The Argonauts Audiobook By Maggie Nelson cover art

The Argonauts

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The Argonauts

By: Maggie Nelson
Narrated by: Maggie Nelson
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National Book Critics Circle Award winner, Criticism, 2015.

An intrepid voyage out to the frontiers of the latest thinking about love, language, and family.

Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts is a genre-bending memoir, a work of "autotheory" offering fresh, fierce, and timely thinking about desire, identity, and the limitations and possibilities of love and language. At its center is a romance: the story of the author's relationship with the artist Harry Dodge. This story, which includes Nelson's account of falling in love with Dodge, who is fluidly gendered, as well as her journey to and through a pregnancy, is an intimate portrayal of the complexities and joys of (queer) family making.

Writing in the spirit of public intellectuals such as Susan Sontag and Roland Barthes, Nelson binds her personal experience to a rigorous exploration of what iconic theorists have said about sexuality, gender, and the vexed institutions of marriage and child-rearing. Nelson's insistence on radical individual freedom and the value of caretaking becomes the rallying cry of this thoughtful, unabashed, uncompromising book.

©2015 Maggie Nelson (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Accolades & Awards

LGBTQIA+ Essentials
Memoir Essentials
National Book Critics Circle Award
2015
Gender Studies LGBTQIA+ Essentials Memoir Essentials National Book Critics Circle Award Biographies & Memoirs Women Social Sciences Heartfelt

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Not all of these audiobooks are centered around coming out, but they all lend themselves to self-reflection and to ultimately closing the chasm between the person as is and the person self-actualized, standing in their truth. If you are questioning your sexuality or place in the world, know that you are not, and never will be, alone. These listens will bring you solace, companionship along the way, and a newfound closeness to your most authentic self.

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Editor's Pick

A game-changer in audio
"Remember how much of a game-changer this title was when it came out? This was that title everyone was talking about—and rightfully so. It’s inventive, intelligent, and beautiful. And made all the better by Maggie Nelson’s narration."
—Aaron S., Audible Editor

Thought-provoking Content • Intellectual Depth • Beautiful Clear Voice • Unique Perspective • Genre-defying Work

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A friend close to the author told me numerous times to read this book. Because I was in school, because I had no time to read, because I was busy raising hell, I put it off. After getting a punishing job that has left me no time for reading I decided to take his advice and buy the audiobook for my long LA commutes. I finally understood the parallels he saw and the radical voice of Maggie I feel is a commonality. I should have read the book but I would have missed out on the author's soothing voice. I would have missed the slight intonation she gave to certain subjects or the correct pronunciation of the names of theorists I had never known how to properly pronounce. This is a beautiful, meditative and at times painfully personal story. What a gift that Harry and Maggie allowed the world in. The ideas, the stories and her voice will stay with me for a very long time. Well done.

A relaxing meditation on identity, gender and art

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The “autotheoretical” form of writing here is innovative and there are very powerful sections and wise observations, especially the end, which is excellent. But it is uneven. I can’t say I enjoyed listening through the whole thing, especially given that the reading (by the author!!) is really god awful (monotonous etc.) I don’t know if this is some deliberate choice and if so why, but it doesn’t help…

Uneven but significant

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it took forever to finish because it was too good. I had to continually stop and take breaks like the Tibetan book of the dead. I am forever changed.

careful it is a weighty book.

I cried so much.

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I’ve read and re-read and listened to this book. It’s academic and accessible in equal parts. It’s moving and poignant and reads almost like fiction. I love it

Powerful, thoughtful, vulnerable in all the right ways.

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The subject matter, ideas and concepts presented in this book are utterly fascinating. I’m not a fan of the wringing style and the monotonous narration made it worse.

Profoundly fascinating yet incredibly boring

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