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Aug 11, 2016lukasevansherman rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
It's not often that I read a book that I can't easily classify or explain. Maggie Nelson's "The Argonauts" (It takes its name from Jason's crew, who were seeking the Golden Fleece.) is superficially an essay and it is intensely personal, but it's also a manifesto, a memoir, a political piece, and an intellectual work. I can't say that I always understood it, but I admired it and it's not like much else I've read recently. If I had to distill its message, I'd say it's about the crossroads in gender and sexuality we currently find ourselves at, as traditional boundaries and lines are blurring (or becoming fluid, which seems to be the popular term). With its references to Deleuze, Lacan, and Wittgenstein, it can be a little overwhelming for the non-academic, but Nelson's writing is mostly clear and avoids academic wankery. My favorite sentence begins: "(Eve) Sedwick did an enormous amount to put women's anal eroticism on the map."