psychoanâlysis. For both gmphic memoin, Bechdel has gained inrernarional awa¡ds md accolades, and ,Genius,Awarcl most recendy was awa¡ded rhe higlrty presrigious Ma;Aflhur in 2014. 3 Plrotographing takes on an added layer of signifi c¿nce Hot¡te t2 Lili ín Fut because Bechdel works with a Elbe,s transmedial technique presence ofphotographing herseJfin every single pose, which she then uses ro dnw each cha¡acte¡ and scene in the book. and the politics of studies 4 Here, Deridat employs the norion of'supprement' co refer to this excess and this idea that meaning is organized through diffe¡ence. An-important Elíza 5 point ro emphasize is thac deconsmction also exposes our inabiliry to escepe Êom Steínbock such dich_oromous drinking. Queer theory (which wili be explorcd in more deail later) has been highiy influenced by this approach, as it seela to t¡ouble the læterosexualiry/homor""uaúry liraf. For example, lett take dre process of'coming out, as gay or lesbian. Not only does hereroenaliÇ depend on homosexuality, but by'coming out' as homosexual, the¡e is a simultaneous ¡einscd¡rioi þnd perhaps reìficaúon) ofis perceivedopposite, heterosexualiry. Even i¡ declaring or"r"lfgay or lesbian, a snaight idenrity is calied up and even ¡einfo¡ced.

Danish painter Liri Ilse Elvenes (1gg2-1931),better known as Lili Elbe, was fißt women ro have rnedical.a"i"-.. one ofthe Questions sional repuration - iifr"i".rÇ';"r.;;"" rn 1930. Lili,s pro*s- âs â nran ied. to her b.i"g ,h. ,;iJJt .îrir=a 1953, when t"" change, story until 1. What is the relatìonship between queer theory md poststructuralism? rhe Âmerican Chrrtine Why are causedamedi¿Êenn.sarringwi,t þrÅ;;;";^;;;;îoìr, ,..",_.,r, in Denmark they both impoftant schools of thought for analysing literary texts and social tt"nri..pã.u;;;;;dì;;".Ex_GIBecomesBionde Bombshetl, by the Nlø yuk categorìes? Whar tools do they each provide for cultwal and literary studies baily ¡.rrr, * oå"_¡."r'iì"öir. n^ fomr, Lili's gender transfomrlli",i becorrre comon research? For example, how might you apply deconstruction to other objects *1.: *p,"."J iì _"iff.-,r.0,"r^, of Danish wife fomrats: fiom her cultural analysis? Gerda's huseh nopuìar illusrrated p.**yrir-i" translared ,L" t9i0s_20s ro a widely 2. Both non-binary gender md sexual confessi o" l ti'^oi uo, irro wo,ron'nìi non-nomativity are central to Fun Home,s pirüi.nïi," r 9J3. ¿nd iarer ¡evived in ¿n award-winning novelizarion nanâtive. How does Alison Bechdel's srylistic âpproech reflecr on these iived of h., m"rriage i;1;;;.r, ,Grera. Thc Danish painter calìed experiences? In what ways do historjcal Girt written bv n,"id.euers.offtn ;,;r'ò. and geographical specificities play a ,;; ;;;; ,ecentiy in 20 t acclain when the same+itled j;;ä;;;"", 5 to osc¿r ¡ole in their acceptmce, or lack thereof.J Outside of this text, how ars non- Hotiy*ooa ftop. Each representation Hooper was released. normative gender and sexual expressions of Liii has been ¡net md identities (in)visible? _r;Ä;;;;ä;tør.r,"I.rgrrg rhe conven_ Imagine you rions of gender and sexualirv of intime. 3. are tasked with describing to a colleague how ro read a graphic ¡hus ¡.;;;;;l;;;;" symboìic fìgurehead devimce as well for novel. How would you go about presenting this descnption? preparing as becoming an tnfluenita] foundi;;;;;ä; In your Lili's rrrrrgender movemenrs. response, you might think about sto¡v broke in ¡he nÃs5 ¿¡ ¿ ¡ips when how reading a graphic novel compres to the ,î*ojo*l*lì.*nology lor cross_sex reading iden¡ifi cation had nor yet made sric, a more't¡aditional'novel w¡itten in prose as well as what techniques ;;t,";;i;;;.*J.i*i"åor"*ro,r. rmnssexnaliry. and eroric forms of rransvestism,,nor.had you would find more impoftant or necessary to discuss the visual and derinked piyri.J ,"rr"iir. so-called î.ä"pL-ditism, fì.om these elements of the text. conditions. For example,.pione"..d b; ó;;]äåiìi. ,:* 'lransvesrim' *r*n", Hirschfeld was (1910) to ¿.rnu" tho,á ;;; ;;ËìJ tron:l_. their psychic identific¿_ through cross-dressing' ¿ kind ofmenrar int"*ioo,ri"ory.lhich those inrplicitiy incrudes who todây wourd be described :s transgender. (ma*ied Liri ¿nd úer wife née ce¡da Gonrieb 1904-1930 until the state,s annuhrãnt) and it was reported that during surgrcal investieations some ovarim "";;;-;;ld."n, tissue was found, which gender studies histøians have suggested is a disputed poi"t or""iá.r*ä."iår r.rrir,r" identification (see Meyerowìtz 2002). First asþed the -"1. M""g,ru, Ard..r, Lili may have had ";;,-;;; Wegener, an intersex conditron ,u"' tll îñ rli."r.lte. recognized ", syndrome (nor until 1942\ resulting i'.potential steririÇ, .Jri"åì.rrou"rone and prod'ction, breast growth. It is anachrànistic to call Lili ; il;;;;i;"-ân woman; oï an inrersexual rather, she was a woman withwhat today wo"ìã a¡d l.äl.a *p"riences of gender sex variance. Her story has served Utu.prioìä-*r"î*nrr" trans Anglo_American women whose trmsitions. are caught"r, " up l. ,.rr",lor"ìì,st media attention, from star athleres like Renée Richar.ts (1%a_\ to crtrly" j""".r'iiior_¡, Morris (1926-) '' orwriten likeJm and rnodej Caroline Cosey 0;s4:,5'."-'*"' " Centra.l to the public liê namives oftrárì it.rsex) trol 1".d persons are ârtenph to con* the representation of their identity. In sum, ,. b" ;;;;i|";;, a womân while being

