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Lind was known under a multitude of aliases, including Ralph Werther, which is the pseudonym that he published his books under, as well as Jennie June, Raphael Werther, and Pussie. He noted in his autobiography that he took the name Ralph Werther from inspiration from Renaissance painter Ralphael and from the novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Joseph Wolfgang Goethe (Androgyne xvi). Because he lived under so many different names, very little is known about Lind or his personal life, despite the large amount of material noted about his experiences in his written works. Nobody knows what his true name was or even when he was born. Lind intended to publish a trilogy of books, Autobiography of an Androgyne, The Female-Impersonators, and an unknown third (“Lind” 1), which he says in his manuscript, The Riddle of the Underworld, “set forth all phases of the life experience of a bisexual university ‘man,’” (Underworld 2). The Riddle of the Underworld was never completely finished, and only certain portions of the manuscript have been recovered (“Lind” 1). Lind claimed that he was brought into the world as a human who had a strong claim, on anatomic grounds as well as psychic, to membership in both of the sexes, and believed that he was foreordained to live part of his life as a man and part as woman (Underworld 5).

Self-identifying himself as an androgyne, Lind defined an androgyne as “a human possessing the male primary sexual determinants, ordinarily undersized and not erectile in contact cum femina…with no trace of the female conformation of these organs but usually with feminine earmarks in the rest of the body. His psyche, tastes, and manners are more or less conspicuously feminine” (Underworld 15). Lind recognized the potential danger that could result if someone in her community found out about her disposition, so she lived, and encouraged others to as well, to live a double life (Underworld 16-17).

Autobiography of an Androgyne

Lind was one of the first in recorded history to publicize his experiences as a transgender individual, but even though the content should have been groundbreaking, especially given the attitude of people towards those who exhibited traits of androgynism, which Lind described as being prone to fits of temporary insanity on witnessing any evidence of androgynism in another and bitterly persecutes any individual so unfortunate as to betray the earmarks of androgynism (Underworld 16-17), the book is relatively unknown in most circles, and did not receive much fanfare after its publication (Androgyne ix). It received no reviews, no praise, no criticism, but rather flew under the radar from the time it was published to the present day, which was contrary to Lind’s opinion on what the impact of the book would be. Lind believed that the book would become an instant classic, noting in the book’s introduction that he expected Autobiography to be “a work which this epoch had been waiting for and which futurity will crown as a classic,” (Androgyne ix).

Even Scott Herring, an English professor at Indiana University whose focus includes LGBTQ studies and who even provided the introduction for the autobiography, noted the relative irrelevance of the publication. Herring noted “The memoir was published to the acclaim of no one back then and no one now. This was and still is unfortunate, since Autobiography should have been one of the biggest sensations of the year. It should also be considered a centerpiece for queer, trans, and gender studies of twentieth century America…There were no reviews written for Autobiography. There were no awards offered. There was no fanfare. His writing received little exposure in the decade following or, for that matter, the decade today. Rarely taught in contemporary American academics, Autobiography has often been marginalized by literary critics, American studies scholars, and historians of U.S. sexuality…These oversights and omissions become all the more glaring given that Autobiography overflows with juicy details about late nineteenth-century queer American underworld…There is more to say about this. For now, I note that, despite ‘Ralph Werther’ the author’s painstaking commitment to promoting queer life from the last two decades of the nineteenth century to the second decade of the twentieth century, ‘Ralph Werther’ the historical figure continues to remain an enigma for present-day audiences. He probably always will. We know precious little about him, not even a reliable fact about his personal life given the overblown (‘more than one thousand’) narration that sometimes marks the text,” (Androgyne x). The primary reason for this lack of exposure and thus lack of any recognition for the book or for Lind herself lies in the fact that Lind was constrained to publish the autobiography with a “small-scale, highly specialized scientific press ‘by mail only.’” Because of this, only 1,000 copies were printed of the first edition and the only suitors for the purchase of the autobiography were lawyers, physicians, legislators, psychologists, and sociologists (Androgyne xviii).

Werther, Ralph. Autobiography of an Androgyne. Ed. Scott Herring. Piscataway: Rutgers UP, 2008. Print.

Werther, Ralph. "Earl Lind (Ralph Werther-Jennie June): The Riddle of the Underworld, 1921 · Outhistory.org." Outhistory.org. Ed. Ted Faigle. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2017.

Werther, Ralph. The Riddle of the Underworld. N.p.: n.p., 1921. Print.