Masculinity and the Masculine Mystique in Literature
Masculinity and the masculine mystique in literature encompass the evolving portrayals of male identity, particularly within American fiction. Historically, male authors have dominated the literary landscape, often crafting male protagonists representative of traditional ideals, such as self-reliance and rugged individualism, as seen in the works of early American writers like Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper. These characters often embodied the archetype of the resourceful, courageous hero, set against European models.
However, the late 20th and early 21st centuries have witnessed a significant re-examination of these masculine ideals, leading to more complex and varied representations. Authors from the realism movement, like Mark Twain and Stephen Crane, began to explore the moral dimensions of masculinity, emphasizing personal growth and self-reliance. In contrast, modern narratives have shifted to depict male protagonists with greater emotional depth, vulnerability, and conflict, as demonstrated in works by Harper Lee and Toni Morrison. This diversification reflects broader societal changes, including feminism and LGBTQ rights, prompting literature to challenge traditional stereotypes and embrace a more nuanced understanding of masculinity in contemporary contexts.
Masculinity and the Masculine Mystique in Literature
At Issue
For much of history, literature was a male-dominated field, and many male writers have written about maleness whether consciously or unconsciously. Such role development is apparent in American authors from the early nineteenth century onward. Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, James Fenimore Cooper, and their contemporaries created a male role model who was intended to be contrasted to European models, and in doing so built a foundation for generations of literary heroes. A key facet of the traditional American ideal of masculinity is self-reliance. The lone frontiersman, woodsman, cowboy, successful businessman, detective, or seafarer populates American fiction. However, the late twentieth can early twenty-first centuries saw considerable rethinking of the masculine mystique and related stereotypes, leading to wider representations of male identity in literature.
Early American Literature
Most early American fiction writers carried on the long trend in English-language literature of focusing on male protagonists, although the constitution of these characters was shaped by the emerging sense of American national identity. In Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1819), Ichabod Crane, a slightly effeminate schoolteacher, faces down Brom Van Brunt, a macho suitor of Katrina Van Tassel, a wealthy Dutch landowner's daughter. For Ichabod, masculinity is self-reliance based on reason and intellect. The American male in nineteenth century fiction, who may tend to violence, tempers himself by engaging in family matters and related virtues. Cooper's most famous hero, a "man's man," does not so temper himself. Natty Bumppo demonstrates great skills as a naturalist in The Pioneers (1823), as a fighter and tracker in The Last of the Mohicans (1826), and as an all-knowing sage in The Pathfinder (1840). Bumppo is an American Adam—resourceful, courageous, and self-reliant.
Realism
During the American realism movement, which may be dated as occurring from 1865 to 1914, authors such as Stephen Crane, Mark Twain, and William Dean Howells explored a new concept of masculinity. In Crane's The Red Badge of Courage (1894), Henry is an innocent farm boy who becomes a man because of his Civil War experiences. Henry's bravery and cowardice are emphatically not mythic, as Natty Bumppo may be. Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) also show boys moving from innocence to experience. That movement is a highly moral one, and it reflects the hero's coming to rely upon himself.
Such concern for morality and self-reliance as masculine typifies Howells' The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885); the hero joins wealth with morality. The same morality is pervasive in Howells' A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890). Masculinity requires, in these works, morality. The hero is upright and sober; he can depend upon himself for correct judgment.
Modern Period
In the twentieth century many prominent American authors began a "tough guy" school of writing that continued the tradition of self-reliance while discarding much of the primness of the late nineteenth century model. Such writers as Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, and John Steinbeck portrayed their heroes as strong, silent, and long-suffering. Similar were the tough private eyes in the iconic hardboiled fiction of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, and others. Often these heroes are beaten, physically and spiritually. They always rise above their situation by physical strength and self-reliance. After World War II, the fictional hero continued to be self-reliant in such manifestations as science fiction astronauts and adventurers.
The tough, stereotypically masculine character remained influential through the late twentieth century, including in war narratives. However, other literary representations increasingly challenged or played with that trope. Many writers began to focus on the conflicted and self-doubting sides of male protagonists and anti-heroes as American society evolved, with countercultures gaining in popularity and gender studies emerging in the academic world. This trend can be seen in many of the canonical works of the era. For example, in To Kill a Mockingbird (1950) by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch embodies many of the moral qualities of the archetypal "good" male yet in some ways is more vulnerable than typical heroes, including in his status as a single parent. Wallace Stegner's 1971 novel Angle of Repose explores characters' struggles against traditional notions of manhood, with narrator Lyman Ward dealing with severe physical ailments as well as emotional turmoil. Meanwhile, African American writers such as James Baldwin and Toni Morrison examined concepts of black masculinity.
Poet Robert Bly's nonfiction book Iron John: A Book About Men (1990) proved popular and influential in its analysis of modern masculine identity, advocating a reconnection with more primal conditions. However, the predominant trend from the 1990s into the twenty-first century remained the diversification of masculinity as feminism, globalization, and LGBTQ rights gained momentum. Many notable male-centered works received critical praise and analysis specifically for their nuanced portrayals, as in the father-son relationship depicted in The Road (2006) by Cormac McCarthy or the multicultural experience of the title character in Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao (2007).
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