168 . Christine Quin.an Líli Ell:e and the 1:olitíæ of transgender sîudies . 1(,9 scrutinized for being merely a trick of rhe eye, a task that as a proGssional painter Lili First ofall, Lili does not speak alone, nor is she pictured as a¡ isolated penon. A Danish ûiend was well equipped io *"trg". Nevenheless, Lili's trmsmedial presence over the corme mmed Emst Hathern Hoyer, whose pseudonym as editor was Niels Hoyer, is ofnearþ oneïundred years includes a web ofpseudonyms, embellishments, and c1âims the oniy identifled author in rhe original Danish venion, Fra Mand til Kyínde - Lili Etbes ofmlthic proportions, not to mention myriad authors who each invest different stakes in Bekendelser (From Man into \Voman - Lili Elbe's Confessions) as well ¿s the English a trâns version (the her ta1e. In thii chapter I will demonstrate the srakes for achieving selÊdefinition æ altered German version credits Lili Elbe). A draft seems to have existed in potítíþet person via Lili Elbe;s life story/nmrative. I wili explicate the_importmce of how nanative Janvry 1937, eight months before her death, when Lili gave an inteniew n joumalist ì,oice orients readers/viewen ofher life, and how we can lem to [sten to protagonists magazirte to Loulou Lassen, one of the book's curaton who dubbed her,Lili Elbe'. Meyer's in a transgender-sensitive manner. Discourses on trans people and their lives have been æsessment of that interview is thet it lügeþ imprinted the main themes of dominateã by rwo twinned discounes: is the normal gender identity and' the book, seruing to publicize Lili's penonal account (Meyer 2010: 40). Additiona_lly, the publishing therefore, any transx expression or identity is a medical ifnot pathological condition. The house editor made key decisions on the letters and other material to include. structuraÌ má fomal components of Lili's trms-medial presence and its meaning will be The Australim sexologist Noman Haire, who never examined or met Lili, a.lso contrib- uted a preface considered vis-à-vis the anal¡ical approach offered in tmnsgender studies, which situates that lends the book scientific merit, while her own doctor Kurt Warnek¡os (Wemer experiential trans knowledge as the privileged guiding framework for exploring theoreti- Kreutz in the book) did check the muscript for accurary but declined to be .iqr.rtioos. The fint section will focus on the memofu Man inta Woman'smtlti-voiced named. In short, what remains is m entirely piltiel, restricted autobiographical voice noårir. that grapples with pathologizing md normalising discourses, while the second buoyed by authorities ofall stripes. dr¿ws on .ecÃt pþ"W mèdia iterations in ttre novel and 61m thet The title page of the translated English version of Møn into Woman (Hoyer 2004) refen âdhere to and moìaie rhese discourses. I conclude this chapter with a discussion oflili to how in its first printing in 7933 it claimed to offer a record: A True and Authentic Record oJ as peinter aûd co-creator ofher own presence. The different textual and visual medium a Sex Change, namely 'the miraculous trmsfomation of the Dmish painter Einar come r¡r'ith affordances for reaching audiencel, attaining authenticity md grasping trans Wegener (Andreæ Spane)' (Hoyer 2004). The hybridity of the book's generic modes of subjectivity. However, the transmedial quality oflìli's (selÊ)representations already indi- confessional, medical dossier, md screenplay encouages an involved, sensational reading, catðs the ways in which lraru bridges multþle layers of cultural maþsis: a form of socially much like other popular epistolary novels ofthe day. Taking a broad view oftransition- trmsgressive crossing, an identity across a life course, and a connecting theme throughout ing, Jay Proser æseÍs that 'trmssexuality is always narrative work, a transfomtion of different cultural foms. the body that requires the remolding ofthe life into a parricular narrative shape' (prosser 1.998: 4). Man into Woman p¿tterc the n¿nation on a mixed hemphrodiúc psychic and physical experience, which is intenpersed with personal photogmphs that evidence the Listening for Lili's voice transformation's before-and-aÍïer temporaliry (see Figures 1.2-l nd 12.2). The collages Like the many trans (and intersex) people since whose personal narratives are sold to the of text and photographic portraits are later more heavily emphasized as representative press, Lili ûnì spoke publically because she was exposed by a friend æd then sought, of Lilit bodily transfomtion in the second English print edition's adjusted subtitle that public eye' The replaces record portrãt: portrait þ..h"ps tttr.c"ssfu11y, to regain control over her representation in the with Man into Woman: The First Sex Change, A oJ LíIi near impossibility of dispelling the mythological dimensions to her life story has to do Elüe, promising not a miraculous but a'true and rem¿rkable tnnsformation ofthe piinter with thå Nazis buming the files of Hinchfeld, whose examination records of her case Einar \Vegener' (Hoyer 2004). and first operation (likely removal of gonads) were destroyed on May 6, 1933 The In the writing, as in the photographs, a conflicted psychic state is pictured as a 'Women's Clinic in Dresden, where the second, third, and potentially fourth operation problem of intemal organs attributed their om expressive or extemal penonalities. took place, was bombed in February 1945 in an air raid during the war. Any detailed 'Andreas believed that in reality he was ûot a flan,but a woman' , and therefore required recorå of the purported experimental mputation of the penis, opening of a vaginal the removal of 'the dead (md fomerþ imperfect) male organs, and to restore the canal, grafting of ovârian tissue, md uterine transplant \¡/as therefore also lost The female organs with new and fresh material' - a transformation that would enable LiI ,emaintg principal archive is the complic¿ted text Man ínto Woman attributed to 'Lili to suroive and effectively kill Andreas, the man (Hoyer 2004: 23). With masrerfirl Elbe', which scholar Sabine Meyer's reseæch has conÂmed was authored by at least six