Bearers of Risk : Writing Masculinity in Contemporary English-Canadian Short Story Cycles

How Whiteness and normative masculinity are strategically centred via a marginal genre. __Bearers of Risk__ examines how male Canadian writers mobilize the early twenty-first-century short story cycle as an illustration of post-9/11 recuperative masculinity politics. Neta Gordon unsettles scholarly positions on the inherent outsider status of the short story cycle and exposes the strategic unmarking of White, heteronormative men. "The short story and the short story cycle have long been considered a marginal genre, free to make room for fresh or risk-taking voices. But in thematizing masculinity in crisis, the premise of the marginal is used to elevate recuperative masculinity politics and nostalgia for traditional patriarchy. Despite the scholarly tendency to link marginal genres and marginalized voices, features of the CanLit infrastructure--including genre criticism and literary prize culture--are complicit in normalizing hegemonic masculinity and the Settler colonial project. Bearers of Risk examines how male Canadian writers mobilize the early twenty-first-century short story cycle as an illustration of post-9/11 recuperative masculinity politics, exposing the tendency to position White, heteronormative men's viewpoints as objective. Neta Gordon introduces the civil bearer of risk, a figure who comprehends the position of men as being marked by or for failure, and who reasserts masculine authority as civil duty towards community. This book looks at contemporary experimental short story cycles, debut cycles by ethnically minoritized and immigrant writers, and cycles unified by setting, whether suburban, urban, or rural. Bearers of Risk unsettles popular notions of the inherent outsider status of the short story cycle while also scrutinizing expressions of recuperative masculinity politics through which men assert their right to reclaim the centre."-- Provided by publisher The short story and the short story cycle have long been considered a marginal genre, free to make room for fresh or risk-taking voices. But in thematizing masculinity in crisis, the genre uses the premise of the marginal to elevate recuperative masculinity politics and nostalgia for traditional patriarchy. Despite the scholarly tendency to link marginal genres and marginalized voices, features of the CanLit infrastructure – including genre criticism and literary prize culture – are complicit in normalizing hegemonic masculinity and the Settler colonial project. Bearers of Risk examines how male Canadian writers mobilize the early twenty-first-century short story cycle as an illustration of post-9/11 recuperative masculinity politics, exposing the tendency to position White, heteronormative men's viewpoints as objective. Neta Gordon introduces the civil bearer of risk, a figure who comprehends the position of men as being marked by or for failure, and who reasserts masculine authority as civil duty towards community. This book looks at contemporary experimental short story cycles, debut cycles by ethnically minoritized and immigrant writers, and cycles unified by setting, whether suburban, urban, or rural. Bearers of Risk unsettles popular notions of the inherent outsider status of the short story cycle while also scrutinizing expressions of recuperative masculinity politics through which men assert their right to reclaim the centre.

The short story and the short story cycle have long beenconsidered a marginal genre, free to make room for fresh orrisk-taking voices. But in thematizing masculinity in crisis, thegenre uses the premise of the marginal to elevate recuperativemasculinity politics and nostalgia for traditional patriarchy.Despite the scholarly tendency to link marginal genres andmarginalized voices, features of the CanLit infrastructure -including genre criticism and literary prize culture - arecomplicit in normalizing hegemonic masculinity and the Settlercolonial project. Bearers of Risk examines how maleCanadian writers mobilize the early twenty-first-century shortstory cycle as an illustration of post-9/11 recuperativemasculinity politics, exposing the tendency to position White,heteronormative men's viewpoints as objective. Neta Gordonintroduces the civil bearer of risk, a figure who comprehends theposition of men as being marked by or for failure, and whoreasserts masculine authority as civil duty towards community. Thisbook looks at contemporary experimental short story cycles, debutcycles by ethnically minoritized and immigrant writers, and cyclesunified by setting, whether suburban, urban, or rural. Bearersof Risk unsettles popular notions of the inherent outsiderstatus of the short story cycle while also scrutinizing expressionsof recuperative masculinity politics through which men assert theirright to reclaim the centre.

Cover Copyright Contents Acknowledgments 1 DETERMINING BORDERS John Gould’s “Conversion” and the Frameworks for Analysis Section One Experimenting with Form 2 FAILING AND FALLING MEN John Gould’s kilter: 55 fictions, the Microfiction, and False Heterogeneities 3 TALES OF DISCOVERY Formal Constraints and the Desire for Originality in Paul Glennon’s The Dodecahedron 4 “THE PERFECT SHADE OF VISITOR” Stephen Marche’s Shining at the Bottom of the Sea, Literary Parody, and the Unmarked Anthologist Section Two Narratives of Arrival 5 “THE TOUGHEST KIDIN HEBREW SCHOOL” Suburbia and Whitening in David Bezmozgis’s Natasha and Other Stories 6 CONTAGION AND CONTAINMENT Vincent Lam’s Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures and Expert Systems in the Cosmopolis 7 NEW CANADIANS Anthony De Sa’s Barnacle Love, Ethnic Enclaves, and Civility Section Three Negotiating Space 8 THE WOUNDED WHITE MAN Bodies and/as Machines in Alexander MacLeod’s Light Lifting 9 IN THE BACKGROUND Labour and Local Economies in Michael Christie’s The Beggar’s Garden 10 “DON’T WRITE CHEQUES YOUR BODY CAN’T CASH” D.W. Wilson’s Once You Break a Knuckle, Rurality, and Authenticity Conclusion RISK ASSESSMENTS Appendix I SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS AND AWARDS Appendix II TABLES OF CONTENTS Notes References Index