Boys Don't Cry? : Rethinking Narratives of Masculinity and Emotion in the U.S.

We take for granted the idea that white, middle-class, straight masculinity connotes total control of emotions, emotional inexpressivity, and emotional isolation. That men repress their feelings as they seek their fortunes in the competitive worlds of business and politics. This collection of essays by prominent literary and cultural critics rethinks such commonly held views by addressing the history and politics of emotion in prevailing narratives about masculinity. How did the story of the emotionally stifled U.S. male come into being? What are its political stakes? Will the "release" of straight, white, middle-class masculine emotion remake existing forms of power or reinforce them? This collection forcefully challenges our most entrenched ideas about male emotion. We take for granted the idea that white, middle-class, straight masculinity connotes total control of emotions, emotional inexpressivity, and emotional isolation. That men repress their feelings as they seek their fortunes in the competitive worlds of business and politics seems to be a given. This collection of essays by prominent literary and cultural critics rethinks such commonly held views by addressing the history and politics of emotion in prevailing narratives about masculinity. How did the story of the emotionally stifled U.S. male come into being? What are its political stakes? Will the "release" of straight, white, middle-class masculine emotion remake existing forms of power or reinforce them? This collection forcefully challenges our most entrenched ideas about male emotion. Through readings of works by Thoreau, Lowell, and W. E. B. Du Bois, and of twentieth century authors such as Hemingway and Kerouac, this book questions the persistence of the emotionally alienated male in narratives of white middle-class masculinity and addresses the political and social implications of male emotional release.

We take for granted the idea that white, middle-class, straight masculinity connotes total control of emotions, emotional inexpressivity, and emotional isolation. That men repress their feelings as they seek their fortunes in the competitive worlds of business and politics seems to be a given. This collection of essays by prominent literary and cultural critics rethinks such commonly held views by addressing the history and politics of emotion in prevailing narratives about masculinity. How did the story of the emotionally stifled U.S. male come into being? What are its political stakes? Will the "release" of straight, white, middle-class masculine emotion remake existing forms of power or reinforce them? This collection forcefully challenges our most entrenched ideas about male emotion. Through readings of works by Thoreau, Lowell, and W. E. B. Du Bois, and of twentieth century authors such as Hemingway and Kerouac, this book questions the persistence of the emotionally alienated male in narratives of white middle-class masculinity and addresses the political and social implications of male emotional release.

Columbia University Press

Machine generated contents note: Contributors Acknowledgments Introduction Milette Shamir and Jennifer Travis 1 What Feels an American? Evident Selves and Alienable Emotions in the New Man' World Evan Carton 2 Loving with a Vengeance Wieland, Familicide and the Crisis ofMasculinity in the Early Nation Elizabeth Barnes 3 "The Manliest Relations to Men" Thoreau on Privacy, Intimacy, and Writing Milette Shamir 4 Manly Tears Men' Elegies for Children in Nineteenth-Century America Eric Haralson 5 How to be a (Sentimental) Race Man: Mourning and Passing in W E. B. Du Boiss The Souls of Black Folk Ryan Schneider 6 The Law of the Heart Emotional Injury and Its Fictions Jennifer Travis 7 "The Sort of Thing You Should Not Admit" Hemingways Aesthetics of Emotional Restraint Thomas Strychacz 8 Road Work Rereading Kerouacs Midcentury Melodrama of Beset Sonhood Stephen Davenport 9 Men's Tears and the Roles of Melodrama Tom Lutz 10 Men's Liberation, Men's Wounds Emotion, Sexuality, and the Reconstruction ofMasculinity in the I97os Sally Robinson 11 The Politics of Feeling Men, Masculinity, and Mourning on the Capital Mall Judith Newton Bibliography Index. Contents List of Contributors Acknowledgments Introduction 1. What Feels an American? Evident Selves and Alienable Emotions in the New Man's World 2. Loving with a Vengeance: Wieland, Familicide and the Crisis of Masculinity in the Early Nation 3. "The Manliest Relations to Men" Thoreau on Privacy, Intimacy, and Writing 4. Manly Tears: Men’s Elegies for Children in Nineteenth-Century American Culture 5. How To Be a (Sentimental) Race Man: Mourning and Passing in W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk 6. The Law of the Heart: Emotional Injury and Its Fictions 7. "The Sort of Thing You Should Not Admit" Ernest Hemingway’s Aesthetic of Emotional Restraint 8. Road Work: Rereading Kerouac’s Midcentury Melodrama of Beset Sonhood 9. Men’s Tears and the Roles of Melodrama 10. Men's Liberation, Men's Wounds: Emotion, Sexuality, and the Reconstruction of Masculinity in the 1970s 11. The Politics of Feeling: Men, Masculinity, and Mourning on the Capital Mall Bibliography Index Edited By Milette Shamir And Jennifer Travis. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 255-276) And Index.