ON BEING A GOOD-ENOUGH READER OF MAGGIE NELSON'S THE ARGONAUTS

Abstract

This article explores what might constitute the good-enough reader of Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts. Prompted by Nelson's use of D.W. Winnicott's theory of the good-enough mother whose insufficiencies generate the infant's capacity to tolerate ordinary frustration and move beyond both idealizations and denigrations, I argue that the good-enough reader here would be the one who resists the temptation to idealize both the book and its author. This argument is presented as an attempt to open up some spaces for the discussion of ambivalent responses to this book, beyond the rather deferential fandom that has characterized the psychic life of its reception.

Keywords:

• good-enough readers
• The Argonauts
• Maggie Nelson
• D.W. Winnicott

disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Nelson's marginal citations use only authors’ name and are reminiscent of Roland Barthes's A Lover's Discourse.

2 Olivia Laing used this phrase when she introduced Maggie Nelson at their dialogue at the London Review Bookshop. Video available at <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-Yxhc2nNxo> (accessed 10 Oct. 2017). Laing also published a review of The Argonauts in The Guardian (Laing).

3 Intentionally or not, this comment echoes ironically with Nelson's discussion of Puppies and Babies (88).

4 I am borrowing this phrase from the collection Writing Otherwise (Stacey and Wolff).

5 I borrow this description from Christina Crosby at “The Argonauts: A Salon in Honor of Maggie Nelson,” Barnard College, New York. Video available at <https://vimeo.com/164424580> (accessed 10 Oct. 2017).