Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts: A Genre-Bending Work of Autotheory - EPUB File
The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson: A Genre-Bending Memoir of Love, Language and Family
If you are looking for a book that will challenge your assumptions, expand your horizons, and touch your heart, you might want to read The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson. This book is not your typical memoir, nor your typical essay, nor your typical anything. It is a unique and original work of "autotheory" that offers fresh, fierce, and timely thinking about desire, identity, and the limitations and possibilities of love and language.
The.argonauts.maggie.nelson.epub
In this article, we will give you a brief summary of what The Argonauts is about, why it is a work of "autotheory", how to download it in epub format, what are some of the themes and topics discussed in it, and what are some of the reviews and awards for it. By the end of this article, you will have a better understanding of why The Argonauts is a book worth reading.
What is The Argonauts about?
The Argonauts is a genre-bending memoir that tells the story of the author's relationship with the artist Harry Dodge, who is fluidly gendered, as well as her journey to and through a pregnancy. Along the way, she also explores various aspects of sexuality, gender, and identity through her personal experience and her engagement with iconic theorists and thinkers.
The author's relationship with Harry Dodge
The book begins with a scene where Nelson falls in love with Dodge at first sight. She describes their attraction as "a ferocity that matched my own". She also recounts their conversations, their intimacy, their conflicts, their joys, and their challenges as a couple. She writes candidly about their sexual practices, their desires, their fantasies, and their boundaries. She also reflects on how their relationship challenges the norms and expectations of society regarding gender roles, monogamy, marriage, and family.
The author's journey to and through pregnancy
The book also chronicles Nelson's decision to have a child with Dodge, who already has a son from a previous relationship. She shares her experiences of undergoing artificial insemination, dealing with nausea, feeling the baby's movements, giving birth, and breastfeeding. She also discusses the physical, emotional, and psychological changes that pregnancy and motherhood entail. She also examines how her pregnancy and motherhood affect her relationship with Dodge, who undergoes hormone therapy and surgery to transition to a more masculine body.
The author's exploration of sexuality, gender, and identity
The book is not only a memoir of Nelson's personal life, but also a memoir of her intellectual life. She draws on various sources of knowledge, such as philosophy, psychoanalysis, feminism, queer theory, art, literature, and poetry, to analyze and understand her own and others' experiences of sexuality, gender, and identity. She questions the binary categories of male and female, gay and straight, normal and abnormal, and proposes a more fluid and nuanced view of human diversity. She also critiques the violence and oppression that marginalized groups face in a heteronormative and patriarchal society.
Why is The Argonauts a work of "autotheory"?
The Argonauts is a work of "autotheory" because it combines autobiography and theory in a creative and unconventional way. Nelson uses her personal experience as a source of knowledge, but also as a starting point for engaging with other forms of knowledge. She does not separate her subjective feelings from her objective reasoning, but rather shows how they inform and enrich each other. She also does not follow the conventions and limitations of language, but rather experiments with different styles, formats, and genres to express her ideas.
The author's use of personal experience as a source of knowledge
Nelson does not shy away from sharing her personal experience in all its complexity and specificity. She does not try to generalize or universalize her experience, but rather acknowledges its singularity and particularity. She does not try to fit her experience into existing frameworks or categories, but rather creates her own terms and concepts to describe it. She does not try to justify or rationalize her experience, but rather embraces its contradictions and ambiguities. She does not try to hide or censor her experience, but rather exposes it in all its vulnerability and honesty.
The author's engagement with iconic theorists and thinkers
Nelson does not only rely on her personal experience as a source of knowledge, but also engages with other sources of knowledge from various disciplines and fields. She quotes extensively from iconic theorists and thinkers, such as Judith Butler, Michel Foucault, Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Lacan, Donald Winnicott, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Leo Bersani, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and many others. She does not simply repeat or summarize their ideas, but rather dialogues with them, challenges them, applies them, expands them, or transforms them according to her own perspective and context.
The author's challenge to the conventions and limitations of language
How to download The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson in epub format?
If you are interested in reading The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson, you might want to download it in epub format. Epub is a popular and widely supported format for ebooks that has many benefits, such as:
It is compatible with most devices and platforms, such as smartphones, tablets, e-readers, computers, and browsers.
It is adjustable to different screen sizes and orientations, allowing you to customize your reading experience.
It is easy to transfer and share with others, as it is a single file that can be sent via email or cloud storage.
It is rich in features and functionalities, such as bookmarks, annotations, hyperlinks, images, fonts, and styles.
