Inverting the traditional focus of ethnic studies on blackness as the object of scrutiny, this book explores dominant forms of white masculinity as seen by African American authors placed alongside certain white writers. Author analyzes texts by Herman Melville, Ernest Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn, Frederick Douglass, and James Baldwin.

WINNER OF THE 2015 JAVIER COY RESEARCH AWARD FOR BEST MONOGRAPH

"The joy of reading Masculinities in Black and White is that Josep M. Armengol so easily builds upon some of the most complex and hotly contested critical interventions in the study of American literature. In effortless prose, Armengol dispenses with the racial and sexual segregation that structure so much within American culture. Examining underappreciated works by Frederick Douglass, Herman Melville, Ernest Hemingway, James Baldwin, and Martha Gellhorn, Armengol offers rich and sophisticated readings that radically critique old-fashioned modes of canonization. The effect is at once electric and inspiring." - Robert F. Reid-Pharr, Distinguished Professor of English and American Studies, CUNY Graduate Center, USA and author of Once You Go Black: Choice, Desire, and the Black American Intellectual

"Astonishingly wide-ranging in its choices of authors and its ability to place each in broader contexts, this important study probes the simultaneity of whiteness and masculinity with remarkable acuity and grace. Armengol shows exciting new things about familiar works and introduces less recognized but exemplary voices dramatically." - David Roediger, Professor of History, and author of Seizing Freedom: Slave Emancipation and Freedom for All

"In this refreshingly original and thoughtful text, Josep M. Armengol challenges many of our assumptions about both black and white masculinities. Itshould prove an essential resource for anyone interested in gender politics and formations of masculinity." - Lynne Segal, Anniversary Professor of Psychosocial Studies, University of London, UK and author of Slow Motion: Changing Masculinities, Changing Men

Autorentext

Josep M. Armengol is Associate Professor of English at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.

Inhalt
Introduction 1. Slavery in Black and White: White Masculinity as Enslaving in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass 2. Of Gray Vapors and Creeping Clouds: White (Male) Privilege as Blinding in Herman Melville's 'Benito Cereno'. 3. Revisiting Masculinity and/as Whiteness in Ernest Hemingway's Green Hills of Africa and Under Kilimanjaro 4. Dark Objects of Desire: The Blackness of (Homo)sexuality in James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room 5. Race and Gender in the Mirror: A (White) Woman's Look at (Black) Racism in Martha Gellhorn's "White Into Black"