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Article: The hermaphrodite. (short story)
- Article from:
- The Review of Contemporary Fiction
- Article date:
- September 22, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Review of Contemporary Fiction. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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This story I wrote while I was an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, probably in 1960, although I liked it enough to submit it (unsuccessfully) after I moved to New York in 1962. The twenty-year-old writer was already seeking to find a symbol for his confused sexual identity in his version of the hermaphrodite--a double-natured but far from self-sufficient being.
Hilary's parents, in their quiet, reasonable way, had decided to present their child to the world as a boy. There were so many advantages to being considered a male--the independence, the dignity. Mr. and Mrs. Quarles, who were both from substantial backgrounds and who had spent their lives in the ...