suspense Lili mites that in her own 'sickly body dwelt two beings, sepuate Êom each diferent individuals and a publishing house (Meyer 2077:70).r The confessional sec- other, unrelâted to each other, although they had compassion on each other, as they tions were written in the last year ofher life, and it includes abridged letters from Gerda knew that this body had room only for one of them' (ibid.: 1,1,1). ln a founding text foi (Grete in the book) æd Lili's lover Claude. It wâs an incomplete manuscript when she transgender studies, Sandy Stone identifìes this division æ â strategy of,building bari- died in Dresden's Women's Clinic, likely ûom cardiac arrest due to infection. How ers' within a single subject to mintain 'polar penonae' that recurs in most then to discem Lili's voice from that ofher intimates, medical care givers, joumalists, autobiographies since Man into Woman (Stone 2006: 225-226). Aithough the divided and editors who each have a srake in what her confessions reveal? How does its shifting individual is the same person, he or she must deny the mixtue existing in one body, the modes ofautobiography, biography, and medical case history work to undo the'limited mixture ofs,/he, by enforcing a divisive cut ofhe/she. Now a staple ofthe genre, the scope for speech and action' th¿t Tobias Raun points to, which was mainly restricted to present¿tion ofElbe in this regard retroactively indicates Man ínto Wontan \s the ,r_text medical anã legal experts who 'patientized' md pathologized Lili's claim to womnhood of tr¿ns life writing that seem to ¿dhere in large part to a cisgender normative framing (Raun 2015: 42)? of tmnsgender.2

770 . Elíza Steinbocþ Lilí Elbe anã the politiu of tnregender studies . 17I Despite the tidy title that propositionally defines gender relations in terms of o¡re 'into'-another to indicâte a progressive leap forward, the extrene use of a third- person narrator offers an unspicified suþective point ofview ofthe protagonist before iArd..", had vanished'. At the close ofthe book, unknowingly on her deathbed' she tr" writes that she r¡ust use the third penon, 'as in a novel' (Hoyer 2004: 266)' when narating the story ofEinar (Andreas in the book), for she 'could not relate the story ofAndr"eas'life in the fìrst person', though she often found it'repugnant to speak of a distancing rnyself as of a third p.ttot; 1ibid.¡. The third peßon seems to provide brt also ore that leaves open a future version of herself. The reader learns, "ff".t, man- '[o]ne day her confessions - and she sniled at this thought - would burst upon Èr¿ ,ú. confession of the fìrst person who was not bom unconsciousiy through a rnothet's"r travail, but fully conscious through her own pangs' (ibid-: 255) Although as good as dead a certâin poirt in her transition, the spatio-temporality Andreas is "t of before-and]after dividing masculinity and femininiry remains unresolved for Lili, to which means that also the rãader has to shift into multiple subject positions in order jettisons listen for her voice. Rather than resolve Lili into a singulu truth, the book the utilizes the search in favour of gathering together competing voices Thus, the book visual and textual laiguage ãf 'sixu"1 indeterminacy' not to undemine the reaiiry of Lili's femininity, brt á itdi"rt" the ongoing labour ofbirthing her into an unknown' indeteminate future.

(Andreas Revisitation and the 'tipping point' Fipurc 12 1 'Einar Wegener or known Spane)'. 1929 No living In this indeteminate future of Liii's recunent presence, different groups have revisited copyright holder. ha. p.^ot"g" in order to make clains about transgender experience in different kinds of råp..r"tãtiotal forms. The search for an original figure ftom the modern period' *fr"r¡rai.i"t and medical expertise fìrst professionalized transitioning protocols' might a..orit fo, her appeal to .ott"rtpor"ry transgendet movements keen to challenge the in pathologizing of gäder seiÊdetemination.3 Today, Lili's praise of her saviour surgeon 'lvton as a victim ¡nã Wlnan-rnght sit uncornfortably, but she can be at least recuperâted ofhubristic science (see Stone 2006; Meyer 2011) Yet, non*transgender (cìsgender) writers and filmrnakers have also been atfracted to Lili, finding in her story a Ðmpathetic maniage' if mysterious figure, a'man'whose desires complicate â propelt heterosexual of fold iho died ieking to become one's true self These synbolic figurations Lili cultures' r."tly"rd itto the increa'sed visibility of trans women characters in popular media àîd suchis Sophie Burset in Orange'k the New Blacþ, Maura Pfefemran in Trunspareftl' shows' such as I Nonri Ma-rks in SenseS, not to mention numerous realicy television can an Cait. As with any presentation of the vulnerable, the visualization of diÍ1-erence analysis should also concurrentþ ttárif"rt n"grtiu" stigmà (Steinbock 2014)' Therefore' intro- irclude the i-ri" .r."tor', porition ofauthoriry, what kinds ofvisual markers ate works that jr."d to difrere'ntiate the figure, and to what effect (Singer 2006)' Artistic claim to represent trâns in some sense grapple with long histories ofthe depersonalization (Cartet' .r"rorå oftrans subjects, beggrng the question of'what does trans look lilee?' "rdGetsy, and Salah2014: 469). in popular news h'ti. g1obrl torth trans ihemes and ttans* fìgurations typically arrive suicide rates mostly' coverâge"as widely negative mediâ stories onltans -urdets and Photogtaph ca-retakers A novel develop- Fiqure 12 2 Lili. P¿rjs' 19?6 and, to a lesser extent on trans youth, their pârents md wegener No such if.i" åt"" bv Gerda çwife) ment is the arrival in mainstreaá media of tnns women of colour spokespersons Iivini or known coPy¡ight holde!'

