The Argonauts

Writer and professor Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts, originally published in 2015, is a work of “autotheory”— it combines Nelson’s personal experiences of marriage and motherhood with reflections on the writing process, queer and feminist theory, and psychoanalysis and developmental psychology. This blending of genres gives the book its unconventional form; unlike a more traditional memoir, The Argonauts jumps backwards and forwards in Nelson’s life as she explores ideas and images related to pregnancy, sexuality, identity, and conformity.

The Argonauts does employ a very loose chronological structure, beginning with the early days of Nelson’s relationship with her eventual husband, Harry Dodge, and ending with the birth of their child, Iggy. Dodge is an artist and, though assigned female at birth, identifies as neither a man nor a woman by the time Nelson meets him. The two enter a passionate and highly intellectual relationship, buy a house and move in together, and marry on the spur of the moment when it looks as though Proposition 8 (banning same-sex marriage) is likely to pass the California Legislature. Meanwhile, Nelson has begun acting as a stepmother to Dodge’s son from a prior relationship—a role that stirs up complex feelings for Nelson since her own mother had left her father (who died shortly afterwards) to marry a man who later left her in turn.