In Eugenides' first novel since the Pulitzer Prize-winning Middlesex (2002), English major and devotee of classic literature Madeleine Hanna is a senior at Reagan-era Brown University. Only when curiosity gets the best of her does she belly up to Semiotics 211, a bastion of postmodern liberalism, and meet handsome, brilliant, mysterious Leonard Bankhead. Completing a triangle is Madeleine's friend Mitchell, a clear-eyed religious-studies student who believes himself her true intended. Eugenides' drama unfolds over the next year or so. His characteristically deliberate, researched realization of place and personality serve him well, and he strikes perfectly tuned chords by referring to works ranging from Barthes' Lovers' Discourse to Bemelmans' Madeline books for children. The remarkably à propos title refers to the subject of Madeleine's honors thesis, which is the Western novel's doing and undoing, in that, upon the demise, circa 1900, of the marriage plot, the novel 'didn't mean much anymore,' according to Madeleine's professor and, perhaps, Eugenides. With this tightly, immaculately self-contained tale set upon pillars at once imposing and of dollhouse scale, namely, academia ('College wasn't like the real world,' Madeleine notes) and the emotions of the youngest of twentysomethings, Eugenides realizes the novel whose dismantling his characters examine."

美国希腊裔作家，1960年4月13日出生于美国底特律。

祖父母是从小亚细亚来的希腊移民。曾就读于美国著名私立大学布朗大学，并于1986年在斯坦福大学获得英语及创作专业硕士学位。1993年发表了首部长篇《处女自杀》，这部引人入胜的小说介绍了密执安州格罗斯角上五个神秘姐妹以及那些命运被她们永远改变的男孩子们的故事。书一上市就好评如潮，成为畅销书，荣获1993年怀汀奖以及同年美国艺术协会年度风云书，并由著名导演科波拉之女索菲娅•科波拉搬上银幕。《中性》（Middlesex）出版于2002年，是他用九年时间创作的第二本小说，获得了2003年度普利策文学奖。作者以遗传学理论为基础，故事开始是女身最终变成男身的叙述者讲述了一个希腊裔家族历史遭遇的传奇故事。这位雌雄同体的叙事者也象征了美国移民身份的无奈。此书获选《洛杉矶时报》、《芝加哥论坛报》、《纽约时报书评》、《旧金山纪事报》、博得书店、邦诺书店，以及亚马逊网络书店评选的2002年的十佳好书；并荣登《纽约时报》、《华盛顿邮报》、《洛杉矶时报》、《旧金山纪事报》畅销书榜。迄今已荣获诸多奖项，包括2003年美国普利策文学奖、2003年德国魏尔特文学奖、2003年美国学会大使图书奖、2004年西班牙圣地亚哥-德孔波斯特拉文学奖、古根汉姆研究基金会奖、美国国家基金艺术奖、怀汀写作奖、美国艺术与文学学院亨利•D•伍尔塞尔奖。