Líti Eltte and the polítics o.f tansgender studìes ' 173 172 ' Eliza Steinbocl¿ as Laverne Cox and Janet Mock, which leð, to Time Magazíne publishing ân âfticle on expreses.disbeliefin the post-surgery naration ofchanged handwriting and voice appar_ 'The Transgender Tipping Point' (May 29,2014). This tem - 'ripping point'- refers entþ achieved ,He through castration: gazed at the carà'and failed to to a threshold moment in which cultural norms md discourses appear rãcognize ,¡..rJ¡i_ to be shifting, ing. Jt was a woman's script, (Hoyer, qid i, Stor" 2006: 225). Once presãnted with the such as during the women's liberation when large-scale civil rights were gained on the handwiting, the astonished Doctor agïees thet no mân could have basis ofchanging majoriry opinion. Political gains are seen wntten it, remarking: as being made with refer- 'One. thing aÍìer another is pushing oof 1iUia.¡. Lili,s voice also appears to have changed ence to this threshold moment ofa paradigm shifi in the social order. In the case of rlto 'a splendid .Simply soprano'reports rhe nnrse, remarking, astounding!, transgender politics, the increase in media representation has not resulted in concrete '126). (ibid.: 125_ ln the Posttrmssexual Manifesto essay, Stone socio-political gains c-ritrcafly remarks that"clinicians may yet, or such gains are distributed unevenly. Hence, in this con- take this seriously only when reading wìth jaundiced .y"rí 2006: 225). perhaps text, the revisiting of Lilit story by Ebershoffand Hooper in the productions of T/re though Lili's þ,or. voice and written expression ielt *ansformed,'ana trrrs Danßh Ciil appears to cash in on the trend for nânatives about transgender lives rather tryperbårc exa!- geration does speek to her experience. AsJack Halberstam ,[_]h"o then pârticipate in shifting consciousness about non-binary or non-essentialist r.^irdr r,r, *. r.íd foms of iives, complex æd contradictory gender identity. 1an1Se1d¡r âs rhey mây seem, it is necessâry ro read for the life and not for the lie. Dishonesty, alÌe, all,'is ¡ust word for narrative, This is, however, not to say these representations of Lili's life experience are not (Halberstam "nothe, 2005:74). Man into-Wonran might not.preient a factuaily instructional. Rather, the question of what kinds of namtions, from whose point of _*..t .rr.,;; might be gro,,.ã o,.. tå achieve the view, and in which kind ofsignifting network, need to be addressed in a trans-sensitive 'J.ily e.íi,g or", of.,Ç nonzoni'^::lî:.ïil1]1, þeyond whlch hes new gender possibilities. analysis Readers can revisir Lili in this texî ofl,ili's transmedial presence. Most fictionai or fictionalized transgender figures and fìnd her multi-voiced embodim.ot à b. a wercome trans media anive in the form of'pedagogical transgender images' (Keegan 2016: 28) marked by the object with which to push beyond the bounds offeeling and thinking. âssnmption of cisgender audiences who might be persuaded to leam about trans lives, Iî Man ínto Woman achieves:o.me.m:âsule of Jxpresing how which are set offfrom their own nomative experiences of being non-trans. Lili,s subjective expe_ In contrast, rience felr like, then which subjectivities_do_ cael the ,p".., opened up by Iåe Keegan defnes a trans media object as a set ofimages that 'cultivates trans conscious- Danish Cirl productions ".rth.tí" make graspable? Both cultural ,.*,ri"y homage ness by offering an eestheric spâce in which the subject might feel a way fomard through to Man into woman's loose grasp of historicaì factlciry, the closed phenornenological horizon ofbinary wh1le also insist.ing Ln a swerving from Lili,s gender' (ibid.: 27). These images invite point of view. Despite the tttle of Th.e Danßh círr seemirg"to srand in a üans-franed approach to aesthetic exper.iences ofnon-binary and binary gender. It is fo;,Lili Eibe,, both productions allow entrance to_the reader,/vie*.. ,foãrgl, possible therefore for Lili Elbe's presence in one medial form to be pedagogically skewed the position G;; (renamed Greta and made into a C¿riforni¿n to cisgender pe$pectives, in the nover). iË. nrrt rines ofthe"a novel and in another to invite âudiences to experience a diferent The Danish ,,Do Gírl rcad:.His wife knew first. me a smallã_ì1,, gendered horizon. The difference between culturai productions of instructional trans Cr.t" from the bedroom that first aftemoon, (Ebershoff2000: 4). The ""lled fìgures and productions oftrms âestherics revolves around question, ,.tiirg-oftfr. bedroom casts an the for whom is this erotic âir over this favour and'rakes fìguration oftrans? a nod to the 'forced feärnization'erodca nara- tive ('my wife made me do it') thar^is a srâple oltransgender Similarþ, the tems transsexual and transgender have entered the acâdemy erotica. Impiicit in the through choice for the wife as the châracte¡ a variery ofexisting from wirose poritioi tt ,to.y is told., the disciplines, but mainly as a subject mâtter, an approach that Susãn ìn nanæoiogicai " focaliser rems,.is the presumption that J cisgender reader,/viewer Stryker calls 'the srudy oftransgender phenomena' (Stryker 2006: 