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Violence and Masculinity in American Fiction, 1950-1975 Magdalen Mckinley Marquette University

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Violence and Masculinity in American Fiction, 1950-1975 Magdalen Mckinley Marquette University Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Dissertations (2009 -) Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Projects Violence and Masculinity in American Fiction, 1950-1975 Magdalen McKinley Marquette University Recommended Citation McKinley, Magdalen, "Violence and Masculinity in American Fiction, 1950-1975" (2012). Dissertations (2009 -). Paper 219. http://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/219 VIOLENCE AND MASCULINITY IN AMERICAN FICTION, 1950-1975 by Magdalen McKinley A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Milwaukee, WI August 2012 ABSTRACT VIOLENCE AND MASCULINITY IN AMERICAN FICTION, 1950-1975 Magdalen McKinley Marquette University, 2012 This dissertation explores the intersections of violence, masculinity, and racial and ethnic tension in America as it is depicted in fiction published by Richard Wright, Norman Mailer, Saul Bellow, James Baldwin, and Philip Roth between 1950 and 1975. Through close literary analysis coupled with a study of race and gender in 20th century American culture, I examine the manner in which gendered existential dilemmas are portrayed in this fiction as arising from a number of external factors, including racism, ethnic stereotyping, and the triumph of white heteronormativity as a model of masculinity. In doing so, I offer a reconsideration of existential questions about gender as they apply to the African-American and Jewish-American protagonists in these texts who, experiencing a period of transition amidst cultural and political upheaval, become particularly representative figures for the study of masculinity in crisis during these decades. While Eric Sundquist and Emily Miller Budick have laid the groundwork for putting black and Jewish authors in dialogue, and while some critical studies of these authors have addressed their respective representations of race and gender, none have placed these texts side by side to explore their instructive similarities, particularly with regard to the role violence plays in each author’s representation of masculinity. My own research highlights how violence in these texts is problematically asserted as an inherent part of a man’s existential freedom. I further advance the critical conversation surrounding constructions of racialized masculinity in post- WWII American literature by taking a philosophical and historicist approach, drawing from the work of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre in order to discern the status of violence in the modern existentialist reckoning of identity, particularly as a key to understanding the many conflicting shapes of American masculinity. Specifically, I argue that the authors under investigation often figure violence as a central aspect of their respective constructions of masculinity, but that this use of violence harbors a problematic paradox, as its deployment in the name of liberation often reifies many of the cultural myths and power structures that they, or the protagonists who speak on their behalf, seek to overturn. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Magdalen McKinley There are a number of people to whom I am indebted for their seemingly boundless supply of encouragement and assistance throughout the process of writing this dissertation. I would first like to thank Cliff Spargo, who, as director of this dissertation, has provided a steady stream of valuable advice and detailed feedback on all of my work for the past four years. Without his guidance, this project would not be what it is today, as he always held my work to the highest of standards and challenged me to truly engage with the complexity of this topic. I am also incredibly appreciative of the advice and attention I received from my additional committee members, Heather Hathaway and Jodi Melamed, whose questions and suggestions have prompted me to examine this subject from a number of different angles, which in turn has helped me to clarify many of my ideas. I would also like to thank my fellow graduate students and colleagues at Marquette, especially my fellow TAs in the FYE program and my fellow tutors at the Writing Center, all of whom have consistently offered encouragement, friendship, and enthusiasm—without which I may not have made it through this process with my sanity in tact. I would especially like to thank Dan Burke, John Malloy, Josh Steffey, and Dan Bergen, who as part of a congenial dissertation study group, provided not only helpful insights during our discussions, but also a levity that helped to balance out what was often a stressful experience. Finally, I need to thank my family and close friends for their constant support throughout this process. Special thanks go to my parents and my siblings, and of course to Andy, who has been an unfailing source of support since I began this project, each and every day. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………......i INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………………...……1 CHAPTER I. Existentialism, Violence, and Racialized Manhood: The Shape of Masculinity in Richard Wright’s The Outsider and The Long Dream……………………….…………………...27 II. Violent Liberation and Racialized Masculinities: Norman Mailer’s “The White Negro” and An American Dream…………………………………………………………………83 III. From Herzog to Sammler: Saul Bellow’s Meditations on Masculinity, Modernity, and Violence.………………………………………………………………………..………128 IV. Desire, Violence, and Masculine Anxiety in Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room and Another Country….......………………………………………………………………………….169 V. “A grueling and gratifying ethical life”: Manhood, Morality, and Violence in Philip Roth’s Portnoy's Complaint and My Life as a Man……………………………………209 NOTES………………………………………………………………………………………….260 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………………282 1 INTRODUCTION: The Intersection of Violence, Gender, and Existential Theory This dissertation explores the intersections of violence, masculinity, and racial and ethnic tension in America as it is depicted in fiction published by Richard Wright, Norman Mailer, Saul Bellow, James Baldwin, and Philip Roth between the 1950s and the 1970s. The time period within which these works were published, marked as it was by the cultural and political turbulence of the Civil Rights movement, second-wave Feminism, and later, the increasing Zionist sentiment in the wake of the Six-Day War, elicited passionate and often revolutionary voices and texts regarding race, ethnicity, and gender. For example, the publication of works such as Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex and Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique paved the way for more conversation about female social roles and, implicitly, male social roles at this time. Similar conversations were sparked by feminist writings by women of color such as Angela Davis, and by the controversial masculinist ethic espoused by the Black Power movement, modeled by such figures as Eldridge Cleaver. As Michael Kimmel has noted, in the wake of these new dialogues in 1960s America, “the ‘masculine mystique’—that impossible synthesis of sober, responsible breadwinner, imperviously stoic master of his fate, and swashbuckling hero—was finally exposed as a fraud” (173). Thus, the era marks an especially important moment for a study of the reconstruction of masculine identity within specific marginalized racial and ethnic groups in America. With this in mind, I offer a reconsideration of existential questions about gender as they apply to the African-American and Jewish-American protagonists in these texts who, experiencing a period of transition amidst cultural and political upheaval, become particularly representative figures for the study of masculinity in crisis during these decades. 1 While Eric 2 Sundquist and Emily Miller Budick have laid the groundwork for putting black and Jewish authors in dialogue, and while some critical studies of these authors have addressed their respective representations of race and gender, none have placed these texts side by side to explore their instructive similarities, particularly with regard to the role violence plays in each author’s representation of masculinity. I seek to fill this gap in scholarship by highlighting how violence is problematically asserted in this literature as an inherent part of a man’s existential freedom. Specifically, I argue here that the authors under investigation often figure violence as a central aspect of their respective constructions of masculinity, but that this use of violence harbors a problematic paradox, as its deployment in the name of liberation often reifies many of the cultural myths and power structures that these authors, or the protagonists who speak on their behalf, seek to overturn. My work situates itself within the critical conversation concerning constructions of racialized masculinity in post-WWII American literature.2 I advance this scholarly work by taking a philosophical and historicist approach, drawing from the work of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre in order to discern the status of violence in the modern existentialist reckoning of identity, particularly as a key to understanding the many conflicting shapes of American masculinity. Through close literary analysis coupled with a study of race and gender in 20th century American culture, I examine the manner in which gendered existential dilemmas are portrayed in fiction as arising from a number of external factors, including racism, ethnic stereotyping, and the triumph of white heteronormativity as a model of masculinity. In
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