Castration

Starred review from October 30, 2000
Early in this absorbing treatise on the changing nature of manhood in Western culture, English professor Taylor remarks, "This is a specter that has haunted men for centuries: the fear that manhood will become, or has already become, obsolete, superfluous, ridiculous, at best quaint, at worst disgusting." Nowhere, he contends, is this specter more obvious than in the cringing reaction most men have to the word "castration." In this book, Taylor uses an imaginative analysis of the history and purposes of castration to examine the cultural construct of masculinityDspecifically in relation to reproduction. Equally comfortable discussing the implications of pop singer Tori Amos's lyrics as he is reinterpreting the antisexual writings of church fathers Justin Martyr, Clement and Tertullian or Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Taylor gracefully guides the reader through carefully constructed arguments that go so far as to declare that, in some times and cultures, being a eunuch is a social advantage. In a feat of bravura literary criticism, he uses a detailed explication of Thomas Middleton's obscure but important 1624 play A Game of Chess (a metaphysical commentary on the Reformation) as the centerpiece of his many-pronged cultural investigationDa move that is both audacious and illuminating. But while Taylor's expertise as a Renaissance scholar shines here, he shrewdly and subtly links the play's concerns to such varied historical events as the history of psychoanalysis and sexual racism toward blacks and Jews. Though of primary interest to literary scholars and historians of sexuality, this work will also reward sophisticated general readers with its wit (including a cover depicting the upper torso and wincing head of a Greek male statue) and insight.

November 1, 2000
In ancient times, eunuchs were used as bedchamber attendants, as suggested by the Greek origin of the word (eunouchos, eun, "bed," + ouchos, a variant of chein, "to keep"). But throughout history in diverse cultures they have had numerous important and complicated roles as disparate as that of the "sacred kingships" of Ancient Egypt, the religious hijras in India, and the celebrated castrati of Italian opera. Weaving together politics, law, medicine, music, anthropology, theology, literary and social history, and art, Scholz (Universities of Lodz and Bonn) offers a remarkable chronicle of the torment and passions of these individuals and their relationships with androgyny, homosexuality, transvestitism, and transsexuality. Translated from the German by Broadwin and Frisch, the latter of whom offers a brief epilog, this valuable title offers illustrations from a wide variety of sources. In his idiosyncratic investigation of the topic, Taylor (English, Univ. of Alabama) uses his own personal ruminations as well as the texts of three competing views of castration held by the Christian theologian Saint Augustine, the Humanist playwright Thomas Middleton (specifically, his allegorical 1624 play, A Game at Chess), and the modern Jewish psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Taylor's self-indulgent, wide-ranging, and verbose prose, replete with self-conscious cleverness, is alternately pompous and colloquial in this frustrating polemic: "It probably seems perverse to label something as natural' as reproductive sex perverse." Over 50 pages of notes add to the pretentiousness of this disappointing title. In markedly different ways, these two titles seek to draw attention to the historical importance of eunuchs, with surprising implications for today. Of the two, Scholz's is recommended for large academic and public libraries, while Taylor's is only for the most comprehensive special collections on male sexuality.--James E. Van Buskirk, San Francisco P.L.

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