Against the grain : the poetics of non-normative masculinity in Decadent French literature / Mathew Rickard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rickard, Mathew, 1993- author.

Series:

Romantisme et après en France ; vol 30.

Romanticism and after in France, 1422-4896 ; vol 30

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

French fiction--19th century--History and criticism.

French fiction.

Masculinity in literature.

Sex role in literature.

Books and reading in literature.

Decadence (Literary movement)--France.

Decadence (Literary movement).

Books and reading.

History.

France.

Books and reading--France--History--19th century.

Literature and society--France--History--19th century.

Literature and society.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History.

Physical Description:

xi, 257 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Peter Lang, [2021]

Summary:

"Is it really a man's world? At a time when masculinity is being challenged, this book explores the links between reading and writing, and how they have historically been associated with masculine privilege. This book explores the representation of masculinity as a literary concept in Decadent literature by Huysmans, Lorrain, Rachilde, and Mirbeau to demonstrate how the movement both appropriated and subverted patriarchal assumptions surrounding reading and writing. The author takes a broad approach towards masculinity and its discontents by uncovering unlikely pretenders to the throne - witches, dandies, and cuckolds - that destabilised its validity. By positioning the study against the backdrop of the fin-de-siècle 'crisis' of masculinity, the book undermines previously held assertions about the nature of masculinity then and now, opening up fresh ground for the appraisal and analysis of gender in French studies and beyond"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: Against the grain

'Idées masculines' : the intertextual poetics of masculinity in Joris-Karl Huysmans's À Rebours (1884)

'Vers le sabbat' : occult initiation and non-normative masculinity in Jean Lorrain's Monsieur de Phocas (1901)

Who's on top? : dequeering and requeering Rachilde

The (im)potency of the pen(is) : Mirbeau's masculine author(ity) in Le Calvaire (1886)

Conclusion: Decadent masculinities.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Rickard, Mathew, 1993- Against the grain

ISBN:

9781800791756

1800791755

OCLC:

1240265877

Publisher Number:

99989174282