Rewriting White Masculinities in Contemporary Fiction and Film

This book focuses on the construction of hegemonic masculinity as well as its representations in literature, culture, and film. Although white heterosexual masculinity continues to be the dominant model, it remains, paradoxically, largely invisible in gender terms. While the first three chapters thus offer introductory theoretical perspectives on the latest research on white masculinities, the following chapters concentrate on applying masculinity theory to the analysis of both social constructions and cultural (i.e. literary and film) representations of men’s emotions (with a special focus on new fatherhood models), friendships between men, as well as gender-based violence. Contents 1 Introduction References Part I 2 Studies of Masculinities: State of the Art and Latest Trends A Quick Update of the State of the Art New Directions References 3 Poststructuralism and the “Death” of the White Male Interrogating Maleness and Masculinity Interrogating Heterosexuality Interrogating Whiteness Poststructuralist and Identity-Based Approaches to Masculinity Rethinking the Debate Revising Masculinities from an Interdisciplinary Perspective References 4 Masculinity as (a) Representation Cultural and Literary Representations of Masculinity: An Introduction Masculinity Studies in Contemporary Literary Criticism Men in Feminist Literary Criticism The Sex or the Death of the Author? References Part II 5 Boys Don’t Cry? Masculinity and the Politics of Emotion The Feminization of Sentiment in Contemporary Culture Boys Don’t Cry? The “Soft Male” as a Social Phenomenon Emotions as a Driving Force of Social Change The Political Potential of Emotions New Fatherhood(s) Literary Revisions of the Father Figure References 6 Dangerous Liaisons? Friendships Between Men in Western History and Culture The Cultural and Literary History of Male Friendship: An Introduction Homophobia as an Obstacle to Intimacy Between Men: The Sportswriter by Richard Ford The Political Potential of Male Friendships to Transform Masculinities and Gender Relations References 7 Masculinity as Violence? Cultural and Literary Revisions Gendering Violence: Theoretical Explanations for the Relationship Between Masculinity and Violence Male Violence(s) in Contemporary Western Cultures Images of Violence as a Test of Manhood in Cultural and Literary History Revisions of Male Violence in Contemporary U.S. Literature “Old” and “New” Representations in Literature and Cinema: Ernest Hemingway’s “An African Story” and Susanne Bier’s In a Better World References 8 Conclusions References Bibliography Index