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{{work|wppage=Middlesex (novel)}}
{{Infobox book
A novel by [[Jeffrey Eugenides]] published in 2002 which went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.▼
| title = Middlesex
| image =
| caption =
| author = Jeffrey Eugenides
| central theme =
| elevator pitch =
| genre = Family saga
| publication date = September 4, 2002
| source page exists =
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
▲A novel by [[Jeffrey Eugenides]] published in 2002,
Calliope (later Cal) Stephanides was born with a rare genetic condition that caused her to look externally female, but in adolescence begin developing male characteristics.
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A very well-written book, although it comes with a few warnings: much of the plot focuses on [[Brother-Sister Incest]], and one character turns out to be a historical figure, {{spoiler|Wallace Fard Muhammad}}.
{{tropelist}}
* [[A-Cup Angst]]: One of Calliope's big concerns while she still thought she was a girl. See [[Pettanko]] below.
* [[The Beard]]: Jimmy Zizmo is this for Lina, who is a lesbian and had to leave Bithynios after her affair with another woman was discovered.
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* [[Faking the Dead]]: {{spoiler|Jimmy Zizmo}}
* [[Generational Saga]]
* [[Generational Trauma]]: ''Middlesex'' is all about tracing this back to Cal's grandparents, who in the first part are revealed to be brother and sister as well as refugees of a war on the Greeks. No one on the American rescue ship knows who they are, so they are able to cover up their relations and their cousin Lina who takes them in also keeps their secret. They also bring their biases with them, with Milton being raised to fear racial integration and value keeping high amounts of money while his son Chapter Eleven becomes a hardcore liberal. Both of these facts end up playing into Cal's conception and birth; even though Cal is born as Calliope and appears to be a girl, Cal is actually intersex thanks to the genetics and does not learn about this fact until they're fourteen. This sparks an identity crisis when a doctor wants to operate on Cal without telling them or their parents the truth, and Cal runs away, cutting their long hair and dressing as a boy.
* [[Get On With It Already]]: The first half of the book that recounts Desdemona, Lefty and their children's lives can feel like this.
* [[Groin Attack]]: Played for drama. Certain forms of physical activity proved to be excruciatingly painful for Callie's undescended testes back when she wasn't aware of having them.
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* [[The Speechless]]: {{spoiler|Lefty, after his first stroke}}.
* [[Tangled Family Tree]]: Cal's family tree looks like this due to all the incest tropes above.
* [[
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: In story, Cal comments that people are probably wondering what happened to Desdemona since she seemingly drops out of the story. {{spoiler|Turns out that she's still alive and has just retreated to her room, and lives long enough to see Cal's new male persona and confess the reason he's the way he is.}}
* [[Wrong Genetic Sex]]: As the result of 5-alpha-reductase deficiency. Genetically, Callie is 46,XY, but lacks the enzyme that converts testosterone to its active form. Thus, he has cryptorchid (undescended) testes, no ovarian or uterine structures, a nonfunctional vaginal pouch, and a microphallus (such that it's repeatedly mistaken for a larger-than-normal clitoris, both by Callie and by several doctors).
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Gay and Lesbian Fiction]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Literature of the 2000s]]
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