The Hermaphrodite

Howe's unfinished and fragmentary manuscript suffers from overwrought prose and some outright ridiculous plot elements that are not quite counterbalanced by a few moments of real insight. This is not a "good" book, but that is such an arbitrary value judgment and not really important here. What is important is that Howe, within her time, is dealing frankly and evocatively with subject matter that has no other voice in this period. Now, as a sort of canon begins to form regarding the literature of non-normative gender and sexuality, we might look at this text more for its historical value as a cultural object rather than attempt to evaluate it as literature.

A fragmentary, unfinished, rather-rough-in-places novel from the point of view of a hermaphrodite, but fascinating nonetheless. The most exciting scenarios are used up pretty early on in the book, when the narrator comes closest to having sexual relationships with first a woman and then a man. But I was surprised to find that even the other, less sexy stuff held my interest. Howe raises a lot of interesting ideas and questions about sex, gender, and love in the 19th century.