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"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"-- 5 Desire, Violence, and Masculine Anxiety in Baldwin's Giovanni's Room and Another Country6 "A grueling and gratifying ethical life": Manhood, Morality, and Violence in Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint and My Life as; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index. Cover; Half-Title; Title; Imprints; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction: Gendered Crises, Gendered Violence; 1 Multiple Masculinities and the Momentum of Violence in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man; 2 Existentialism, Violence, and Racial Identity: The Shape of Masculinity in Richard Wright's The Outsider and The Long Dream; 3 Violent Liberation and Racialized Masculinities: Norman Mailer's "The White Negro" and An American Dream; 4 From Herzog to Sammler: Saul Bellow's Meditations on Masculinity, Modernity, and Violence.
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