The Argonauts

How does Nelson characterize her mother? In what ways does her portrayal of her mother underscore the book’s major themes?

What is your understanding of the meaning of the term “homonormativity” in The Argonauts? What is Nelson’s attitude towards it and why?

Nelson characterizes Sedgwick as “a famous pluralizer, an instinctive maximalist who named and celebrated her predilection for profusion as ‘fat art’” (102). She also notes that many of her role models (Sedgwick included) have been “corpulent” (105), although Nelson herself is both thin and a “serial minimalist” (102). What is the relationship between skinniness/corpulence and language in The Argonauts?

Discuss the following quote in light of Nelson’s broader depiction of personal identity: “The self without sympathetic attachments is either a fiction or a lunatic… [Yet] dependence is scorned even in intimate relationships, as though dependence were incompatible with self-reliance rather than the only thing that makes it possible” (101).

How does the meaning of the phrases “going to pieces” and “falling forever” shift over the course of The Argonauts? What makes these experiences desirable in some circumstances and negative in others?

In her discussion of Ginsberg, Nelson writes: “I do understand being repelled. Genitalia of all stripes are often slimy and pendulous and repulsive. That’s part of their charm” (55). How and why does Nelson use “repulsive” bodily imagery in The Argonauts?

Choose one of the pieces of art, literature, or theory (e.g. Puppies and Babies, the story about the boy who builds ships in bottles, etc.) that Nelson discusses and explore its broader relevance to The Argonauts.

Nelson at one point describes her writing as “riddled with […] tics of uncertainty” (98). Give two to three examples illustrating what Nelson might mean by “tics,” and discuss what purpose (if any) they serve.