The Argonauts

This had me sobbing. Beautifully written.

It was a bit confusing because apparently the author's wife goes by he him pronouns and underwent medical transition but identifies as female and butch still. I actually am of the exact same identity profile and I know he/him lesbians are a thing, but I still did not understand what was going on, and I dunno if she's purposely messing with the reader or what because there aren't any context clues. This book is largely about the author's relationship, so that makes it confusing. She talks about straight women loving her husband and being strange, so that's confusing – – like why wouldn't a straight woman be attracted to a man. But then it turns out he doesn't identify as a man. I don't know, maybe I'm too hung up on this or it's because I have autism, but I found it overly Cryptic even though I am from within the trans community. However there were many parts that hit me really deeply and I think this is really personal layered complicated and beautiful.

I read this with a book club, if it were not for the book club I would have never picked it up in the first place.(I got the Kindle copy that lacks certain notations available in the print edition.)This book seems to be a love letter to/about Maggie's partner, and the dependency of her own identity on her partner's identity. At times it's very vulnerable and honest, at other times it's insufferably pretentious and inaccessible. All in all, Maggie is a very gifted writer and extremely smart but lives in worlds of academia/gender identity that don't intersect with mine enough to fully connect with this text. If I was a gender studies/psych major I probably would have liked it a lot more.I probably won't read another Maggie Nelson book but I'm glad I can say I've read one.

I am writing this review primarily to warn others NOT to buy the Kindle edition, but to get the print copy instead. The Kindle version omits the margin citations, which attribute quoted passages to their sources. To me, these attributions are essential to the text. It was not until I saw a print copy from the library that I realized what had been missing in the electronic version. When I went back and re-read the passages with attribution, I had an entirely different experience of reading the book.So unless the publisher revises the Kindle edition to include these references, do NOT buy on Kindle. Get the print copy instead.An engaging and brave work that deserves to be read in its original, nuanced format.

I loved this book. I won't say anything so daft as "I feel like I know Maggie Nelson..." but I will say that I feel like I know exactly what she wants me to know about her. The list of mentions concerning her honesty and her biographical style is long and I certainly don't have a qualm with that opinion; however, what struck me most was her intimacy. Not simply the intimacy of the shared details, but the intimacy of the style of the "log" so-to-speak. The book is written as a log of a slice of her life and though the details are the vehicle, the fragmentary thoughts - time, location, train-of-thought, &c. - are the real message and they include the reader in a way that feels very intimate while also being pensive enough to remind that reader that it is a labor rather than an extended share-sessionImpressive work - I hope many other men are taking it up

Every line in this book feels worthy of deep meditation. It reads like a wonderful cross between a memoir, a novel, and poetry. I read it in one all-consuming sitting.I've read lots of queer literature, queer philosophy, and queer theory in the past decade, but this book made me feel more introspective, thoughtful, and curious about gender, femininity, motherhood, and sex than ever before. Nelson's references to feminist and queer theorists make you feel like you're "in" on something if you've read them, or serve as a great contextualizing introduction if you haven't.I'm absolutely in love with this book. It may be because it was so easy for me to see myself in her writing, but it may also be because she says so many true things that I haven't been able to voice, even to myself.

This review is based solely on opinion of the book rather than the product as a whole. The book was very stream of consciousness about motherhood/queerness.

okay wow, what did i just read?! the argonauts = an astounding meditation on gender, and sex, and motherhood, and family, and longing, and the limits of language...on the possibilities of love.maggie nelson has produced a robust, incredibly smart work of "autotheory." i don't think i've read anything like it before. i still feel dazed by the power of her prose, by her ability to synthesize information, observation, emotion. i've been pushed and discomforted and expanded as a reader.what would it mean to live in a world beyond binaries? what would it mean to live from a place of uncompromising freedom? provocative, bold, honest. highly recommended. five big stars.

Muy buen libro, muy recomendable, llegó a tiempo.

Easily my favourite book from 2019.

Tolle Denkerin, einVergnügen ihren Gedankengängen zu folgen! Sehr anregend und bereichernd, auch für meinen englischen Wortschatz;-)Und wie erfrischend undogmatisch!

THE ARGONAUTS, da americana Maggie Nelson, é um livro sobre e para o nosso tempo. Um misto de memória, comentário social/político e teoria de gênero, ela narra sua experiência da vida ao lado do escritor e artista Harry Dodge, de gênero fluido. Ao mesmo tempo, seu livro, publicado no ano passado, é um comentário sobre desafiar convenções num mundo cada vez dominado pelo conservadorismo.Indo e vindo entre história (pessoal e social) e divagações (pessoais, sociais e filosóficas), Maggie se dirige a um “você” que logo fica claro se tratar de Harry. Uma das primeiras questões a emergir na narrativa é a heteronormatividade – e quando se dá conta disso, a autora fica incomodada. Como ela e seu companheiro, que desafiam tantas coisas, sem se dar conta estão transformando sua relação em algo tão próximo do hegemônico? Eles chegam a se casar legalmente quando a Proposição 8 – que bania casamento do mesmo sexo na Califórnia - estava para ser aprovada (depois foi revogada). Ela explicar estar pensando apenas no lado prático e burocrático da união legal, mas mesmo assim, é uma questão que ela problematiza com profundidade.O que torna ainda mais interessante quando, num esforço em conjunto com o parceiro, ela tenta engravidar. É uma jornada ao mesmo tempo burguesa e transgressora, para ela. E, ao mesmo tempo em que Maggie tenta engravidar, Harry está fazendo seu tratamento com testosterona, e quando os dois chegam no ápice desses objetivos, ela escreve: “parecia que o corpo dele estava ficando cada vez mais ‘masculino’, e o meu, mais e mais ‘feminino’. Mas não era assim como me sentia por dentro. Do lado de dentro, éramos dois humanos passando pro transformações ao lado um do outro, sendo a testemunha um do outro. Em outras palavras, estávamos envelhecendo”.Citando autores que vão desde Wittgenstein e Lacan até chegar em Susan Sontag e Judith Butler, a questão central para Maggie são as políticas de identidade, suas aplicações e fracassos. Por meio de uma investigação pessoal, de sua história e de seu companheiro, a autora faz um retrato do presente, das condições individuais e da disputa do entre os indivíduos e a sociedade moldando personalidades.

Maggie Nelson can write. And she throws in quotes and ideas liberally to her word stew. Her technique is clever and impressive. The good is that there are some really tender insights and learning for the reader. The bad is that Maggie tries to justify why this isn't just another clever middle-class professional woman saying "look at me" because she did what billions of other women around the world have done, but thinks somehow her baby is noteworthy to strangers. He's not. Nice try though...