The Argonauts

In Greek mythology, the Argo is a ship the hero Jason sailed to Colchis in his quest for the Golden Fleece. Since Nelson’s memoir is constantly pushing the boundaries of societal definitions of marriage, motherhood, gender, etc., its title is meant in part to evoke this spirit of exploration and adventurousness. More importantly, however, the title is a reference to a passage from the theorist Roland Barthes about the Argo being replaced plank by plank over the course of its voyage but never changing its name. Barthes claims that the phrase “I love you” operates in a similar way in the context of a relationship; the words remain the same, but the meaning is “renewed” (5) and to some extent changed every time the phrase is spoken.

For Nelson, the idea of the Argo therefore encapsulates her interest in the way identity is created and recreated over the course of a person’s life, and also (more specifically) created and reaffirmed through their relationships with others. For instance, the Dodge whom Nelson is married to at the time of writing The Argonauts is both the same and a different Dodge compared to the one she initially entered into a relationship with (most obviously, he has undergone a mastectomy and takes regular testosterone injections).