![]() ![]() Narrated in a series of crystallising paragraphs, it covers an extraordinary amount of ground for a short book, weaving the ideas of heavy-duty thinkers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein, Julia Kristeva and Judith Butler into its account of the parallel physical transformations of Nelson and Harry. ![]() What makes The Argonauts remarkable is not so much its hybrid form or the frankness of its personal admissions – autobiographical essays are common as muck these days – but the concentrated clarity of Nelson's thought. Its generic indeterminacy becomes a reflection of Nelson's doubts and uncertainties as she negotiates her loving relationship with her transgender partner Harry (whom she addresses in the second person to avoid using a gendered pronoun), and her experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and parenting. It positions itself at that point where the problems of self-expression, sexuality, identity, politics and psychology converge. The book is part memoir, part philosophical rumination. It's a good question, which The Argonauts answers in an admirable fashion. A combination of self-expression and ideas: The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson. ![]()
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