Synopses & Reviews
Set in the lesbian and gay circles of Paris in the 1920s, The Angel and the Perverts tells the story of a hermaphrodite born to upper class parents in Normandy and ignorant of his/her physical difference. As an adult, s/he lives a double life as Marion/Mario, passing undetected as a lesbian in the literary salons of the times, and as a gay man in the cocaine dens made famous by Colette.
Delarue-Mardrus's novel belongs to a category of literature, written between the turn of the century and approximately 1930, which depicted lesbians as members of a third sex. The hermaphrodite became the visual representation of the ways in which lesbians were different from their heterosexual sisters, and Rene Vivien, Natalie Clifford Barney, Rachilde, and Colette, among others, shared Delarue-Mardrus's fascination with the topic.
This is the first translation into English of The Angel and the Perverts. In an astute introduction, Anna Livia rereads Lucie Delarue-Mardrus as a prolific and significant writer, despite the fact that previous scholars viewed her primarily as the wife of the scholar and translator Joseph-Charles Mardrus. Livia also places Delarue-Mardrus's life in a lesbian context for the first time and decodes this delightful novel so that readers will feel quite at home in Mario/Marion's unusual world, which runs the gamut from Auguste Rodin to Jean Cocteau and Sarah Bernhardt.
Review
"The Angel and the Perverts, admirably translated by Anna Livia, offers a glimpse into the subculture of gender ambiguity that was the origin point for today's lesbian and gay communities. As the question concerning the relationship between homosexuality and gender difference is once again being raised, Delarue-Mardrus' novel no longer seems an anachronistic apologia from a more closeted era, but an intriguing exploration of identities that take gender difference, rather than sexuality, as their starting point."-Will Roscoe,author of The Zuni Man-Woman
Review
"A delight to read. . . . Gerber states the principles of a liberal originalism far more clearly and accessibly than any other work on constitutional interpretation. . . . a rare and welcome addition."-American Political Science Review,
Review
"Highly recommended. To be commended for seeking to find a firmer guide to constitutional meanings than the personal predilections of judges."-Law and Politics Book Review,
Review
"A distinctive contribution to the debate over the `return to a jurisprudence of original intent.' Gerber's thesis is provocative and will not sit well with either liberal or conservative advocates of a `jurisprudence of original intent' or their critics."-David M. O'Brien,University of Virginia
Synopsis
To Secure These Rights enters the fascinating--and often contentious--debate over constitutional interpretation. Scott Douglas Gerber here argues that the Constitution of the United States should be interpreted in light of the natural rights political philosophy of the Declaration of Independence and that the Supreme Court is the institution of American government that should be primarily responsible for identifying and applying that philosophy in American life.
Importantly, the theory advanced in this book--what Gerber calls liberal originalism--is neither consistently liberal nor consistently conservative in the modern conception of those terms. Rather, the theory is liberal in the classic sense of viewing the basic purpose of government to be safeguarding the natural rights of individuals. As Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men. In essence, Gerber maintains that the Declaration articulates the philosophical ends of our nation and that the Constitution embodies the means to effectuate those ends. Gerber's analysis reveals that the Constitution cannot be properly understood without recourse to history, political philosophy, and law.
About the Author
Lucie Delarue-Mardrus was a prolific and significant writer, despite the fact that previous scholars viewed her primarily as the wife of the scholar and translator Joseph-Charles Mardrus.
Anna Livia is the editor/translator of A Perilous Advantage: The Best of Natalie Clifford Barney, and the author of four novels, including Relatively Norma and Minimax, and two collections of short stories.