Writing Masculinities

From gossip to novels, narratives provide one of the key modes in which we develop our sense of ourselves as gendered beings. The key is to explore the text in the processes through which it is read, and if we do so we find that male plots and masculine identity are more problematic than we tend to assume. Ben Knights argues that engagement with fictional texts can generate insight into how gender norms are both developed and contested. In particular, he draws on contemporary work in both the social sciences and humanities to examine the performance of masculinity in contrasting fictions ranging from classic texts by D.H. Lawrence and Joseph Conrad to novels by John Fowles, Graham Swift, James Kelman, David Leavitt and Ian McEwan. The book will be of value to all those engaged in the study of gender and especially masculinity in literature and culture.