MiddlesexSpanning eight decades and chronicling the wild ride of a Greek-American family through the vicissitudes of the twentieth century, Jeffrey Eugenides’ witty, exuberant novel on one level tells a traditional story about three generations of a fantastic, absurd, lovable immigrant family -- blessed and cursed with generous doses of tragedy and high comedy. But there’s a provocative twist. Cal, the narrator -- also Callie -- is a hermaphrodite. And the explanation for this takes us spooling back in time, through a breathtaking review of the twentieth century, to 1922, when the Turks sacked Smyrna and Callie’s grandparents fled for their lives. Back to a tiny village in Asia Minor where two lovers, and one rare genetic mutation, set our narrator’s life in motion. Middlesex is a grand, utterly original fable of crossed bloodlines, the intricacies of gender, and the deep, untidy promptings of desire. It’s a brilliant exploration of divided people, divided families, divided cities and nations -- the connected halves that make up ourselves and our world. |
Contents
BOOK | 3 |
Matchmaking | 19 |
An Immodest Proposal | 40 |
The Silk Road | 63 |
Henry Fords EnglishLanguage Melting Pot | 79 |
Minotaurs | 106 |
Marriage on Ice | 126 |
Tricknology | 149 |
The Wolverette | 291 |
Waxing Lyrical | 307 |
The Obscure Object | 319 |
Tiresias in Love | 340 |
Flesh and Blood | 361 |
The Gun on the Wall | 377 |
The Oracular Vulva | 401 |
Looking Myself Up in Websters | 424 |
Clarinet Serenade | 166 |
News of the World | 183 |
Ex Ovo Omnia | 198 |
Home Movies | 215 |
Opa | 232 |
Middlesex | 252 |
The Mediterranean Diet | 271 |
Go West Young Man | 440 |
Gender Dysphoria in San Francisco | 459 |
Hermaphroditus | 478 |
AirRide | 497 |
The Last Stop | 513 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
5-alpha-reductase deficiency arms asked baby bedroom began body brassiere brother Bursa Cadillac Callie Calliope Chapter Eleven church clarinet climbed cousin dark demona Desdemona Detroit door dress everything eyes face Fard Father Mike feel felt front gender identity girl grandfather grandmother grandparents Greek Greektown Grosse Pointe hair hand happened head hermaphrodite hot dogs inside Jerome Jimmy knew laughed Lefty Lefty's legs light Lina lips looked Luce married Middlesex Milton morning mother moved movie never night nose Obscure Object Okay parents Philobosian play pulled rebetika rum-running shouted silk silkworm smell smiling smoke Smyrna Sourmelina Stephanides stood stopped street tell Tessie Tessie's thing told took trying turned voice waiting watched wearing wedding crown window women worry yia yia Zebra Room Zizmo Zoë Zora