Anxious Masculinity in the Drama of Arthur Miller and Beyond : Salesmen, Sluggers, and Big Daddies

"This study examines the anxious male breadwinner as he is incarnated in Arthur Miller's most celebrated plays and as he resurfaces in different guises throughout American drama, from the 1950s to the present. It offers a compelling analysis of gender dynamics -- staunchly homosocial, vaguely or overtly misogynistic, anxiously homophobic -- and the legacy of this figure in the works of other American dramatists. Throughout, the book argues that the gendered anxieties exhibited by the anxious male breadwinner are the very ones invoked with such success by Donald Trump. Gleitman examines this figure in the plays of Tennessee Williams, later 20th century writers Lorraine Hansberry, David Mamet, August Wilson, and Sam Shepard (who reposition him in more racially and economically marginalized settings), and in the more recent work of Tony Kushner, Paula Vogel, and Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, who shift their focus to the next generation, which seeks to escape his clutches and forge new, often gleefully queer identities. The final chapter concerns contemporary Black dramatists Suzan-Lori Parks, Jackie Sibblies Drury, and Jeremy O. Harris, whose plays move us from anxious masculinity to anxious whiteness and speak directly to the current moment."-- Provided by publisher "This study examines the figure of the anxious male breadwinner as he is incarnated in Arthur Miller's most celebrated plays and as he resurfaces in different guises throughout American drama from the 1950s to the present day. It offers a compelling analysis of gender dynamics - staunchly homosocial, vaguely or overtly misogynistic, anxiously homophobic - and of the legacy of this often sexually troubled figure in the works of other American dramatists right up to the present day. The book then proceeds to examine this same figure as he appears in the plays of Tennessee Williams, and then in the later 20th century writers Lorraine Hansberry, David Mamet, August Wilson and Sam Shepard, who reposition him in more racially and economically marginalized settings. From there it turns to the work of Tony Kushner, Paula Vogel, and the collaborators Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, who shift their focus to the children who seek to free themselves from his clutches and forge their own, gleefully queer identities. Finally, the last chapter concerns the contemporary Black dramatists Suzan-Lori Parks, Jackie Sibblies Drury and Jeremy O. Harris, whose plays move us from anxious masculinity to anxious whiteness and speak directly to the current moment. Threaded throughout the book is the argument that the gendered anxieties exhibited by the anxious male breadwinner are the very ones invoked with such success by Donald Trump"-- Provided by publisher Staunchly homosocial, vaguely or overtly misogynistic, anxiously homophobic-this study follows the male breadwinner as he is incarnated in Arthur Miller's most celebrated plays and as he resurfaces in different guises throughout American drama, from the 1950s to the present. Anxious Masculinity offers a compelling analysis of gender dynamics and the legacy of this figure as he stalks through the works of other American dramatists, and argues that the gendered anxieties exhibited by their characters are the very ones invoked with such success by Donald Trump. Claire Gleitman examines this figure in the plays of Miller and Tennessee Williams, as well as later 20th-century writers Lorraine Hansberry, August Wilson, and Sam Shepard, who reposition him in more racially and economically marginalized settings. He reappears in the more recent work of playwrights Tony Kushner, Paula Vogel, and collaborators Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, who shift their focus to the next generation, which seeks to escape his clutches and forge new, often gleefully queer identities. The final chapter concerns contemporary Black dramatists Suzan Lori-Parks, Jackie Sibblies Drury, and Jeremy O. Harris, whose plays move us from anxious masculinity to anxious whiteness and speak directly to the current moment. Cover Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: The Prison-House of Gender 1 Strudel and the Single Man: All My Sons and Death of a Salesman 2 Witchcraft and the Weird: The Crucible and A View from the Bridge 3 Performing White Male Heteronormativity: A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 4 Playing Ball on the Margins: Raisin in the Sun, Fences, Curse of the Starving Class 5 Queering a New Generation: Angels in America, How I Learned to Drive, Fun Home 6 Cakewalks and the White Gaze: Topdog/Underdog, Fairview, Slave Play Notes References Index