There are many websites where you can download The Argonauts epub for free or at a low cost. However, not all of them are legal or safe. Some of them may contain viruses, malware, or spyware that can harm your device or compromise your privacy. Some of them may also violate the author's or publisher's rights and copyrights. Therefore, you should be careful and selective when choosing a website to download The Argonauts epub from.
Here are some of the best websites to download The Argonauts epub legally and safely:
Website
Description
Price
Ebooks.com
This is a reputable and reliable website that offers a wide range of ebooks in various formats and genres. You can buy The Argonauts epub from this website and download it instantly to your device or read it online using their free app.
$9.99
OverDrive
This is a popular and convenient website that allows you to borrow ebooks from your local library using your library card. You can check if The Argonauts epub is available in your library's collection and download it to your device or read it online using their free app.
Free (with library card)
Internet Archive
This is a non-profit and open-source website that provides access to millions of books, movies, music, and other digital content for free. You can download The Argonauts epub from this website or read it online using their free app.
Free (with account)
OceanofPDF
This is an unofficial and unverified website that claims to offer free downloads of ebooks in various formats and genres. You can download The Argonauts epub from this website at your own risk. However, we do not recommend or endorse this website as it may be illegal or unsafe.
Free (but not recommended)
Once you have downloaded The Argonauts epub from one of these websites, you can read it on any device that supports epub format. However, different devices may have different methods of opening and reading epub files. Here are some of the steps to download and read The Argonauts epub on different devices:
On a smartphone or tablet
If you have a smartphone or tablet that runs on Android or iOS, you can download and read The Argonauts epub using one of these steps:
Download an ebook reader app that supports epub format, such as Google Play Books, Apple Books, Kindle, Kobo, Nook, or Aldiko.
Open the app and sign in with your account if required.
Tap on the menu icon and select "Add books" or "Import books".
Locate the The Argonauts epub file that you downloaded and select it.
The app will import the file and add it to your library.
Tap on the book cover to open and read The Argonauts epub.
On a computer
If you have a computer that runs on Windows or Mac, you can download and read The Argonauts epub using one of these steps:
Download an ebook reader software that supports epub format, such as Adobe Digital Editions, Calibre, or Sumatra PDF.
Install and launch the software and sign in with your account if required.
Click on the "File" menu and select "Add books" or "Open book".
Locate the The Argonauts epub file that you downloaded and select it.
The software will open the file and display it on your screen.
Click on the book cover to read The Argonauts epub.
On a browser
If you have a browser that supports epub format, such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge, you can download and read The Argonauts epub using one of these steps:
Download an ebook reader extension that supports epub format, such as EPUBReader, Readium, or MagicScroll.
Add the extension to your browser and enable it if required.
Locate the The Argonauts epub file that you downloaded and drag and drop it to your browser window.
The extension will open the file and display it on your browser tab.
Click on the book cover to read The Argonauts epub.
What are some of the themes and topics discussed in The Argonauts?
The Argonauts is a book that covers a wide range of themes and topics that are relevant and important for contemporary society. Some of these themes and topics are:
Queer family-making and caretaking
Nelson challenges the traditional and normative notions of what constitutes a family and who can be a parent. She shows how queer families can be formed through love, care, and choice, rather than through blood, biology, or law. She also shows how queer families can be diverse, inclusive, and supportive, rather than homogeneous, exclusive, and oppressive. She also celebrates the role of caretaking as a vital and valuable practice that sustains life and relationships, rather than as a burden or a sacrifice that diminishes them.
Fluidity and transformation of gender and identity
Nelson explores the fluidity and transformation of gender and identity through her own and Dodge's experiences of changing their bodies and their expressions. She rejects the binary and fixed categories of male and female, masculine and feminine, cisgender and transgender, and embraces a more complex and dynamic spectrum of possibilities. She also rejects the essentialist and deterministic views of gender and identity as innate or immutable, and embraces a more constructivist and performative view of gender and identity as contingent and mutable.
Radical individual freedom and social critique
and expectations of society that try to impose norms and standards on how one should be and behave. She critiques the violence and oppression that marginalized groups face in a heteronormative and patriarchal society that privileges certain identities and experiences over others. She also critiques the hypocrisy and contradiction of some of the dominant discourses and institutions that claim to promote freedom and equality, but in fact reproduce domination and inequality.
What are some of the reviews and awards for The Argonauts?
