In Search of the Hermaphrodite

The quest romance is at its best when the outward journey reflects the seeker's inner landscape, and even better when it is rooted in a reality we can relate to, as it is in Richard Collins's memoir, In Search of the Hermaphrodite. As a young Fulbright scholar, the author set out to do academic research in the libraries and museums of Britain and Europe. Forty years later, the author, like Proust, goes in search of the time lost during that unfinished project. His research subject had ostensibly been the figure of the hermaphrodite in art and literature; however, in the pubs and bedrooms of Europe, he comes to discover a world of love and longing beyond art, so that it becomes obvious that the real object of his obscure desire is to be found within himself.

The romance of this quest takes a picaresque turn because this is no story of medieval errant knighthood but rather the confessions of a flawed and erring narrator firmly and frankly exploring the sensuous reality of the here and now. The book's generous illustrations give readers a taste of the wide range of art and literature, ancient and modern, that guides the author in his quest-not for a holy grail or a philosopher's stone-but for the meaning of a life thoroughly and truthfully examined from every angle-intellectually, sexually, and spiritually. Erudite without pedantry, Collins's search for the hermaphrodite is as entertaining as it is enlightening.