12), much like a biolo- would not De aDre to rdentlty wirh a transgender character gist would place bacteria under the microscope unmoored from the assigned birth or an anthropologist would note tribal sex. The effect, .consiclers however, is that we rook ¿¡ Lili as a he, a husband rituals. Transgender studies, in contrast, she writes, the embodied experience and ..Jrr_a..rr"r, rather than with her: we are not invited of the speaking subject', inro her situaied knowÌedge of the world, whose trms'experiential knowledge is as legitimate as other, nor to experience her selÊconceptio^n. The aesthetic space is supposedly more "objective" foms of knowledge, and is in fact necessary for under- thereõre pr"p"..d .oi for a trans consciousness, but rather for a confirmatìoo;¡;;r.,, stânding the political dynamics of the situation being analyzed'(ibid.). Whereas being feminine identifica- deviant desiæ. Especially the fitm suggests subject matter, theme, or lesson empties out rhe speciûciry of trans subjectivity, thË :ì::1::"!|r'3,::':;,'.!Iyltv with nultiple close-Lìps or -hlnar,/Lili fingering silk stockings, slipping trans subject's consciousness underþing the âesthetic experience ofcultural productions ,he' on nightgwns, ,rd painting his,/her face that becomes o¡sÃ.¿ ""..f.iþ (textual, aural, and visuat) is inescapably tied to a particular person,s .it iili, as'a made_up persona, ro situated knowledge the detrirnent of the m1mâge: of No sexual contact with is shown after the,world. ln consequence, it is critica-l to ask, who is this rrms speaking subject aid t,rtq.,y, "_f. Lili,s tor example, belyng the. open bisexuality of Gerd¿"ilr.. (San what foms of subjectivity do they mobilze? What operations and inìestments æ made lTL Filippo 2016: 404)' The reality of their marriage being annulled possible through this figuration or figuring ofa tmns person? u."""r" ,tt" Danish State did not rex unions is ignored to enable a convenienr We cm ask these quesrions ofthe trem speaking subject about Lili's multi_voiced :i::g:ï::.T. de_sexing of Lili, whose nar_ pnyslcâl trânsrtlon then seems to be.the ntive. In Man ínto Woman, the trans improper object ofhis,zher-desire.'casting subject is split as the collaged foms of case history, an already_famous cisgender man" (Eddie R.ã*åyr., ,írr" rrra received (auto-)biography, confession, and portraiture could be seen to suggest a falseness ofa an Academy Aw¿rcl for best actor) for a trans role, tern .transiacei .blackface,, narative that does not quite ed ln aralogy to further add up, or âr leasr invites ân unwanted dupliciry between Lili solidifìes the cissexist berief that trans women are reany and her medical creâto$. The text tends to etr on the side ofglorifying men in a"aress lneynotas zois¡. medical science only to the point of r,:, insist on rhe trans rbrorbing all Otherness, overstâting claims on its abilities to transform Lili. Stone, for example, tneyIT.r:,^î"jï-"t*irïy flso natten our her "hrr".te. I (impending) death into the cliché ofa kite brãaking otrfrom I

ì 1.74 . EIíza Steínbocþ Lílí Elbe and the i politia of transgender studies . 175 l l

I its string (novel) and Lili's scarf worn by Gerda flying loose in the wind (film). Both of colout Marta olmos Ramiro, Lavetne peterson, depict rans loss as a sense of lonely groundlessness, an inevitable departure from the and Delisa Newton were ridi_ culed in the mainsûeam press, j:ss:l ."""r"r";;o;;iãirruo¿i_"rt, social world. fomred I of a üans_ femininiry (Skidmore 2011). Similarly, å. ;t*i;;;;al If Lili Elbet re-emergence as rhe difiìcult iove object of a cisgender heterosexual Snorton reserch by C. RiJey focuses on the media.attention for figure, woman rides high on the visu¿l accumulation ofthe 'transgender tipping point', then iit. ä_.a Harlem shake dancer Ava Betty Brown. Her plans for sex reasignrient what exactly are cultural representâtions ripping tov/ards? In other words, why should surgery were covered respecrfnlly n Jet magazine (with an Africm ,{merican"readenrt+lÌîrrt.rt we âssume that the movements thât mainstream culture is makjng are necessarily pro- sharpry conrrasts with loel papen tike Ch-irago ooity oefmder: tü;il;d#å gressive, or include positive representâtion of gender variance? In the face of major iì.ï0,,*r,, to receive sursery overseas (Snorron 2016).a These_counrer_namarives institutions and news outlets declâring a newfound visibiliry for trms people, tnnsgen- d"morstltã ,f.. *pp.riirg?"ìå medicalized trope plays in turth"""gärji.'ömacy der scholarship and activism hæ been critical of the hype around newness. Filmaker 1mâgmâry.,1""1:iï, tn the transgender Rhys Ernst, for example, has responded by creating the short documentary series The shining visibilirv oftransmediar trans fìgutes We'ue Been Around (2076), which showcases six historical cses to counter rhe notion like Lili and christine câsts in shadow the racia.l ¿nd colonial áimensions of th"irpr.rãr... io. ã"*"1,ì"*1",oted, that transgender figures are suddenly on the scene. Another critical problem with the fullvinvestigared'isrhehistodcelfigur..fË;w;;;k;,itrilri*r""" ând nor yet hypewisibiliry of ceftein ways of being trans, exemplified by Caitþn cover arrriketheJewish Jenner's doctor Hirschfeld who first helneJlili ,.."ir" oí Vaniry Fab 2015) md spoofed by the filter and heshtâg campaign 'degenerates', ,."r,,r"iJrnãîr, [*".r,.a for his suppor.t Quly #myvani- of wamekros å,¿r".J,rr.i,gruî:;#;;#iì.r"splmts tyfaircover, is that privileged, white, femme, and medicalized (that caused trms identities shadow her death) and found great acclaimand a high.i'liü;.