Middlesex (novel)

Middlesex is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Jeffrey Eugenides published in 2002. Despite slow initial sales, the book became a bestseller. Its characters and events are loosely based on the author's life and his observations of his Greek heritage. Eugenides decided to write Middlesex after he read the memoir Herculine Barbin and was unsatisfied with its discussion of an intersex's anatomy and emotions.

Narrator and protagonist Cal Stephanides (initially called "Callie") is an hermaphrodite man of Greek descent with a condition known as 5-alpha-reductase deficiency, which causes him to have certain feminine traits. The first half of the novel is about Cal's family, and depicts Cal's grandparents migrating from Smyrna, a city in Asia Minor, to the United States in 1922. It then follows their assimilation into the American society. The latter half of the novel, which is set in the late 20th century, focuses on Cal's experiences in his hometown Detroit, Michigan and his escape to San Francisco where he comes to terms with his modified gender identity.

Primarily a Bildungsroman and family saga, the novel portrays the journey of a mutated gene through three generations of a Greek family, causing momentous changes in the protagonist's life. According to scholars, the novel's main themes are nature vs. nurture, rebirth, and the differing experiences of polar opposites—such as those found between men and women. Discussing the pursuit of the American Dream, it explores......
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