The Hermaphrodite

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Hermaphrodite is an incomplete novel written by Julia Ward Howe about a hermaphrodite raised as a male, but whose underlying gender ambiguity often creates havoc in his life. Though its date of creation is uncertain, Gary Williams -- who has recently written an introduction to the 2004 publication of the novel -- hypothesizes that it was probably written between 1846 and 1847. The text is unique, especially for the time period in which it was written. Its Romantic themes of self-discovery, sublimity in nature, and the tumultuous intersection between death and love combine with more modern investigations of asexuality and challenges to cultural patriarchy, to produce a story that is at once a reminder of a particular time in American history, and yet also a remarkably prophetic speculation about changes to come.

[edit] Background and Publication History

As noted above, The Hermaphrodite was never published in Howe's lifetime, nor was it titled by the author. Editor Gary Williams, a professor at the University of Idaho read the text -- which he also calls the "Laurence manuscript" -- in 1995, in the Houghton Library at Harvard. The manuscript is actually a series of fragments, and is missing large pieces. As such, the 2004 edition we have now starts on the original's page two, is missing the original's pages 118 to 132, and contains a third segment that is composed "of several much shorter manuscript fragments, only one of which is numbered and some of which are different drafts of the same scene," in the editor's own words.

From these disparate components, though, a recognizable (if not completely unified) narrative can be discerned.

[edit] Plot

The novel's protagonist, Laurence, is a hermaphrodite whose unsettled father, Paternus, decides to raise the child as a male, though "he" displays normative gender characteristics of both sexes. Laurence is sent off to college, where he excels in his studies, particularly the writing of poetry, a skill that inflames the passions of an older widow, Emma. Laurence, however, is not attracted to her, and even displays asexual tendencies. On the night of his graduation, Emma professes her love to him and, being told the truth of Laurence's hermaphroditism, goes into a deep state of shock, and subsequently dies.

Though it was Laurence who had stalled the consummation of their relationship, he nonetheless reacts emotionally, and returns home to his cold father. Here, Paternus displays the true level of repulsion he feels towards his child, as well as his regret that Laurence will never beget a male heir. He offers Laurence his inheritance in a premature bulk sum, if he allows Paternus to effectively disown him. Laurence vehemently rejects the offer, instead offering the money to his younger (and importantly gender-neutral) younger brother, Phil, with the hope that his brother will share his wealth upon their father's death.