å; ñ;;i party. other foms. The recycling of Lili as the 'inspiration' for transgender movementsr as recycling In revisiting and trans figures such as Lili, then, rt iicruciar the ûnt credit of The Dankh Cll claims, setres to block audiences from imagining t"Çr" irr. iirru"s ofserective, focal_ ized representarion, so as ro observe how trans figureheads as coming - iiãrãri""l'irärngor"rro, ofhistoricar &om other trâditions thm the white westem European fact and nar¡ation unfurls. "".h medical mode1. By invoking the general term traregender instead of local and period speci6c ter- minology, cultural producers neglect to recognize how in other times and places Lili Elbe, the bridge trans* is inflected by class, caste, race, and geopolitical positioning. Therefore, a major Transgender is not only a referenria.l ringuistic denomination challenge for curent trans studies approaches is to âccount for the continuing white- for a person, but also a concept rhat Stryker's highly influenti ,the T*^g;ri;air-rory a.fir", ,, mouement ness and Us-centricity of the ways in which trmsgender circulates, and its impâct æross a socially "Ibóok imposed boundary from an unchasen staitlng plo* on growing a new discourse of transnormativity. -Àctivists are also aiming to build a - i^tlr"r rhr" *tp;;l;i;; destination or mode of ftansitim' (Stry&er 200s, i; transnational movement fighting against trans discrimin¿tion in a manner thet does ;t?óñr in the originai). This con- ceptual model oftransgender that emphasizes ,h. ;""J;;;;;;ross not disenfrenchise other forms of trans expression, such as traystí in Mesoamerica md might imposed boundaries be mapped onto the metaphor ðf the bridg"i; the Southem Cone. Who surfaces as important historical fìgures in this regard and productions of L'i Erbe. 'Niels Hover', explains in tie-edit*t ";;;;;;;tua1 ,out which dimensions of their stories circulate are key questions in both the scholarþ to ofgraritude the German ciry in which she ñ,lfiiled her".i.-r-r*iiiii;;;;;,,",r" h;;;;;;; fìeld and the socialjustice movement. expose the ideological Ë oyer 2004:18), specifi_ To work ofpedagogi- cally to rhe river suroundins rhe Dresden Mr;;.tpJ w;;n{cl,ri.. The depiction cal trans images would be one such gender-sensitive analytical approach thât must the bridge over the of cur ofseiual diferenc., *frì.i"Eft. ro elso take into âccount the geopolitics of trms studies discourses and particularþ its lr'.ia is pre_figured in the.rexr es the bridge over the Elbe River into "_Uoay, origin Drerd;;:-;;r. the fìnal surgeries are stories. caried out. For the protagonist, one may surmise, the Elbe River marks the In comparison to Elbe's exemplary 1930s tale, 's 'sex-change' boundary wavering between the banks ofman and woma". On t nrrtìrossing nanative from the i950s has âttrâcted morc critical scholarly attention regarding her * ofthe bridge into Dresden, EIbe describes the water's magicrl ,bilit;;;;ã;;;ää ideological dominance in transgender histories and discussions. Pedagogically, her archirectural feats, which 'emerge f¡om the shimmeringlirt".', ,rrf".", tit.iptan,.r_"goria,",ryt irnage is often invoked as a paradigmatic example for a binary trmssexual identity, (ibid.: 152). In taking her sumame ñom the Elb.]it r..*, ,h",,h.;;;;d;;st and functions as a racist and colonizing American imege too. (an imagines that she, too, AlthoughJorgensen emerges from the Elbe,s surface. American GI tumed transsexual celebriry) is featured in only one extended scene ofthe In a key penultimâte scene, the third_person narrator explains Lili,s Filipino feature film Kaning Mga Talyada (lVe Who Are Sexy 19ó2), Stryker analyses into ,She thoughts going whar wouid be her lasr surgery: wanted to U. .liãe"_trilder. how her singing and dancing appearance in the film production renden a spectacle perhaps [...] she had bui* a slender bridge ,.iosi rhat ablss *hi.; of 'the sometimes oppressive ways "transgender ,.p;r"*;_n md womm. (ibid.: in which whiteness" functions in 255). Liti's identification wiih th (post)colonial contexts' (2009: 89). Back in the IJnited States, rhe news media abour a much more nuid kinJ ;¡'d;;å':iiå äi:ijä:.":?ii,l:å"1älr'ï*äjï::ì,j blonde beauty realness also cast ¿ Jorgensen's shadow on the African Americm trans conjure. Rather it seems she becomes a bridge_builder fo, ott.*, to cary women who were contemporaries but denigrated as less authentic in their identities. the them âcross boundaries of othemess. hr this sense, rifí, UJJg. i, In 'Constructing the "Good Transsexual"', Emìly Skidmore demonstrates ,.r;;;, o* back, much like how in the the writings of radical women of colour that dem;#;;" d;;r of being an intersec- 1950s and 1960s, unlike Jorgensen and other white transsexual women, trâns women tional connector, as corlected in This Brídge catted My n.Ã-li"t g^ ^aAnzaldúa 19g1),

