Middlesex
A widely acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and a strong entry point to Eugenides's work.
Author guide
Jeffrey Eugenides Books in Order
Jeffrey Eugenides is an American novelist and short-story writer born in Detroit in 1960. His novels include The Virgin Suicides, Middlesex, and The Marriage Plot. Middlesex won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He has also published the short-story collection Fresh Complaint and teaches creative writing at Princeton University.
literary fictionnovelsshort stories
Catalog record updated .
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
The Virgin Suicides
His debut novel and earliest introduction to his distinctive narrative voice.
Fresh Complaint: Stories
A representative collection of his short fiction.
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (3)
- The Virgin Suicides
novel · 1993
"First published in 1993, The Virgin Suicides announced the arrival of a major new American novelist. In a quiet suburb of Detroit, the five Lisbon sisters--beautiful, eccentric, and obsessively watched by the neighborhood boys--commit…
- Middlesex
novel · 2002
A dazzling triumph from the bestselling author of The Virgin Suicides--the astonishing tale of a gene that passes down through three generations of a Greek-American family and flowers in the body of a teenage girl. "I was born twice:…
- The Marriage Plot
novel · 2011
The story concerns three college friends from Brown University—Madeleine, Leonard, and Mitchell—beginning in their senior year, 1982, and follows them during their first year post-graduation
Short fiction (1)
- Fresh Complaint: Stories
short-story-collection · 2017
This collection presents characters in the midst of personal and national crises. We meet a failed poet who, envious of other people's wealth during the real-estate bubble, becomes an embezzler; a clavichordist whose dreams of art…
Frequently asked questions about Jeffrey Eugenides
When and where was Jeffrey Eugenides born?
Jeffrey Eugenides was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1960.
What is Jeffrey Eugenides's ethnic background?
Eugenides has Greek heritage and has described himself as half Greek, while emphasizing that his identity is also distinctly American and rooted in Detroit.
Where did Jeffrey Eugenides study and teach?
He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University and earned an M.A. in English and Creative Writing from Stanford University in 1986. He has taught creative writing at Princeton and is listed as a professor in NYU's Creative Writing Program.
Sources: pulitzer.org (opens in a new tab)princeton.edu (opens in a new tab)bulletins.nyu.edu (opens in a new tab)
What influenced Jeffrey Eugenides's writing?
His work is strongly shaped by his Detroit upbringing and Greek-American experience. He has also discussed the influence of 19th-century storytelling and writers such as Jane Austen and George Eliot.
Sources: thebeliever.net (opens in a new tab)princeton.edu (opens in a new tab)
Did Jeffrey Eugenides win a Pulitzer Prize?
Yes. He won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Middlesex, a recognition that helped establish his lasting standing in American literature; he was also elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2018.
Sources: pulitzer.org (opens in a new tab)princeton.edu (opens in a new tab)