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Publisher Description
One of the first-ever books on gender transition, this poignant memoir by a trans woman is “the best first-hand account ever written by a traveler across the boundaries of sex” (Newsweek).
“A profoundly poetic story.” —The New York Times
“An exquisite read.” —Maria Popova, The Marginalian
The great travel writer Jan Morris was born James Morris. James Morris distinguished himself in the British military, became a successful and physically daring reporter, climbed mountains, crossed deserts, and established a reputation as a historian of the British empire. He was happily married, with several children. To all appearances, he was not only a man, but a man’s man.
Except that appearances, as James Morris had known from early childhood, can be deeply misleading. James Morris had known all his conscious life that at heart he was a woman.
Conundrum, one of the earliest books to discuss transsexuality with honesty and without prurience, tells the story of James Morris’ hidden life and how he decided to bring it into the open, as he resolved first on a hormone treatment and, second, on risky experimental surgery that would turn him into the woman that he truly was.
“A profoundly poetic story.” —The New York Times
“An exquisite read.” —Maria Popova, The Marginalian
The great travel writer Jan Morris was born James Morris. James Morris distinguished himself in the British military, became a successful and physically daring reporter, climbed mountains, crossed deserts, and established a reputation as a historian of the British empire. He was happily married, with several children. To all appearances, he was not only a man, but a man’s man.
Except that appearances, as James Morris had known from early childhood, can be deeply misleading. James Morris had known all his conscious life that at heart he was a woman.
Conundrum, one of the earliest books to discuss transsexuality with honesty and without prurience, tells the story of James Morris’ hidden life and how he decided to bring it into the open, as he resolved first on a hormone treatment and, second, on risky experimental surgery that would turn him into the woman that he truly was.
27 Reviews
3.5

Josh RM
Created 4 months agoShare
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Jack
Created about 1 year agoShare
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“You should go into this book with the mindset that it should be seen as a historical document first and foremost. It’s outdated, and many of Morris’ phrasings towards trans folk and gay people can be very, very offensive. It does not help that there are many points in the book where she chooses to be wantonly racist.
However! Her introspection on her own lifelong dysphoria is poignant and real. Being also a trans person who transitioned later in life, her attitude and emotions deeply resonated with me.
Her joy in her transition is infectious, even if there are some aspects that I find appalling for her sake -mainly that she had to travel to Casablanca to receive what was described as a VERY DAMN SHADY gender affirmation surgery from someone who may or may not have been licensed.
It’s a short little memoir, though, and it’s the kind of thing where I think older trans people in particular would benefit from knowing of it. Cis folk should read it with the understanding that Morris’ comments regarding drag and gay folk should be taken with a grain of salt for a modern setting.”

Jamie Olaf
Created about 1 year agoShare
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Jane
Created about 1 year agoShare
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Isabel Hidalgo-Guerra
Created over 1 year agoShare
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About Jan Morris
Jan Morris was born in 1926, is Anglo-Welsh, and lives in Wales. She has written some forty books, including the Pax Britannica trilogy about the British Empire; studies of Wales, Spain, Venice, Oxford, Manhattan, Sydney, Hong Kong, and Trieste; six volumes of collected travel essays; two memoirs; two capricious biographies; and a couple of novels—but she defines her entire oeuvre as “disguised autobiography.” She is an honorary D.Litt. of the University of Wales and a Commander of the British Empire. Her memoir Conundrum is available as a New York Review Book Classic.
Other books by Jan Morris
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