Masculinity and the Paradox of Violence in American Fiction, 1950-75

About this book

"Masculinity and the Paradox of Violence in American Fiction, 1950-1975 explores the intersections of violence, masculinity, and racial and ethnic tension in America as it is depicted in the fiction of Richard Wright, Norman Mailer, Saul Bellow, James Baldwin, and Philip Roth. Maggie McKinley reconsiders the longstanding association between masculinity and violence, locating a problematic paradox within works by these writers: as each author figures violence as central to the establishment of a liberated masculine identity, the use of this violence often reaffirms many constricting and emasculating cultural myths and power structures that the authors and their protagonists are seeking to overturn"-- "An examination of the relationship between violence and masculinity in works by Richard Wright, Norman Mailer, Saul Bellow, James Baldwin, and Philip Roth, highlighting the inherent paradox whereby masculinity in this fiction is both asserted and undermined by acts of aggression"--