Representations of Masculinity in Wilbur Smith's Courtney Saga

2 1 JUNY 2000 -j •& ?3 32- Representations of Masculinity in Wilbur Smith's Courtney Saga. Contextual Causes and Strategies of Authorial Control i* Mi, M. Isabel Santaulària i Capdevila Courtney bodies 181 Chapter 7: Courtney bodies. Bodily perfection, strength and sexuality. Bodies with a cause 7.1. Bodily perfection: embodying the 'essential man' During the nineteenth century, and due to the development of biology, health reform, and the optimistic belief that it was within the capacity of men to improve themselves, the masculine body was elevated to a position of enormous importance. 'Body-building' came to be associated with ideals of perfection and virtue and muscular bulk in men became a highly prized cultural value. Unsurprisingly, the heroes of nineteenth century imperialist adventure narratives were portrayed as muscular and young,1 their physical perfection, bodily vigour and tanned complexion becoming an expression of their virility. The relevance of physical perfection has remained ingrained in our western society. We live in a world obsessed with images and appearances and where sheer physicality is very likely to determine successful performance in society as is exemplified by the new myth-like quality physically- perfect top models such as Naomi Campbell or Claudia Schiffer have acquired; or by the fame of actors such as Sharon Stone, Brad Pitt, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone, whose bodies more than their acting skills granted them widespread social recognition; or by the idol-like status of sport figures such as Ronaldo, Moya or Agassi who have become modern society's new demi-gods, not only admired for their sports achievements but for their bodies, which have become icons of physical perfection as can be appreciated in a recent advertising campaign for a well-known Swiss watch trade mark. The stress modern society places on physicality has even led to a transgression of the values that had traditionally been associated with 1 Nineteenth century novelists and illustrators, for example, depicted the Crusoe figure, the quintessential imperial hero in the following way: He was made of bone, muscle and nerve, like an English race-horse. He was spare: he had practically no cheeks, that is to say, there was bone and muscle but no sign of fat; his complexion was clear, darkish, and without sign of red in it; his eyes were expressive, though slightly green, (qtd. in Martin Green, The Adventurous Male, 157). 182 Representations of Masculinity... physical appearance. In the past, physical beauty was generally assumed to be in inverse proportion to the amount of grey matter that a person was supposed to possess. Nowadays, physical beauty bespeaks healthy habits, sporting skills, energy, intelligence and enterprising spirit and, therefore, is not regarded as a superfluous adornment, but as a necessary requirement; some companies even appreciate the youth and good-looks of their employees, which are assumed to reflect the energy and vigour of the company. Stress on physicality has led to the objectification of the male and the female body. This objectification, and eroticisation, of the female body has indeed been a widespread phenomenon. In our patriarchal culture, women have often been subjected to a masculine gaze that has transformed them into objects of desire, praised for the badges of female beauty (breasts, bottoms and thighs). The male body has also been subjected to objectification, especially in the last decades. As Paul Smith phrases it: There exists a whole cultural production around the exhibition of the male body in the media - not just in film, but in television, sports, advertising, and so on - and this objectification has even been present throughout the history of Hollywood itself, while evidently having been intensified in recent years.2 And yet there is a difference in men and women's objectification. Whereas women's objectification demands appropriation by the masculine gaze fixed upon them, men's is supposed to demand identification and, of course, to exclude any sort of desire on men's part, very often by stressing elements of anti-homosexual significance. The pleasure the masculine body is expected to give to men is that of voyeuristic admiration of a non-erotic type; as Willemen explains, men are offered as spectacle activating the "pleasure of seeing the male 'exist' (that is walk, move, ride, fight) in or through cityscapes, landscapes, or more abstractly history."3 Male bodies, therefore, are often objectified so as to highlight those attributes which reflect their virility: basically their physical bulk, unambiguously heterosexual potency, and vigour, while removed from sight are the elements that could put the selfsame manliness into 2 Paul Smith, "Eastwood Bound," Constructing Masculinity, ed. Maurice Berger, Brian Wallis and Simon Watson, 82. 