Title Henry James and the suspense of masculinity / Leland S. Person

Published Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, ©2003

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Description 1 online resource (206 pages) Contents Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction: Henry James And The Plural Terms Of Masculinity -- 1. Configuring Male Desire And Identity In Roderick Hudson -- 2 Nursing The Thunderbolt Of Manhood In The American -- 3 Sheathing The Sword Of Gentle Manhood In The Portrait Of A Lady -- 4 Reconstructing Masculinity In The Bostonians -- 5 Deploying Homo-Aesthetic Desire In The Tales Of Writers And Artists -- 6 The Paradox Of Masochistic Manhood In The Golden Bowl -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index -- Acknowledgments Summary Using insights from feminist studies, men's studies, and gay and queer studies, Leland Person examines Henry James's subversion of male identity and the challenges he poses to conventional constructs of heterosexual masculinity. Sexual and gender categories proliferated in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and Person argues that James exploited the taxonomic confusion of the times to experiment with alternative sexual and gender identities. In contrast to scholars who have tried to give a single label to James's sexuality, Person argues that establishing James's gender and sexual identity is less important than examining the novelist's shaping of male characters and his richly metaphorical language as an experiment in gender and sexual theorizing. Just as an author's creations can be animated by his or her own sexuality, Person contends, James's sexuality may be most usefully understood as something primarily aesthetic and textual. As Person shows in chapters devoted to some of this author's best-known novels--Roderick Hudson, The American, The Portrait of a Lady, The Bostonians, The Ambassadors, The Golden Bowl--James conducts a series of experiments in gender/sexual construction and deconstruction. He delights in positioning his male characters so that their gender and sexual orientations are reversed, ambiguous, and even multiple. Ultimately, he keeps male identity in suspense by pluralizing male subjectivity Analysis Cultural Studies Gay Studies Gender Studies Lesbian Studies Literature Queer Studies Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 193-202) and index Notes In English Subject James, Henry, 1843-1916 -- Characters -- Men James, Henry, 1843-1916 -- Knowledge -- Psychology SUBJECT James, Henry, 1843-1916 -- Characters -- Men James, Henry, 1843-1916 -- Knowledge -- Psychology James, Henry, 1843-1916 fast James, Henry, 1843-1916 -- Personatges -- Homes. lemac James, Henry, 1843-1916 -- Coneixements -- Psicologia. lemac Subject Homosexuality and literature -- United States Masculinity in literature. Men in literature. Psychological fiction, American -- History and criticism Sex in literature. Sex role in literature. LITERARY CRITICISM -- American -- General. Homosexuality and literature Masculinity in literature Men in literature Psychological fiction, American Psychology Sex in literature Sex role in literature Homosexualitat i literatura. Homes en la literatura. Novel·la psicològica anglesa -- Història i crítica. Masculinitat en la literatura. Rol sexual en la literatura. United States Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. Form Electronic book ISBN 9780812203233 0812203232

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