Middlesex (Eugenides)
Middlesex is a novel by Jeffrey Eugenides (* 1960). It was published in 2002, received the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, and was included in the BBC's selection of the best 20 novels from 2000 to 2014 in 2015 .
content
Calliope / Cal Stephanides, the (fictional) hermaphrodite main character, tells their life and family story.
By narrating the past, the reader experiences historical events such as the Smyrna fire and milestones in American history from the perspective of a “typical” immigrant family , for example when Lefty works in a Ford factory or runs an illegal bar during Prohibition . Years later, Milton defended his eatery during the Detroit race riot and later rose to be a successful businessman.
The story is embedded in a framework story : Cal is 41 years old and works as a diplomat at the US embassy in Berlin . There he met a photographer and fell in love with her. However, he has difficulty getting fully involved in the relationship because he has no clear male gender characteristics. Only at the end of the book does he reveal his secret to his beloved, who accepts him in his identity and maintains the relationship.
The description of the family history begins shortly after the First World War . After the death of their parents, the Greek siblings Desdemona and Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides live alone on the family's silk farm in western Turkey. Due to their isolation, an incestuous bond develops , which they only give in when they have to flee in the Greco-Turkish war in 1922 . You seize the opportunity to acquire fictional biographies. On the crossing to America , they stage a slow meeting and finally get married on the ship.
In America they stay with their cousin Sourmelina (Lina) in Detroit . Desdemona, tormented by remorse, gives birth to two healthy children, Milton and Zoë. As an adolescent, Milton falls in love with Lina's daughter, Tessie. Desdemona tries to thwart this relationship, but fails because she still hides her true motivation, the incest.
The marriage of Milton and Tessie results in a son, Bankrupt Vulture ("Chapter Eleven" in the American version - Chapter 11 is the law under whose protection a company threatened with bankruptcy can reorganize itself under judicial supervision. The nickname, although in the book is never explained, but probably stems from the fact that the family company went bankrupt under his leadership). The supposed second-born daughter Calliope is a pseudo-hermaphrodite or intersex because of a mutation in the 5α-reductase gene .
Eugenides describes Calliope's upbringing very sensitively and lets the adult Cal tell his story. Calliope felt that something was different about her, but only Cal can correctly interpret her feelings. As a child, she noticed a slight difference in herself, but outwardly appeared like a well-adapted girl. This difference does not become a problem until puberty . A fleeting sexual experience with a boy ends without him discovering its secret. She actually loves his sister, who in the book in a nod to a film by Luis Bunuel ( this Obscure Object of Desire , 1977) as an obscure object is called. With this, an adolescent-lesbian affair unfolds.
After a traffic accident, an ambulance doctor notices her secret and refers her to a specialist in New York . Shortly before the operation, which is supposed to make her a woman for good, she accidentally gains insight into her medical records. There she reads that she is actually a boy by genetic makeup. Calliope flees from her parents and the intervention, takes on a male identity and henceforth calls himself Cal. After a runaway experience in San Francisco , the main character finds his way back to her family.
interpretation
In addition to the story of Cal / Calliope, a lot of space is devoted to the question of human character. It is thought about whether humans are more strongly influenced by their inherited genes or by their upbringing. The distinction between gender (social) and sex (biological), in German both “gender”, is important for Cal's self-image. In terms of gender and upbringing, Cal is a girl and, in a way, stays that way for a lifetime. The sex change Calliope in puberty and becomes Cal. Despite this total biological change, he / she remains socially the person he / she always was to mother, brother and grandmother. She finds her own identity by accepting herself as she / he is: as a (pseudo-) hermaphrodite.
Social criticism
The integration of fellow citizens of Greek descent into US society is imperfect, despite their attempts at assimilation . When the Stephanides family wanted to buy a new house in the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe , they could only buy an otherwise difficult to sell property; the real estate agent withdrew offers for other houses shortly before the contract was concluded. Callie is sent to a girls' private school so - after the desegregation in Detroit schools - not having to go to school with black children. At the (white) private school Callie is sent to, there is a clear hierarchy: the students from families who have lived in the United States for generations are at the top of the hierarchy.
Only family members come to Milton's funeral, not even his business partners are present.
Autobiographical echoes
Like Cal, Jeffrey Eugenides has a Greek-American background. The author also lived in Berlin for some time, and like his girlfriend Cals, his wife has a Japanese name and works as a photographer.
expenditure
- Middlesex . Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York 2002, ISBN 0-374-19969-8
- Middlesex . From the American by Cornelia C. Walter and Eike Schönfeld. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-498-01670-9