Professor of French John C. O'Neal has published "Portrait de Saint-Preux en personnage transgenre dans Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse in a collection of essays titled Masculinités en révolution: de Rousseau à Balzac, Saint-Étienne, 2013. The essay represents an expanded version of an invited talk for a conference originally held in Saint-Étienne, France and Bâle, Switzerland.
Rousseau's hero in this novel is widely regarded as a so-called "man of feeling." Saint-Preux possesses more than just a keen sensibility, however. According to O'Neal, this character's transgendered nature allows him to transgress a number of feminine physical spaces (the Elysium, the Gynaeceum, and the Apollo Room) that are off limits to practically every other man. With this best-selling novel and its principal male character, Rousseau provides an early example of gender confusion.