776 , EIíza Steínbocþ Lili Elbe an.d the polítiæ of trarcgender çudies . I77 In assessing rhe portrâits . of Lili painted by that were exhibited at Arken Museum in Denmrk on the occasion of The Danisi Giil's rcrease. Tobias Raunjs catal0gue essay notes the frequency ofpost'res that she t¿kes to tum and twrst her back to the viewer/pâinter. I quote Raun,s áescrþtion at lengh:

The paintingLili uith a Feather Fan,1920, depicts Lili Elbe with long, fair, bouffant hair, standing with her back to us, wearing i. stiffskirt, tight blouse.-, necklace and gloves þ._40). Her body is slightly tumed,lnd she has oni hand on her hip whil; the other hand holds an ornate feather fan which splays our at the back ofher neck and halÊmatches the large-flowered wallpaper in the tackground. Her face is made up, halÊturned towards the viewer, with he, gar. diagonaily downturned to the leÍ1, looking obliquely at us. The coquettish artiiude s'giests that she is deriberately p,osing for us, yet she may also have been captured ñdway through ân acri;;. \Me do not know whether at this very momenì she is tuming towarãs us or away from us. Perhaps she is not posing at all, perhaps someone is calling to he, _ she responds to the câl1 by tuming. She ippears both aware and unaware of "ráour presence rumed - halftowards us, but without looking at us. She seems approach_ ablelunapproachable, inviting/dismissive in one and th"e same motion, as she stands there painted in a slightly elevated perspective. The am at her side invites our gaze to stray round æd round in the ornamental fom that her body creates. But it also prevents us getting round to the other side of Lili _ we -. ,iru, no, p**i.ã uniimited âccess to her body. This sabotaged access is also supported by irer meas_ ured, superior gaze- (Raun 2015: 42-44)

coquettish, {nn.-*ng Lilit back is both a ru¡e and a shield. celebrating her femininity, this depicrion is a clear corlaboration wirh Geïda. In contrâsr, the mJasure of rest¡c- tion we cen¡ot see her - body in fìrll nor can we enter into the erotic space ofthe paint_ ing is not aflordedby - The Danßh Glrl's depictions oflili, which reprËs.or h., ,rriìe. Gerdat fantæy girl along the lines pygmalion "s of a story. Indeed, the film venion of Tfre th11 thl annearmce of Liti is a cåation of Gerda, who first paints her;?::.,:r_?:! ân âftrsrrc :.:u:1 act rhat literalry creates Lir as a being. After the first (md rast) tmá they share. sexual intimacy while Lili is present in dress anã persona, Gerda wakes to dmw her sleeping. In the moming, Lili approves the prolfic sketches,'thus tacitly giving Gerda Figute 12.j Gerda Wegener, with d Feathet Faû (1920). Copyrighr Morten Pon. Used with permission lili to use her as â nuse. Subsequent scenes show Gerda pemission. f.u.rirhiy"do*Tog then painting on the stretch ofcanvas -ã shìt &om behind to suggest the surface is a kind of skin; she worls in an inspired deep_concentration that sharpryäntrasts with Einar,s srow, also discussed in chapter 5 of this book. The metaphor refers to the linking work of carefìrl,,and delicaæ renderings ofrandscapes. A mrsculìne sþe ofcreadon is transfered feminism with sexuality, race, and class thât falls (as a burden) to women ofcolour to to Gerde, while Lili withdmws .I from painàng altogether, clrl*irg, don,r want to be a explicate for white middle-class heterosexual women the experiences of difference that peidter. I want to be a woman,. This difers fromlLan inø I.4/oman, whichailows for Lili divide the movement. Similüly, Lili cmies the bwden of trying to explain, and to over- to continue paint: to once she recovers, she paints a heart rather than Unar.ap., come, her diference thât seems inexplicable to essentialist gender perspectives. She seems admittrng to her lover "oott., claude that it represeirts 'my heart, which h¿s been reft behind in to embody or utilize the bridge metaphor in her work as a model for her wife's paintings, the women's clinic' that she intends to_ gie rrofe*o. Kreutz (Floyer 2004: 2s2-253). and also in the far less discussed body ofher own painterþ work. In a last step, I tum now Rather than only look to the images of Lili, this heart reminds us th"t sh. was a painter to a discussion ofhow Lili appean in the paintings ofGerda, and how the painter-muse and co-creetor ofhenelfand her realitv. relationship dovetails with narrâtional techniques in The Danßh Glzl in order to explore Nicholas chare's rchival work on L'irit paintings made while she was living publicany how Lili actively figures herself or is more passively figured in creative works, which are as Einar (she modelled for Gerda as earry is i904j has located a confident aãprctio, or framed more overtly by aesthetic discourses nther thân medical ones. Pont sur la Inire (1924), abndge he reads as presenting a üans* aesthetic long before Lili

