Troubles in Representation: (Con)figuring Non-Binary Sex in Nineteenth-Century French Literature, Art, and Medicine

My dissertation, “Troubles in Representation: (Con)figuring Non-Binary Sex in 19th Century French Literature, Art, and Medicine” argues that to adequately grasp the stakes of sexual non-conformity in 19th c France, we must consider the complex interplay between aesthetics and medicine, where images function as a critical mechanism for contemplating non-binary bodies and identities. I analyze the construction, representation, and conceptual articulation of sex in nineteenth-century France, through the figure of the hermaphrodite and its analogs. Together their disruptive sexual excess and instability exposes the fragility of the framework of dimorphic sex.

The methodology I employ is an interdisciplinary, synthetic approach, integrating extensive archival research into the analysis of a diverse corpus of materials. These objects include medical treatises, novels, short stories, poetry, drawings, paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures, and films—ranging from the canonical to the obscure. My perspective is strongly inflected by the work of Michel Foucault, but places greater emphasis on the image and the materiality of the archive. This enables me to shed light on one of the major blind spots in his theorization of sex, the visible, which for him, was always subordinate to the enunciable. Though Foucault is my primary interlocutor, this project also builds on the work of contemporary scholars in art history, medical humanities, critical theory, and gender studies.

Chapter one investigates the progressive destruction and denial of the category of human hermaphroditism within dominant medico-legal discourse. I connect this phenomenon to the medical community’s paradoxical preoccupation with antiquity’s mythical hermaphrodite. Chapter two traces parallels between the hermaphrodite, the androgyne and the castrato, examining their artistic, literary, and scientific treatment. In particular, I explore specters of antiquity in the work of Balzac, Gautier, Cuisin, and Latouche. Chapter three studies the history of famous “hermaphrodite” Herculine Barbin. Here, I dig deep into the archives to propose an alternate genealogy to Foucault’s volume. Presenting the model of the palimpsest instead, I explore how Barbin’s narrative and identity became subject to a process of rewriting to accommodate different political agendas. Chapter four investigates Barbin’s legacy through a series of 19th-21st c adaptations in a variety of media: novels, poetry, opera, theater, and film. I explain the narrative’s enduring social relevance and what the reinterpretations owe to Foucault’s scholarship.