A historian's lively and persuasive attempt to strip away the mystery surrounding the notorious 18th-century French cross- dresser, diplomat, writer, and spy, Chevalier (or Chevaliäre) d'Eon. D'Eon was thought to be a man for most of his life. He was a distinguished soldier, diplomat, and confidant of King Louis XV's. He consorted with some of the most famous figures of his time—from Voltaire and Rousseau to David Hume and Benjamin Franklin. Then, when he was nearly 50 years old, he was ``revealed'' to be a woman. He lived the remaining 35 years of his life as a ``she,'' only to be proved, upon his death, a biologically ordinary man after all. The fascinating story of how and why he did it is examined by Kates (Trinity Univ.; The Cercle Social, the Girondins, and the French Revolution, not reviewed), who argues that d'Eon was neither a transvestite nor a transsexual, but rather a man who made an intellectual decision to cross the gender barrier based on his professional and religious aims. His diplomatic career had reached an impasse and he hoped greater opportunities might be made available to him as a woman; also he became increasingly religious, believing that women made better Christians and were morally superior to men. However, while the chevalier was successful in his masquerade and helpful in furthering women's equality, he was largely unsuccessful in his goals. D'Eon's career ended with his feminization, and the Revolution of 1789 stripped him of his government stipend; he died poor and relatively obscure. Overall a coherent story, though there are some missing pieces: the silence of d'Eon's mother and sister, who were alive during his gender transformation, is not sufficiently explained, and though he appears to have been a virgin his whole life, the question of d'Eon's sexual orientation is left unaddressed. Nonetheless, a wonderful window into 18th-century France and a valuable biographical study of a compelling historical figure.
Pub Date: June 21, 1995
ISBN: 0-465-04761-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1995
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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