Masculinity and the Paradox of Violence in American Fiction 1950-75

<i>Masculinity and the Paradox of Violence in American Fiction 1950-75</i> explores the intersections of violence masculinity and racial and ethnic tension in America as it is depicted in the fiction of Ralph Ellison Richard Wright Norman Mailer Saul Bellow James Baldwin and Philip Roth. <br/> <br/> Maggie McKinley reconsiders the longstanding association between masculinity and violence locating a problematic paradox within works by these writers: as each author figures violence as central to the establishment of a liberated masculine identity the use of this violence often reaffirms many constricting and emasculating cultural myths and power structures that the authors and their protagonists are seeking to overturn.