Overview

Explores representations of men and masculinity in American fiction published after the Second World War Offers readings of a wide selection of postwar American novels from 1945 to the mid-1950s, including canonical works, from the unique perspective of their representation of male identityProvides rich comparative insights through analysis of fiction by writers of diverse race, class and sexualityDemonstrates how gender theory generates insights into the constitution of American masculinity in fiction Focusing on a complex and contentious period that was formative in shaping American society and culture in the twentieth century, this book sheds new light on the ways in which fiction engaged with contemporary notions of masculinity. It draws on gender theory and analysis of writers from diverse backgrounds of race, class and sexuality to provide rich comparative insights into the constitution of American masculinity in fiction. The extensive range of novels considered includes fresh analyses of key authors such as James Baldwin, Truman Capote, Patricia Highsmith, Jack Kerouac, Norman Mailer, Ann Petry, J. D. Salinger and Gore Vidal.

Full Product Details

9781474423878

Table of Contents

Reviews

"Examining a range of early Cold War US novels, Baldwin's book represents a timely discussion of the fashioning of male subjectivities and roles through imagined narratives. In an era where disguised insecurities of gender dominate our politics, this will prove a suggestive contribution to a debate in which all our futures are implicated.--Ben Knights, Teesside University Anxious Men cogently underscores the inherent contradictions and impossible expectations attached to American masculinity in the twentieth century, and highlights the challenges faced by authors who sought to fashion alternatives to the hegemonic model.--Maggie McKinley, Harper College ""Men and Masculinities"" Anxious Men is an important contribution to the growing body of scholarship concerned with American masculinity as Baldwin explores how ""diverse, contradictory, conflicted and contested"" it is during the 1940s and 1950s (235). The legacy of the Depression and the Second World War created a crisis over what constituted a masculine identity, which, as Baldwin investigates, led to conservatism and rebellion. The array of masculine representations explored in the study, from office workers to cowboys, soldiers, queer representations, and minority perspectives, provides evidence of how rich and diverse contradictions were to constructions of the masculine gender during the early Cold War era.--Georgia Woodroffe, University of Exeter ""Journal of American Studies"""

Examining a range of early Cold War US novels, Baldwin's book represents a timely discussion of the fashioning of male subjectivities and roles through imagined narratives. In an era where disguised insecurities of gender dominate our politics, this will prove a suggestive contribution to a debate in which all our futures are implicated.--Ben Knights, Teesside University Anxious Men cogently underscores the inherent contradictions and impossible expectations attached to American masculinity in the twentieth century, and highlights the challenges faced by authors who sought to fashion alternatives to the hegemonic model.--Maggie McKinley, Harper College ""Men and Masculinities"" Anxious Men is an important contribution to the growing body of scholarship concerned with American masculinity as Baldwin explores how ""diverse, contradictory, conflicted and contested"" it is during the 1940s and 1950s (235). The legacy of the Depression and the Second World War created a crisis over what constituted a masculine identity, which, as Baldwin investigates, led to conservatism and rebellion. The array of masculine representations explored in the study, from office workers to cowboys, soldiers, queer representations, and minority perspectives, provides evidence of how rich and diverse contradictions were to constructions of the masculine gender during the early Cold War era.--Georgia Woodroffe, University of Exeter ""Journal of American Studies""

Author Information

Clive Baldwin is Honorary Associate of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The Open University and formerly Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching in the Faculty of Arts, The Open University. His publications include a review of Maggie McKinley, Masculinity and the Paradox of Violence in American Fiction, 1950-75 in Culture, Society & Masculinities, 8:1, 2016, 'Digressing from the point: Holden Caulfield's women' in Sarah Graham. J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (London: Routledge, 2007), and ‘""A certain ill-defined disgrace"": masculinity and sexuality in Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach', English Review, 2011.

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