How to Be Both

Ambiguity is a fundamental theme in the novel, hinted at even in the book’s title How to Be Both and in its structure, divided as it is into two parts focused on two very different protagonists. Francescho’s own shifting understanding of his gender identity—mirrored in his initial uncertainty about George’s gender—is the clearest example of ambiguity in the book, but other forms of ambiguity abound, interrogating the boundaries between artist and audience, reality and fiction, experience and imagination. 

There is no set reading order for the book’s two parts, and two versions of the book are always produced so that half of published copies begin with “Camera” and the other half with “Eyes.” Consequently, uncertainty is a fundamental characteristic of the novel. Many elements of the story are left open to interpretation, and certain key questions are left deliberately unanswered, for instance Francescho’s own understanding of his gender identity, whether Carol Martineau was really being spied on by Lisa Goliard and the government, and the exact nature of Francescho’s “purgatorium” afterlife. Ambiguity is therefore omnipresent.

Hypothetical and rhetorical questions, imaginary scenarios, and meta commentaries on the blurred lines between reality and fantasy are liberally present throughout the book. Many of these discussions and suppositions are rife with dramatic irony, particularly when revisited. George and her mother discuss the unlikely possibility of Francescho being a woman, Francescho wonders at the ambiguous relationship between George and Lisa, and while George is preoccupied with government surveillance, she is in fact being surveilled by an intangible and inescapable viewer in the form of Francescho. Fact and fiction are further conflated by the fictionalization of the historical figure Francesco del Cossa in Part 2, as well as the inherent ambiguity and uncertainty of his role and perspective as an intangible spirit. Past and present are also conflated by a stream of consciousness narration built around memories, with the present tense narrative often interrupted by recollections of the past. George’s grief initially means that she lives as much in the past—trapped in her memories of her mother, yearning to return to the time before her mother’s unexpected death—as in the present. In “Eyes,” Francescho exists simultaneously in the “purgatorium” of the 21st century and in his memories of his own long-ago life. In Francescho’s mind, the 21st century and the 15th century exist simultaneously, and he moves seamlessly between these disparate worlds. Even the nature of his posthumous existence—whether he is a supernatural being in his own right or a product of George’s imagination—remains deliberately unresolved. As with many other seemingly either/or questions in the book, the answer is both.

Art features prominently throughout How to Be Both: In “Camera,” protagonist George is a budding artist captivated by the work of little-known Renaissance master Francesco del Cossa, while in “Eyes,” Francescho himself is the protagonist, inventing his own identity and winning freedom in an often oppressive society through art. In both halves of the novel, works of art and the act of creating are shown to have great power, capable of both transforming and preserving the viewer, artist, and subject.

For Francescho, art is inextricably linked with identity. Francescho’s own life was transformed by his artistic ability and his dedication to the arts, which saw him abandoning a conventional life to live as a man and a painter. His art is his legacy, and the source of almost all extant information about him. It therefore serves to preserve his memory. In life, Francescho’s art transforms and develops alongside his character, reflecting his state of mind and preoccupations—particularly his grief. Francescho preserves many people from his life in his art—Barto, Isotta, the field worker, the boy with the torch—but in preserving these people in art, he also transforms them. His art also has transformative power over those who see it. Many of his friends and lovers in the brothel choose to change their lives as a result of the altered and elevated sense of self produced by his sketches, and the workers of Ferrera are inspired and moved by the depiction of one of their own in the palace frescos.

Characters connect with each other through shared experiences involving works of art. The impact and connotations of these pieces therefore change along with developing relationships, even as art functions to preserve and strengthen those bonds between people. In her grief, George listens to 1960s music, dances the twist, and watches vintage French films in order to feel close to her mother. She also cultivates a deep interest in the work of Francesco del Cossa because of her mother’s interest in this artist, regularly skipping school to spend hours observing his portrait of Saint Vincent Ferrer. In this way, George uses art to strengthen and preserve their close mother-daughter bond. By sharing these artistic passions with H, George also sees their relationship strengthen and transform.