Nevada
First edition
AuthorImogen Binnie
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
PublisherTopside Press
Publication date
April 2, 2013 (2013-04-02)
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages262
ISBN9780983242291

Nevada: A Novel is the debut novel from author Imogen Binnie, released by Topside Press in 2013. Nevada follows the adventures of transgender New York punk woman Maria Griffiths.

Background and publication

Nevada was originally released by Topside Press in 2013. In June 2021 it was announced that Nevada would be reissued in Fall 2022 by MCD Books' FSG Originals due to its enduring popularity.[1][2] Later that summer Binnie retweeted that Nevada would be published in June 2022 by Picador, making it available in the UK for the first time.[3][4]

In 2022, Binnie appeared on Storybound reading an excerpt from "Nevada", complete with an original score and sound design by Jude Brewer.

Plot

When Maria finds out her girlfriend cheated on her, she spirals out of control, stealing her girlfriend's car and buying heroin before heading west on a journey of self-discovery. In Nevada, she meets James Hanson, and immediately realizes that James is also transgender, but doesn't realize it yet.[5] The two travel to Reno together. Maria frequently lapses into long inner monologues throughout the book, reflecting on gender, heteronormativity, and social conditioning.[6]

Inspiration

Binnie has said that in writing a story about a transgender protagonist, she wanted to resist the risk of explaining "The Trans Experience for cis people," which she says often happens with transgender memoirs. Because Nevada is a work of fiction, Binnie said she approached writing it as a transgender story written for trans women. "One of the questions I was trying to answer with Nevada was, what would a story about trans women that was intended for an audience of trans women — what would that look like?" Binnie told blogger Sarah McCarry in an interview about the book.[7]

Reception

Nevada received a negative review in magazine Publishers Weekly,[6] but inspired other trans women writers, like author Casey Plett, who says the book was "very bleak and it ends in a tough way,"[8] but ultimately made her feel that "nothing was off-limits" to write about.[9] Torrey Peters, another trans woman and author, has cited it as a major inspiration of hers. She would go on to write Detransition, Baby, an acclaimed 2010s transgender novel[10] The book was also nominated for the 2014 Lambda Literary Award for transgender fiction.[11]

In 2022, transgender academic, Stephanie Burt, credited Nevada as having changed 'the landscape of trans fiction- in part because it made concessions to tourists' and argued that the book had become central to 'the invention of the trans novel' in the 2010s.[12]

Adaptation

On January 17th, 2023, director Jane Schoenbrun announced a casting call on their Twitter account seeking actors for a film adaptation of Nevada. Binnie endorsed the call with a retweet.

References

  1. ↑ Walker, Harron (2 June 2022). "'Have You Read Nevada?'". Vulture. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  2. ↑ "FSG Originals | We're Reissuing Imogen Binnie's NEVADA!".
  3. ↑ @paulmartinovic (August 4, 2021). "Extremely delighted and excited to announce that @picadorbooks will be bringing @imogenbinnie's groundbreaking, da…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  4. ↑ "Nevada by Imogen Binnie".
  5. ↑ Gilette, Courtney (April 2, 2013). "'Nevada: A Novel' by Imogen Binnie". Lambda Literary. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Nevada". Publishers Weekly. 260 (6): 38–39. February 11, 2013.
  7. ↑ McCarry, Sarah (October 25, 2013). "A Conversation with Imogen Binnie". The Rejectionist. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  8. ↑ Zoratti, Jen (June 19, 2014). "Winnipeg author mines her experiences and those of other trans women in fearless collection of short stories". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  9. ↑ Page/Odofemi, Morgan M. "Trans Women's Lit? An Interview with Trish Salah and Casey Plett". Canadian Women in the Literary Arts. Archived from the original on September 13, 2015. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  10. ↑ csindy.com: Opinion: A conversation with Torrey Peters, author of "Detransition, Baby" | Queer and There | csindy.com, accessdate: May 28, 2023
  11. ↑ "26th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced". Lambda Literary Foundation, March 6, 2014.
  12. ↑ Burt, Stephanie (2022-06-20). "The Invention of the Trans Novel". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
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