Performing Masculinity

This interdisciplinary study analyses the ways in which signs of masculinity have been performed across a wide variety of contexts and genres - including literature, classical ballet, sports, rock music, films and computer games - from the early nineteenth century to the present day. Were there male celebrity bodies before David Beckham? When did male dancers start playing a part -- and which one? Was Victorian masculinity all in earnest before Oscar Wilde? What kind of masculinity does cricket promote? What is 'Cock Rock'? How can we understand Chinese American masculinities? Do contemporary computer games have a gender? These and even more questions are addressed in the present study through contemporary theories of masculinity and performativity. The answers that experts from many different fields of Literary, Cultural and Media Studies provide add up to a survey of modern masculinities, its precursors, its manifestations across different genres and different media, as well as its continuing challenges and impasses Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 Notes on Contributors......Page 11 Introduction......Page 16 1 Touching Byron: Masculinity and the Celebrity Body in the Romantic Period......Page 28 2 Turning into Subjects: The Male Dancer in Romantic Ballet......Page 43 3 Industrial Heroes: Elizabeth Gaskell and Charlotte Brontë’s Constructions of the Masculine......Page 56 4 Low on Assurance: The Troubled Masculinity of Victorian Comedy......Page 75 5 Performing Imperial Masculinities: The Discourse and Practice of Cricket......Page 93 6 ‘A Stoat Came to Tea’: Camp Poetics and Masculinity......Page 110 7 Lethal Enclosure: Masculinity under Fire in James Jones’s The Thin Red Line......Page 125 8 In their Fathers’ Footsteps: Performing Masculinity and Fatherhood in the Work of Les Murray and Michael Ondaatje......Page 145 9 Seeding Asian Masculinities in the US Landscape: Representations of Men’s Lives in Asian American Literature......Page 164 10 From Glam Rock to Cock Rock: Revis(it)ing Rock Masculinities in Recent Feature Films......Page 181 11 Histories of Violence – Fairytales of Identity and Masculinity in Martin McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore and The Pillowman......Page 200 12 ‘Ghosts of Sparta’: Performing the God of War’s Virtual Masculinity......Page 225 Index......Page 249 Introduction / Rainer Emig and Antony Rowland Touching Byron: masculinity and the celebrity body in the romantic period / Diego Saglia Turning into subjects: the male dancer in romantic ballet / Gerald Siegmund Industrial heroes: Elizabeth Gaskell and Charlotte Brontë's constructions of the masculine / Jessica L. Malay Low on assurance: the troubled masculinity of Victorian comedy / Rainer Emig Performing imperial masculinities: the discourse and practice of cricket / Anthony Bateman "A Stoat Came to Tea": camp poetics and masculinity / Antony Rowland Lethal enclosure: masculinity under fire in James Jones's The thin red line / David Boulting In their fathers' footsteps: performing masculinity and fatherhood in the work of Les Murray and Michael Ondaatje / Katharine Burkitt Seeding Asian masculinities in the U.S. landscape: representations of men's lives in Asian American literature / Wendy Ho From flam rock to cock rock: revis(it)ing rock masculinities in recent feature films / Lucia Krämer Histories of violence : fairytales of identity and masculinity in Martin McDonagh's The lieutenant of Inishmore and The pillowman / Wolfgang Funk "Ghosts of Sparta": performing the God of War's virtual masculinity / Sven Schmalful. Were there male celebrity bodies before David Beckham? When did male dancers start playing a part--and which one? Was Victorian masculinity all in earnest before Oscar Wilde? What kind of masculinity does cricket promote? What is `Cock Rock'? How can we understand Japanese-American masculinities? Do contemporary computer games have a gender? These and other questions are addressed in this book through contemporary theories of masculinity and performativity. The answers that experts from many different fields of Literary, Cultural and Media Studies provide add up to a survey of modern masculinity, its precursors, its manifestations across different genres and different media, as well as its continuing challenges and impasses --Résumé de l'éditeur Were there male celebrity bodies before David Beckham? When did male dancers start playing a part 6 and which one? Was Victorian masculinity all in earnest before Oscar Wilde? What kind of masculinity does cricket promote? What is 'Cock Rock'? How can we understand Chinese American masculinities? Do contemporary computer games have a gender? These and even more questions are addressed in the present study through contemporary theories of masculinity and performativity. The answers that experts from many different fields of Literary, Cultural and Media Studies provide add up to a survey of modern masculinities, its precursors, its manifestations across different genres and different media, as well as its continuing challenges and impasses This interdisciplinary study analyzes the ways in which signs of masculinity have been performed across a wide variety of contexts and genres - including literature, classical ballet, sports, rock music, films and computer games - from the early nineteenth century to the present day.