For the background, I have decided to introduce the author of Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides and some of the historical points he incorporates in the novel that relate to my project and the mobility of identity. Jeffrey Eugenides wrote the semi-memoir, semi-autobiographical novel Middlesex in 2002. Middlesex is often considered to be in the genre of Bildungsroman, a ‘coming-of-age’ story, that breaks traditional narrative conventions with the presence of an omniscient narrator and fluid switching between first-person and third-person. While Jeffrey Eugenides is not intersex, he believes that there is a dearth of literature that deals with the subject. Inspired by the french novel Herculine Barbin, he believed it did not go deeply enough into the topic of intersex. Eugenides spent years researching sexology in hopes of creating a truly representative piece of intersex literature. On the other hand, Eugenides pulled many experiences from his own life and wove them into the novel. He is a Greek-American who deals with issues of identity himself as a child of diaspora similar to the main character, Cal. Similar to Cal, Eugenides also moved to Grosse Pointe, Michigan, attending a boarding school, had an ‘obscure object’ fantasy, and experienced the insecurity of locker-room nudity at a young age. The reception to Middlesex is primarily positive, although there are some who critique his treatment of the teenage-female Calliope, as he is a middle-aged man.

Throughout the novel, eugenides weaves in historical elements that relate to the my project’s concept of the mobility of identity. The first of these being the Great Fire of Smyrna in which the town Smyrna is burned by Turkish soldiers and the Greek Orthodox community is forced to flee via the sea. The town Smyrna then becomes Izmir under Turkish occupation, and Cal’s grandparents lose the last thread that attaches them to their homeland and their familial relationship. On their way to America, Cal’s grandparents reinvent themselves on the refugee boat and get married. While in America, Eugenides deals with the detroit race riots and white flight. As Greek-Americans, Cal’s family occupies a series of identities that changes as they move in America. While in Detroit proper during the race riots, Cal’s family is considered white, because the ‘other’ is the African-American population. But, upon moving to Gross Pointe in the time of white flight, Cal’s family becomes the ‘other’ because they do not fit the mold of ‘white’ according the population of Grosse Pointe. Eugenides also incorporates greek mythology into the novel with Cal’s burlesque name, Hermaphroditus, which Cal takes on after he literally moves between his gender identities. The final historical plot point is the Turkish immigration into Germany while Cal lives as a foreign service officer. Cal is forced to reconcile his Greek identity and history while living amongst a large turkish population.