A dangerous fiction: subverting hegemonic masculinity through the novels of Michael Chabon and Tom Wolfe

Louise Colbran

    Research output: Book/ReportBookpeer-review

    Abstract

    Masculinity is one of the key issues at stake in contemporary writing and gender studies. In their novels, Michael Chabon and Tom Wolfe both consistently make masculinity a prominent thematic and ideological concern. This study is the first full length scholarly work to take their work and their treatment of masculinity as its focus. How do these American authors critique the representation of masculinity within popular culture in "Wonder Boys", "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and Summerland", "A Man in Full" and "The Bonfire of the Vanities?" How do popular images of masculinity function for individual men and the way they experience their masculinities? A "Dangerous Fiction" investigates the ways in which Chabon and Wolfe strip masculinity of any illusion of an essential nature and expose it as something highly culturally dependent and explains how these novels suggest to understand masculinity in the contemporary world.
    Original languageEnglish
    Place of PublicationBern
    PublisherPeter Lang
    Number of pages259
    ISBN (Print)9783034311168
    Publication statusPublished - 2012

    Keywords

    • Chabon, Michael--Criticism and interpretation
    • Wolfe, Tom--Criticism and interpretation
    • Masculinity in literature
    • Popular culture--United States--History--20th century

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