975 as The Lesbian Body), and in 1976 Brouillon pour un dictionnaire des amantes (translated into English in 1979 as Lesbian Peoples: Material For A Dictionary), co-authored by her partner Sande Zeig. She was a founding member of such groups as the Petites Marguérites, the Gouines rouges, and the Féministes révolutionnaires. Throughout the early '70s, Wittig was a central figure in the radical lesbian and feminist movements in France. Ever since, Wittig's works have included both fiction and non-fiction essays evolving into an ongoing dialogue between theory and literary practice. In May 1970, Wittig co-published what can be described as the manifesto of the French feminist movement. Revolutionary both in form and content, this novel has been widely translated, debated, and used as a source of ideas by many major feminist and lesbian thinkers and writers around the world. It was in this atmosphere of radical political action that she completed what is often considered her most influential work - Les Guérillères – published in 1969.

Wittig was one of the first theoreticians and activists of the new feminist movement. Like many others, she realized that the radical men leading the revolt were not inclined to share leadership.

Wittig became very involved in the events surrounding the revolt of students and workers in May of 1968. Praised by such influential writers, the novel was quickly translated into English, where it also won critical acclaim. Her first novel, L'Opoponax, published by Minuit in 1964, immediately drew attention to her when it was awarded the Prix Médicis by a jury that included Nathalie Sarraute, Claude Simon, and Alain Robbe-Grillet. She moved to Paris in the 1950s, where she studied at the Sorbonne. Monique Wittig was born in the Haut Rhin department in Alsace.

The Straight Mind by Monique Wittig