Sphinx: A Neo-Gothic Novel from Brazil

by Coelho Neto, Jess Nevins (Afterword), Kim F. Olson (Translator)

A work of supernatural fantasy that questions gender divisions

At his boardinghouse in Rio de Janeiro, the Englishman James Marian is seen as handsome but eccentric. Then another boarder learns Marian's a fusion of a female head and a male body, Marian is the creation of a surgeon with occult powers. Despite his wealth and mysterious abilities, Marian is unable to live fully as either a man or a woman, traveling the world in order to repress his sexual desire and withdraw from society.

Sphinx explores the binaries of science and magic, body and spirit, male and female, attraction and horror, presenting its sexually ambiguous protagonist with sympathy. Ornately descriptive, this 1908 neo-gothic novel exemplifies the era's taste for the sensual and the fantastic. With echoes of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein , it stands as a classic of Brazilian science fiction.

Genres: Gothic

270 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1908

About the author

A writer in many genres who was widely-read in Brazil in the early 20th century.

Reviews

[Mariani Pessoa · Rating 3 out of 5]

frankenstein “brasileiro”, narrado em terceira e primeira pessoas, escolado na alquimia e na mística oriental. chique.

[André Prado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Na história de 1905, que mescla o gótico e a ficção científica, acompanhamos a estadia de uma pessoa misteriosa, de aparência andrógina, que desperta paixões e estranhamentos em homens e mulheres numa pensão no Rio de Janeiro. Aos poucos vamos descobrindo sua origem. Como produto de uma experiência místico/científica, ele vive o dilema de ter duas almas em conflito dentro de si, uma masculina e outra feminina. Além disso, porta um livro que abriga o segredo de sua criação, mas não consegue compreender seus símbolos, e segue pelo mundo em busca de aprendizado para decifrá-lo, e assim conhecer-se.
"Todos possuem um livro como este, visível ou invisível, não é verdade? A vida é assim: temo-la sob os olhos e não a deciframos... ela devora-nos."
Uma história surpreendente cujo personagem central combina aspectos de Frankenstein, Drácula, e pitadas de filosofia oriental, convidando o leitor a decifrar seus mistérios.

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: A work of supernatural fantasy that questions gender divisions

At his boardinghouse in Rio de Janeiro, the Englishman James Marian is seen as handsome but eccentric. Then another boarder learns Marian's a fusion of a female head and a male body, Marian is the creation of a surgeon with occult powers. Despite his wealth and mysterious abilities, Marian is unable to live fully as either a man or a woman, traveling the world in order to repress his sexual desire and withdraw from society.

Sphinx explores the binaries of science and magic, body and spirit, male and female, attraction and horror, presenting its sexually ambiguous protagonist with sympathy. Ornately descriptive, this 1908 neo-gothic novel exemplifies the era's taste for the sensual and the fantastic. With echoes of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, it stands as a classic of Brazilian science fiction.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Like Frankenstein, I'd call this speculative fiction, and reserve "science fiction" and even "science fantasy" for tales from the Radium Age; I think this book is more ancestral to what we think of as SF than developmentally connected. I think your pleasure in the read will more lie in the context of its times and its author's life, than in its mannered nineteenth-century prose. Be certain to read the modern contextualization materials to get the best effect from the read.

It is very surprising to me that, over a hundred years ago, the topic of sex being a fluid construct was happening in public discussion. The suppression and repression of queer people of all stripes is a long-term project of the hateful exclusionary reactionaries in society. Put a name to something as a means of understanding it, and it also functions as a target. Well, there is not and has never been a tool that did not do double duty as a weapon.

James Marian is a character whose lineaments do not fit the world as it is. Marian's body and mind have been deliberately altered, as a kind of proof of concept in a modern interpretation, an experiment in the parlance of the times. The way the melding of a male with a female was accomplished is both surgical and mystical in its origin. That suits the time of its writing but feels...odd, a cheat...in the SF landscape of today. I encourage you to read this story as a meditation on the experience of transness, a concept barely formulated in 1908, and certainly not familiar to the reading public.

This is a read for the most curious among you. It has pleasures to offer; it is flawed in execution; it stands as proof there are no new thoughts among humans, if transness as an acquired physical state was conceptualized in 1908.

Binaries are rare in nature. Spectra are the norm. It's long past time to apply that knowledge of facts to humans as well as all other entities in nature.

[J R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good work, James Marian was a very compelling character and worked really well, and the translation fit pretty well. Thanks for the ARC.

[André Prado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Na história de 1905, que mescla o gótico e a ficção científica, acompanhamos a estadia de uma pessoa misteriosa, de aparência andrógina, que desperta paixões e estranhamentos em homens e mulheres numa pensão no Rio de Janeiro. Aos poucos vamos descobrindo sua origem. Como produto de uma experiência místico/científica, ele vive o dilema de ter duas almas em conflito dentro de si, uma masculina e outra feminina. Além disso, porta um livro que abriga o segredo de sua criação, mas não consegue compreender seus símbolos, e segue pelo mundo em busca de aprendizado para decifrá-lo, e assim conhecer-se.
"Todos possuem um livro como este, visível ou invisível, não é verdade? A vida é assim: temo-la sob os olhos e não a deciframos... ela devora-nos."
Uma história surpreendente cujo personagem central combina aspectos de Frankenstein, Drácula, e pitadas de filosofia oriental, convidando o leitor a decifrar seus mistérios.
A edição da Legatus tem um prefácio e um pósfácio muito esclarecedores contextualizando bem o autor e a obra.