View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by St Andrews Research Repository THE UNCOCKED GUN? REPRESENTATIONS OF MASCULINITY IN CONTEMPORARY CRIME FICTION Susan Massey A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2010 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/898 This item is protected by original copyright The Uncocked Gun? Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary Crime Fiction by Susan Massey A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of English University of St Andrews July 2009 ii Thesis Declaration I, Susan Massey, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 72,000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student in September 2004 and as a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in September 2005; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2004 and 2009. date signature of candidate I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. date signature of supervisor In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews we understand that we are giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. We also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. We have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the electronic publication of this thesis: Access to all or part of printed copy but embargo of all or part of electronic publication of thesis for a period of 5 years on the following ground: publication would preclude future publication; date signature of candidate signature of supervisor i Abstract This thesis examines the representation of masculinity in the work of three contemporary male crime writers – George Pelecanos, Henning Mankell and Ian Rankin. It considers whether or not the feminist movement, and the resultant deconstruction of gendered identity, has had an impact on the work of male authors. As the topic of masculinity becomes increasingly visible both within sociological discourse and popular culture, have male writers sought to critically engage with their own gender roles or are they more concerned with propagating hegemonic norms? Crime fiction has a history of accommodating revisionist, feminist projects but is there similar space in the genre for male writers to create viable, non-phallic detective heroes? By focusing on writers of three different nationalities – Pelecanos is American, Mankell is Swedish and Rankin is from the UK – the thesis examines the interaction between masculinity and national identity, and compares the extent to which American, Swedish and British masculinity can be viewed as being ‘in crisis’. Chapter I provides a theoretical outline, discussing the academic approach to Men’s Studies, before addressing the specific issue of the representation of gender within the crime fiction genre. Chapters II, III and IV focus on a close reading of the texts of Pelecanos, Mankell and Rankin, respectively. iii Acknowledgements I have been fortunate enough to have studied with Professor Gill Plain since the second year of my undergraduate degree at St Andrews. She has been a constant source of inspiration and support and this Ph.D. could not have been completed without her endless patience, good will and capacity to endure, the like of which even Rebus and Wallander would be envious. I am deeply grateful. Many thanks to Professor Susan Sellers, my second supervisor, for her comments and suggestions on the thesis. I am grateful to the School of English at St Andrews for a scholarship that funded my research, and also for providing me with a home for so long. I am especially grateful to Sandra McDevitt, the school’s postgraduate secretary, for all her advice and wisdom. Thanks to Abby Rine, Michael Favale, Marge Cannell, Elissa Fagan, Laura Helyer, Debbie Forde, Emma Watson, Beth Brook, Megan Hoffman, Ben Davies, Mark Lee, Graeme Hawes, Rachel and Malfi Holmes, and to my friends and colleagues at the university library. Particular thanks are due to the plucky few who constituted my thesis reading group – Abby, Megan and Rachel. Finally, this thesis is dedicated, with love and gratitude, to my family – Jenny, Mum, Dad, Granny, Aunt Rose and Reggie – and is in memory of my grandfather, Harold Lewis Ryan, 3rd February 1913 – 30th September 2004. iv Contents Introduction pages 1 - 6 Chapter I pages 7 - 42 Contexts: Theory and Genre Chapter II pages 43 - 86 The Crisis of Modern American Masculinity: George Pelecanos’ Derek Strange Novels Chapter III pages 87 - 151 ‘I Ask Myself Every Day What My Life Is Doing To Me’: Kurt Wallander and the Ambivalent Experience of the Contemporary Detective Hero Chapter IV pages 152 – 201 ‘Voluntary Bondage’: The Masochistic Masculinity of John Rebus Conclusion pages 202 - 209 Bibliography pages 210 - 224 Contexts: Theory and Genre 7 Chapter I Contexts: Theory and Genre Part One: The Genesis of Men’s Studies In her book The Male Body, published in 1999, the academic Susan Bordo writes: To be a body with a sex is fine for girls – in fact, it’s what we’re supposed to be. But men are not supposed to be guided by the rhythms of bodily cycles, susceptible to hormonal tides. (Bordo, 1999: 19) Her words were contradicted in September 2004 when a study undertaken by psychologists at the University of Derby revealed the tentative discovery of male Pre- Menstrual Tension (Scott, 2004: 1-2). Although the men participating in the study obviously did not experience menstruation, they claimed to have endured side effects commonly associated with the menses – headaches, mood swings and loss of concentration – all of which became more pronounced at certain times of the month. The (female) psychologist leading the research, Dr. Aimee Aubeeluck, was unable to offer a full explanation for her findings but did suggest that perhaps everyone may be susceptible to cyclical variations in mood and that these changes are simply more noticeable in women because they accompany menstruation. What is interesting about this study is not just the results themselves, but also the fact that they were printed on the front page of a national newspaper. This potentially radical linking of men with their own bodies indicates that a seismic shift has occurred in recent thinking about male identity. Until relatively recently the concept of masculinity was under-theorised. In The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir confidently asserted ‘[a] man would never set Contexts: Theory and Genre 8 out to write a book on the peculiar situation of the human male’ (De Beauvoir, 1949: 15). Yet now such a vast body of analysis devoted to men’s studies exists that Tim Edwards has observed ‘…we are aware of masculinity in the twenty-first century like never before’ (Edwards, 2006: 1). Over the last two decades masculinity has been transformed from something considered natural and obvious into one of the most debated issues in modern sociology. To quote Lynne Segal, ‘“masculinity” has replaced “femininity” as the problem of our time – a threat to civilisation itself’ (Segal, 1990: 60). One of the most important intellectual legacies of second-wave feminism has been its attempt to separate biological sex from socially constructed gender. Gender is not something one is born with. Kimmel, Hearn and Connell have stated: Gender identity is more than a simple psychological property belonging to a person, something one ‘has’ as a result of socialization and that one consequently inserts into all interactions. Gender identity is a constant process, always being reinvented and rearticulated in every setting, micro or macro. Gender identity is the codified aggregation of gendered interactions; its coherence depends on our understanding of those interactions. (Kimmel, Hearn and Connell, 2004: 7) Just as this reconceptualisation of identity has changed the lives of women, it has also had important ramifications for men; for if the position of women changes, then logically, so too must that of men. The feminist movement has, therefore, been credited with providing the impetus for a fresh appraisal of masculine identity. By drawing attention to the fact that men, too, are gendered beings, in Judith Kegan Gardiner’s words, ‘feminist theory has helped create masculinity’ (Gardiner, 2004: 36). Stephen Whitehead and Frank Barrett have referred to the ‘feminist parentage’ of the current epidemic of masculinity theorists (Whitehead and Barrett, 2001: 4), and Michael Kimmel has stated that men’s studies ‘owe their original inspiration and their Contexts: Theory and Genre 9 continuing accountability to programs in women’s studies and to feminist scholarship in general’ (Kimmel, 1987: 293).