There is no shortage of iconic masculine imagery of the soldier
in American film and literature--one only has to think of George C.
Scott as Patton in front of a giant American flag, Sylvester
Stallone as Rambo, or Burt Lancaster rolling around in the surf in
From Here to Eternity. In "Male Armor," Jon Robert Adams examines
the ways in which novels, plays, and films about America's
late-twentieth-century wars reflect altering perceptions of
masculinity in the culture at large. He highlights the gap between
the cultural conception of masculinity and the individual
experience of it, and exposes the myth of war as an experience that
verifies manhood.
Drawing on a wide range of work, from the war novels of Ernest
Hemingway, Norman Mailer, James Jones, and Joseph Heller to David
Rabe's play "Streamers" and Anthony Swofford's "Jarhead, " Adams
examines the evolving image of the soldier from World War I to
Operation Desert Storm. In discussing these changing perceptions of
masculinity, he reveals how works about war in the late twentieth
century attempt to eradicate inconsistencies among American
civilian conceptions of war, the military's expectations of the
soldier, and the soldier's experience of combat. Adams argues that
these inconsistencies are largely responsible not only for
continuing support of the war enterprise but also for the soldiers'
difficulty in reintegration to civilian society upon their return.
He intends "Male Armor" to provide a corrective to the public's
continued investment in the war enterprise as a guarantor both of
masculinity and, by extension, of the nation.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!