The Changing Fictions of MasculinityIn a sensitive and provocative study of six great works of British literature, David Rosen traces the evolution of masculinity, inviting readers to contemplate the shifting joys and sorrows men have experienced throughout the last millennium, and the changing but constant tensions between their lives and ideals. Focusing on Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Hamlet, Paradise Lost, Hard Times, and Sons and Lovers, Rosen shows how the actions of heroes fail to resolve tensions between masculine ideals and male experiences. |
What people are saying - Write a review
The changing fictions of masculinity
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictIn the 1970s and 1980s, the women's movement gave rise to a torrent of feminist scholarship that brought new insight into the role that gender played in the writing and interpretation of literature ... Read full review
Contents
The Armor of the ManMonster in Beowulf | 1 |
Sir Gawain Touches of Flesh | 27 |
Mothers and Fathers Change and Stability in Hamlets World | 62 |
The Sin of Origins Heavenly Fathers and Men Children | 101 |
Blurring Gender Lines Hard Times and Dismembering Masculinity | 145 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
actions activities Adam Adam's affection appears argues armor arms aspects associated become behavior Beowulf birth body called comes connection construction creates critics cultural death described desire Dickens emotional existence experience express fact fall father fear feeling feminine forces Gawain gender give Gradgrind Green Knight growth Hamlet hand hard human idea ideal implies important individual instance intimacy Lawrence lives male masculinity means Milton Miriam moral Moreover mother nature never notion nurture origins pain Paradise Lost parents particular passage passion Paul play poem position problem reading reason relationship represents role scene seems sense sexual Shakespeare shape similar social society soft Stephen story Studies suggests things thought tion touch turns University Press values violence virtue woman women writes York
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Changing Fictions of Masculinity |
| Author | David Rosen |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | University of Illinois Press, 1993 |
| ISBN | 0252063090, 9780252063091 |
| Length | 234 pages |
| Subjects | › Social Science / Men's Studies |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |