Hypermasculinities in the contemporary novel : Cormac McCarthy, Toni Morrison, and James Baldwin / by Josef Benson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Benson, Josef, 1974- author.

Series:

Contemporary American literature.

Contemporary American Literature

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

American fiction.

Masculinity in literature.

Men in literature.

McCarthy, Cormac, 1933-2023--Criticism and interpretation.

McCarthy, Cormac.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (159 p.)

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Maryland : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

<span><span>This book examines exaggerated masculinities in select novels by James Baldwin, Cormac McCarthy, and Toni Morrison. Through this analysis Josef Benson connects the masculinities of frontier figures with black male protagonists in postwar American novels, and how these novels present alternative ideal masculinities.</span></span>

Contents:

Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction; American Hypermasculinities; Ironic Failed Heroism; Aesthetics as Critique; Notes; 1 An Ironic Contention; The Origins of American Frontier Hypermasculinities; Hypermasculinities on the Frontier; The Judge as Narrative Force; Images of Dead Children; Christian Imagery; The Kid as Ironic Hero; Notes; 2 A Hero by Default; Blood Meridian and All the Pretty Horses; Cowboy Hypermasculinities; The Tenuousness of Identities Based on Myth; An America with No Room for a Cowboy; Mexican Context; Homosexuality; Failed Heroism; Notes

3 Black Masculinities and Cultural Incest in Song of SolomonAmerican Context; Blackness as an Invention of Whites; Black Masculinities; Aesthetics: Flight toward Orality; Pilate as Failed Hero; The Trafficking of Women and the Incest Taboo; A Politics of Failure; Notes; 4 Staggerlee in the Closet; Morrison, Baldwin, and Family; Staggerlee as Hypermasculine Folkloric Referent; Politics of Failure; American Context: Baldwin, Cleaver, and Mailer; Closeted Sexualities; Blackness Defined by Whites; Sex, Race, and Heroic Failure; Notes; Conclusion; Notes; References Cited; Index; About the Author

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-4422-3761-9

OCLC:

887156178