The Argonauts has received critical acclaim and praise from various sources, such as reviewers, critics, scholars, writers, and readers. It has also won several awards and honors, such as:
The critical acclaim and praise for The Argonauts
Here are some of the positive reviews and comments that The Argonauts has received from different sources:
"A superb exploration of the risk and the excitement of change... An exceptional portrait both of a romantic partnership and of the collaboration between Nelson's mind and heart." - The New Yorker
"Nelson's writing is fluid-to read her story is to drift dreamily among her thoughts... She masterfully analyzes the way we talk about sex and gender." - HuffPost
"So much writing about motherhood makes the world seem smaller after the child arrives, more circumscribed, as if in tacit fealty to the larger cultural assumptions about moms and domesticity; Nelson's book does the opposite." - The New York Times Book Review
"A book that will challenge readers as much as the author has challenged herself." - Publishers Weekly
"The Argonauts is a magnificent achievement of thought, care and art." - Los Angeles Times
"Nelson has created a work of art that is both completely original and totally honest." - Bustle
"The Argonauts is a moving exploration of family and love, but it's also a meditation on the seductions, contradictions, limitations, and beauties of being normal, as a person and as an artist." - New Republic
"A beautiful, intelligent book that will enrich anyone who reads it." - Kirkus Reviews
The National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism for The Argonauts
In 2016, The Argonauts won the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, which is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the United States. The award recognizes "the finest books and reviews published in English". The judges praised The Argonauts as "a seamless blend of memoir and cultural criticism that articulates what it means to love in an unconventional way". They also described it as "a genre-bending work that examines queerness, gender fluidity, motherhood, family-making, art-making, love-makingand all with a fierce intelligence".
The readers' feedback and opinions on The Argonauts
The Argonauts has also received a lot of feedback and opinions from readers who have read it. Some of them have loved it, some of them have hated it, some of them have been confused by it, some of them have been inspired by it. Here are some of the ratings and reviews that The Argonauts has received from readers on Goodreads:
"5 stars. This book blew my mind. It made me think about things I never thought about before. It made me feel things I never felt before. It made me want to live more authentically and creatively. It made me want to read more books like this." - Anna
"1 star. This book bored me to death. It was pretentious, self-indulgent, and incomprehensible. It was full of name-dropping, jargon, and rambling. It had no plot, no structure, no point. It was a waste of time and money." - David
"3 stars. This book intrigued me but also frustrated me. It had some interesting ideas and insights, but also some vague and confusing ones. It had some beautiful and poetic language, but also some obscure and dense one. It was a mixed bag for me." - Lisa
"4 stars. This book challenged me but also enlightened me. It made me question some of my assumptions and beliefs, but also made me appreciate some of my experiences and values. It made me learn more about myself and others. It made me want to have more conversations like this." - Sam
"2 stars. This book annoyed me but also amused me. It was too radical and too personal for my taste, but also too clever and too witty for me to hate. It was a book that I disagreed with a lot, but also respected a lot." - Kim
Conclusion
The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson is a genre-bending memoir that offers fresh, fierce, and timely thinking about desire, identity, and the limitations and possibilities of love and language. It tells the story of the author's relationship with the artist Harry Dodge, who is fluidly gendered, as well as her journey to and through a pregnancy. It also explores various aspects of sexuality, gender, and identity through her personal experience and her engagement with iconic theorists and thinkers.
The Argonauts is a work of "autotheory" that combines autobiography and theory in a creative and unconventional way. Nelson uses her personal experience as a source of knowledge, but also as a starting point for engaging with other forms of knowledge. She does not separate her subjective feelings from her objective reasoning, but rather shows how they inform and enrich each other. She also does not follow the conventions and limitations of language, but rather experiments with different styles, formats, and genres to express her ideas.
The Argonauts is a book that covers a wide range of themes and topics that are relevant and important for contemporary society. Some of these themes and topics are queer family-making and caretaking, fluidity and transformation of gender and identity, radical individual freedom and social critique.
The Argonauts has received critical acclaim and praise from various sources, such as reviewers, critics, scholars, writers, and readers. It has also won several awards and honors, such as the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism in 2016. It has also received a lot of feedback and opinions from readers who have read it.
If you are interested in reading The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson, you can download it in epub format from one of the websites we mentioned above. You can also read it on any device that supports epub format using one of the methods we explained above.
We hope you enjoyed this article and learned something new from it. If you have any questions or comments about The Argonauts or this article, feel free to leave them below. We would love to hear from you.
FAQs
Here are some of the frequently asked questions about The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson:
What is the meaning of the title The Argonauts?
The title The Argonauts refers to the mythological Greek heroes who sailed on the ship Argo in search of the Golden Fleece. Nelson uses this metaphor to describe her own quest for love, knowledge, and transformation with Dodge. She also uses it to refer to the philosopher Gilles Deleuze's concept of "becoming", which means constantly changing and evolving one's identity