1.78 . Elízd Steíflbocþ Lili Elbe and the polìtics of transgender studies , I79 peinterly technique binary gender sy*em' (Spade emerged into the public eye (Chæe 201'6: 352). Chare describes the 2004: 235 n9). Though perhaps misguidedly chempioning the incli_ vidual production ofself, such advocacy seeks ro secure a sub¡ect pÃition m fight public"aurhorities as Wegener's that impinge on an individual's gender, for instance by assigning birtir gender, Ímiting toilet access, and sex-segregated irca¡ce¡ation. the trânsfluent wâter' Thick strokes ofazure' cyan' powder loose impasto to render 4 I reGr to a draft chapter 6om snorton's manusc.ipt entitred 'Black on Both Sides: bridge A broken and Race and the blue aná teal coalesce to form the downstream of the Remaking of Traru Hisrory', which rooks at rhe trânsirive rerationship bemeen biackness and The t¡ansness across distorted reflection ofthe viaduct deliquesces withln varied blue-hued ripples the long ffientietit century (provided by author). realist insubstantial, impressionistic double contrasts with the solid, cream-coloured stonework ofthe ancient bridge itself- (ibid.) Questions

forms a 'point of tran- 1. Why do you think Man in.to Woman. ìncludes As a whole, the painting is a study of contrasts in which thetridge authodtative medical voices in its mirror-images framing of story? sition between envitonments, tones, moods'in which the frâctures in the Lilit In other words, whar does Lili's srory gâin by including looking these voices .o*pl"* and show the aftist's skill (Chare 2016: 352-353)' The ¡uvo figures alongside her own? to the 2. As a figure "*downwards from the bridge, into the running waters beneath, dfuect our âttention LiIi cæ be viewed from rnany diferent perspectives (e.g. as a pedagogical lively action ofthe wateithat should also hold our interest' In Chæe's argumentation' image or trans media object). What are the different affordances for water' grasping trans i" ,,1gg"rt, the recuring motiß, compositional devices, and-theme of 'perturåed subjectiviry in rhe written texts Man into Woman and. The Danßh couliíndícate 'efforts by Wegener tó articulate a mode of being for which there was Gírl from the photographic texrs such as her portraits and the film The Danish Man ínto Woman's wnting towatds Gil? How do these affordances conpare ro the pâinrerly V", recognition; (ibid.: 353). As I claim of expressions oflili as not yet muse and the"ol iomation""y ofãn identiry, 'because a language to describe people like her hæ co-creator? ârtistic language 3. In what ways does been invented' (Steinbock 2012: 171), Charc claims for lVegmer's an Lili's nanated story becorne exemplary for modelling the these racial and gender ãereloped through sryle that gestures towards 'a subjectivity that fã1ls across [ ] ideals of the places and periods in which she is living and and revived? contraiies' of ntai *otori (zoto, ssq). The paint gives a body and form' shape' -á thât colour to the imagination, opening a space for experiencing transgender aesthetics connects the viewer with trmsitional horizons' In conclusion, Lili's creative production thât lives on in the shape ofher modeliing' painting, co-creating, writing, ánd revisited cultural texts âre âll transmedial presences i"lth foi experiencing trans from difrerent perspectives From the analyti- "ãord"t.., speaking subject .J f""p""ir. oftransjender stu"dies, the embodied experience ofthe iterations this knowl- shorld i. tak.n on board as legitimate knowledge. In LiLi's various depending on who her story or frames the .ag;-ì, -o.. or less availabl-e .focalizes expectations, suggesting one scale in which to rank their political effìcary a of for"rãj.er."'s afüming trans lives. ff"*", ttiy malysis has sought to model how comparison affects selÊdefinition. ferspectirein Lili brings into sharp reLief the ways thât medi¿tion

Notes ,l Steinbock's 'The Vioience Small porrions of this text have appeared in somewhat alte¡ed fom' iû (2016)' It also ofthetul Transgender Ho,neopaìhy and Cinematic Aestheticí (2012) and'Trani 'frans EnbotlitLenl and llrc I úorro*, ,-"U poirion, fro. -y -,tu"npt Shírntrcritg htmges: Cinenn' i Aesthelics of Chdnrge. t work of Sabine Mey et ' Wie Líli zu einent rightisen M¿idthen t 1- Ñì;hil óh"t" ;;inr to the magistelial , t )rju;'çZOtSrji¡)g),whichdiscùssesindetailtirecomplexitiesofaurhorshipacrossthe_threedistinct English and Geman (2016: 361 n3) ¡ vesíoì of Fra Mani tíl Kuittde appearitginDanish, - Harâway' Cal'an].-Slra]< a1{ I 2 Inspired by the feminist poststruiiuraìisiwork of, among othen, Donta tans subjecs' much like ælonial Gloria Anzaidúa, Stone's 'Posttranssexual Manifesto' s;bmib that 'lt is diftìcult I ân.l indisenous ÞeoÞle. have no at¡thentic voice in the existing accouns ofthemselves ;;r"*i; if on" Ir programed ro disappear, (stone 2006: 230) by assimilarion ";"";;!r_äir.ou*. I -t;;a;i;;into ¿ dominant (gender. racial. claqs) cultu¡e' 3 i;;i";vocacy in neoliúeral contexß ofren makes use of the subjectivity âamework.of 'T ' ,to opposition to the côercive mechanisms ofthe ! ,i"iàlä-r'rt¡_irìrí,¡iarlor as a strategic tool express I 'T

Lili Elbc and ¡1rc polirics oJ transgctdcr , 180 . Eliza Steínbocl< studics 181 I I