A frank, passionate plea for us to move away from sexual polarization and the prison of gender toward a world in which individual roles and modes of personal behavior can be freely chosen. . . . An interesting, lively and valuable general introduction to a new way of perceiving our Western cultural tradition, with emphasis upon English literature. Joyce Carol Oates, In this quietly provocative book, Carolyn G. Heilbrun opens our eyes to the ways in which the concept of androgynythe realization of man in woman and woman in manhas run, like a hidden river, from its source in pre-Hellenic myth through the literature of the Western world. The androgynous ideal shows itself to be a creative and civilizing force conducive to the survival of a truly human society.