Strange Relations: Masculinity, Sexuality and Art in Mid-Century America
Ralf Webb explores the lives of James Baldwin, John Cheever, Carson McCullers and Tennessee Williams in an effort to understand the 'crisis in mid-century masculinity'. Strange Relations is a captivating portrait of remarkable writers who questioned and, in many cases, formed our views on masculinity, gender and sexuality, as well as delivering a radical, but refreshing vision of the possible shape of masculinity in the future.
Synopsis
In October 1960, James Baldwin and John Cheever spoke on a panel together at San Francisco State College. The troubled state of American society was under discussion, which Baldwin incisively diagnosed as a 'failure of the masculine sensibility'.
Strange Relations explores this crisis in mid-century masculinity and the lives and works of four bisexual writers who fought to express and embody alternate possibilities. Building on Walt Whitman's philosophy of the love between men, Ralf Webb considers the ways in which Tennessee Williams and Carson McCullers, as well as Cheever and Baldwin, resisted in their art, as well as in their relationships, the damaging expectations of contemporary gender and sexuality.
With a curious, intelligent and sensitive gaze, Ralf Webb sheds new light on each writer. Together, these artists offer a powerful and moving argument for a transformative new masculinity, grounded in fluidity, love and intimacy.
Publisher information
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
- ISBN: 9781399713214
- Number of pages: 352
- Dimensions: 218 x 142 x 36 mm
- Weight: 460g
- Languages: English