3 qtd. in Paul Smith, "Eastwood Bound," Constructing Masculinity, ed. Maurice Berger, Brian Wallis and Simon Watson, 80. Courtney bodies 183 jeopardy. The masculine body thus looms large in the representational arts, probably as an unsubtle response to the impact of feminism, and other anti-patriarchal trends, in our culture. The same objectification of the masculine body can be found in Smith's novels, in which the awesome physicality of the heroes conveys unambiguous messages of their power, vitality and sexual glamour. Smith's heroes are presented as manly examples of physical perfection: lean, muscular, tanned and vigorous, they epitomise physical excellence, inscribing onto the narratives the solidity of masculine presence. In When the Lion Feeds, for example, Sean Courtney I is described as having a vivid colouring with "black hair, skin brown from the sun, lips and cheeks that [glow] with the fresh young blood beneath their surface, and blue eyes, the dark indigo blue of cloud shadow on mountain lake." (6) The same vivid colouring still characterises him in A Sparrow Falls; old age has only 'snowed' a few splashes and strands of grey onto Sean I's "thick curls of dark wiry hair" and "short thick beard" (4) while he retains the "clear and dark cobalt blue" (5) eyes under his "sleek and unmarked" (4) black curved eyebrows. Sean I's muscular body and 'considerable' bulk is also emphasised on various occasions. In When the Lion Feeds, for example, Sean I's back as he works on the edge of a trench appears "shiny with sweat; each individual muscle standing out in relief, swelling and subsiding as he moved;" (259) and in The Sound of Thunder we are reminded of his "two hundred pounds of muscle and bones and scars supporting a face like a granite cliff' (35) or of the fact that he is a man of "muscle and moods and unexpectedly soft places." (229) Michael Courtney I, Sean I's bastard son, is also characterised by his good looks and muscular, virile body, "tall and lean in tight black riding boots, and an open shirt accentuating the breadth of his shoulders." {Thunder 540) Mark Anders, although he does not have Courtney blood running through his veins, is also breathtakingly handsome with "pale golden brown" eyes "set wide with the serene gaze of a poet or a man who had lived in the open country of long distant horizons" {Sparrow 9) and a "finely drawn" body. {Sparrow 10) The same applies to Colonel Blaine Malcomess, the British administrator appointed by the Government of the Union of South Africa, and who becomes Centaine's lover and, eventually, husband as the narratives develop. His 184 Representations of Masculinity... features are large, "the bones of his jaw and cheek and forehead" seem "weighty and massive as stone." {Sword 149) His nose is big, "with a Roman bridge to it, his brow [...] beetling and his mouth [...] big and mobile." (Sword 149) His dark hair is cut short and his neck is "strong but not bulled, pleasingly proportioned and smooth." (Sword 232) Of course, he is also tall and lean, and his muscles are "flat and hard- looking," (Sword 206) all in all resembling a "younger more handsome Abraham Lincoln," (Sword 149) "the Michaelangelo statue of David," (Sword 206) or, "with [his] imperial nose and wide commanding mouth," a "Roman Caesar." (Sword 412) Again, and like Sean I before him, although he ages, he still maintains his healthy and athletic look even as he approaches his sixty years of age. Thus, although he has "shining silver wings" in his hair and "deep creases in his tanned face, around the eyes and at the corners of his mouth and his big aquiline nose," his body is still "hard and flat-bellied from riding and walking." (Sword 603) Third and fourth generation Courtneys do not differ much from their ancestor, Sean Courtney I. Shasa, Centaine's son, may be as "beautiful as a girl, with flawless skin and dark indigo eyes," (Sword 19) as an adolescent, but he is tall, lean and lithe, has broad shoulders and "fine muscle in his brown arms." (Sword 144) Injured during the military campaign in Abyssinia during World War II, he has to wear an eye-patch on his eye. Yet, it does not disfigure him in the least. With his six-foot-one tall body, "his dark waving hair and good looks," (Rage 11) the eye-patch gives him a "dashing piratical air." (Fox 18) In fact, he is constantly being described as a "conquering hero," (Sword 302) "impossibly handsome," (Rage 5) "tall and debonair," (Sword 608) "comely," (Sword 292) and "magnificent," (Sword 426) and his piratical outlook is highlighted by being compared to Errol Flynn, whom he even surpasses in good- looks and panache. Thus, when David, one of Shasa's friends, is first

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