Cold War Playboys: Models of Masculinity in the Literature of Playboy by Taylor Joy Mitchell A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctoral of Philosophy Department of English College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Phillip Sipiora, Ph.D. Diane Price Herndl, Ph.D. Andrew Berish, Ph.D. David K. Johnson, Ph.D. Date of Approval: March 31, 2011 Keywords: Masculinity Studies, Space, Jack Kerouac, Vladimir Nabokov, James Baldwin Copyright© 2011, Taylor Joy Mitchell DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my father, who reads the articles and loves me unconditionally. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to acknowledge all who have made this scholarship possible. First and foremost, I must thank Dr. Phillip Sipiora whose trust in my abilities made this work a reality. Dr. Sipiora led me through this explorative process, all the while reminding me of stative verbs and deductive claims. Excited to take this project on when others might not be so keen to do so, Dr. Sipiora recounted his personal experiences working with Hugh Hefner and guided me through my dissertation chapter by chapter, sentence by sentence. I also want to thank my interdisciplinary committee for its leadership and invaluable suggestions. Humanities and American Studies professor, Dr. Andrew Berish made this dissertation a do-able project by suggesting that I scale down the scope of my original idea; Dr. Berish offered me the confidence to move forward using Playboy as my primary source. And from this project’s inception, Dr. Johnson has always asked me the tough and practical questions—those answers will shape my future research. His historical scholarship on the Cold War’s Lavender Scare made me realize that the roots of my fascination with Cold War literature were grounded in post-war political and sexual turmoil. Dr. Diane Price Herndl’s willingness to take on this project, at so late a date, is nothing in comparison to her careful comments, suggestions for revision, and compassion. Her work with Cold War literary criticism and reading suggestions helped me understand why the Cold War is a legitimate field of study for literary scholars. At the culmination of my graduate career, I need to thank my professors, department members, and colleagues. Since his arrival, Dr. Hunt Hawkins has been a model of service; his commitment to the field and members of his department does not go unnoticed. Through her commitment to graduate students, Dr. Laura Runge has inspired my enthusiasm for teaching and eased my fears of the market. Dr. Joseph Moxley offered me multiple opportunities to exert my own agency. Department members like Deedra Hickman, Nancy Morris and Jerry Medlen have always been more than gracious, while Nancy Serrano has kept me informed, fed, and laughing. And there will never be enough words to thank Lee Davidson for all that she does for us, especially me. As for my colleagues, I want to especially thank Melinda Hollis, Chrissy Auger, Kendra Bryant, and Liz Kicak for their representations of strong, intelligent women. I also want to thank Bob Batchelor, Kyle Stedman and Quentin Vieregge for welcoming me into collaborative projects. To Kendra Lee: thank you so much for befriending me on day one; Sprout and I are lucky for your loving supervision. To Jessica McKee—who read every word, heard every whisper of worry, shared every moment of excitement—I am forever grateful for your friendship, so in awe of your intelligence, and ready for our future collaborations. Thanks also go to Rebecca Messinger, Alyssa LaPatra, Amanda Elff, and Renee Cadwallader for their faith in me. I must also acknowledge my big brother, Matthew, for his lessons in kindness and for letting me always tag along. And to my mother, I am so fortunate to be growing into the likes of you and to know your love. Thanks for bearing this burden, and all the others, for me. Finally, I wish to acknowledge Kevin Reinhardt for his unending patience, unfaltering belief, and making me laugh when no one else could. Sharing this accomplishment with him makes it worth my while. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT……..……………………………………………………………………….iii INTRODUCTION…… .......................................................................................................1 Cold War Redefinitions of Space and Sexuality ......................................................4 Research Questions ................................................................................................14 CHAPTER 1—PLAYING IT HOT IN THE COLD WAR ................................................20 Cold War Models of Masculinity ...........................................................................21 Playboy’s Models of Masculinity ..........................................................................25 Sexuality ....................................................................................................26 Wealth ........................................................................................................28 Sophistication .............................................................................................29 Bachelor .....................................................................................................31 Reclamation of Space ................................................................................32 Playboy and Fiction ...............................................................................................34 A Literary Tradition of Virility: Hemingway and Mailer ......................................37 Conclusion .............................................................................................................50 CHAPTER 2—BROKE AND ON THE RUN WITH JACK KEROUAC ........................53 Setting up the Foil ..................................................................................................55 “Good Blonde” as a Cold War Text .......................................................................73 “Good Blonde’s” Model of Masculinity ................................................................86 Space ..........................................................................................................87 Sexuality ....................................................................................................91 Conclusion .............................................................................................................98 CHAPTER 3: SOPHISTICATED SPENDING BY VLADIMIR NABOKOV .................99 Getting Nabokov’s Attention ...............................................................................100 Mutual Kicks ........................................................................................................107 A Suitable Climate in Cold War America ............................................................123 Ada’s Models of Masculinity ...............................................................................134 Space ........................................................................................................135 Sexuality ..................................................................................................140 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................143 CHAPTER 4—BRICK BY BRICK: JAMES BALDWIN IN PLAYBOY .....................144 Using Race, Not Sexuality ...................................................................................147 i Baldwin in the Cold War ......................................................................................166 “The Man Child’s” Model of Masculinity ...........................................................177 Space ........................................................................................................181 Sexuality ..................................................................................................185 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................186 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................188 WORKS CITED ..............................................................................................................192 ii ABSTRACT “Cold War Playboys: Models of Masculinity in the Literature of Playboy ” emphasizes the literary voices that emerged in response to the Cold War’s redefinitions of space and sexuality and, thus, adds to the growing national discourse of Cold War literary and masculinity studies. I argue that the literature Playboy includes has always been a necessary feature to creating its masculinity model; however, that very literature often destabilizes the magazine’s grand narrative because it presents readers with alternative models of masculinity. To make that argument, I presume five things: 1) masculinity, like femininity, is a construct; 2) the mid-century masculinity crisis should be attributed to redefinitions of space and sexuality; 3) the crisis generated a variety of masculinity models; 4) Playboy presents its own, unified model of masculinity through its editorial features; and 5) finally, that Playboy should be considered an early Cold War artifact because the space Playboy magazine represents, dually domestic and privatized, is hardly trivial—decade after decade, it has absorbed society’s shifts and reflected them back to readers. Citing biographical, historical, critical, and textual evidence,