Universe of Desire
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012
My choice to reimagine scenes from The Scarlet Letter, Lolita, and Middlesex in the context of 21st century technology, specifically the internet, came from three factors. One is the “Universe of Desire” exhibit at the Museum of Sex, which showcased the collision of sex and internet and blurring of publicity and anonymous “privacy.” The exhibit […]
Universe of Desire
Tags: Internet, Lolita, Middlesex, Private, Public, The Scarlet Letter
Posted in Final Projects, Vita Xie | No Comments »
Biopower with a capital B
Monday, May 7th, 2012
According to Michel Foucault, “biopower” emerged as the deployment of alliance and its complementary sovereign power over death (to allow or disallow life) shifted to the deployment of sexuality and accompanying power over life on the individual bodily level and on a larger population level (138-139). Foucault continues with that this power over life uses […]
Biopower with a capital B
Tags: Ambiguity, Complexity, Foucault, hermaphrodite, Middlesex, Power, Scientific
Posted in May 8, Vita Xie | No Comments »
Directions to the Inside
Sunday, May 6th, 2012
I think maybe all of the gender theory I have been reading for another class has gotten to me because I found myself increasingly frustrated with Cal’s characterization of gender and sex. I also, however, don’t have a solution for the ways in which society in general is stuck in the binary of male or […]
Directions to the Inside
Tags: Foucault, Identity, Middlesex, Power-Relations
Posted in May 8, Whitney Porter | No Comments »
Ourselves, looking at others, looking at us
Sunday, May 6th, 2012
This week, reading Books Three and Four, I found that the story in Middlesex changes once Cal turns the focus on himself. “Up until now it hasn’t been my world,” he says in the beginning of Book Three (217). The story’s style and quality is right to change; it’s harder to talk about oneself than […]
Ourselves, looking at others, looking at us
Tags: Gender Identity, hermaphrodite, Middlesex
Posted in May 8, Tal Shtulsaft | No Comments »
Deconstructing “The Norm”
Monday, April 30th, 2012
So sorry for the late post!! Finals time is starting to take over! I am absolutely loving Middlesex. I think it’s amazing that Eugenides is able to take such a powerful taboo right from the very beginning and make us (well at least me) root for the characters involved. Lefty and Desdemona’s relationship has all […]
Deconstructing “The Norm”
Tags: Foucault, Identity, incest, Middlesex, Social Constructionist, taboos
Posted in May 1, Whitney Porter | No Comments »
Calliope/Cal: A Trustworthy Narrator, Thanks to Eugenides
Monday, April 30th, 2012
I really, really enjoy Calliope/Cal’s tone in Middlesex. Give the credit given to author Jeffrey Eugenides, Calliope/Cal has the ability to help the reader capture the full emotional value of images, actions and sequences without the excessive reliance of adjectives. I was beyond moved reading the passage when Dr. Philobosian was walking through his home […]
Calliope/Cal: A Trustworthy Narrator, Thanks to Eugenides
Tags: Calliope/Cal, Humbert Humbert, Lolita, Middlesex, Narrative, syntax
Posted in May 1, Peter Panousopoulos | No Comments »
American Epic
Saturday, April 28th, 2012
Despite being in the midst of reading articles about hermaphrodites, drag queens, and transsexuals and finishing the documentary, Southern Comfort, for another course, I think I’ll try to choose to not write about intersexuality and related topics for this week’s response for Middlesex simply because in the bulk of book one and two, Calliope/ Cal […]
American Epic
Tags: American Experience, incest, Middlesex, Narrative, Sexuality
Posted in May 1, Vita Xie | 1 Comment »