Changing Fictions of Masculinity

In a sensitive and provocativestudy of six great works of British literature, David Rosen traces the evolutionof masculinity, inviting readers to contemplate the shifting joys and sorrowsmen have experienced throughout the last millennium, and the changing but constanttensions between their lives and ideals. Focusing on Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Hamlet, Paradise Lost, Hard Times, and Sons and Lovers, Rosen shows how the actions of heroes fail to resolve tensions betweenmasculine ideals and male experiences.