Queer Chivalry

Medievalism and the Myth of White Masculinity in Southern Literature

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Gender Studies, Men&, Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, American, Gay Studies
Cover of the book Queer Chivalry by Tison Pugh, LSU Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Tison Pugh ISBN: 9780807151860
Publisher: LSU Press Publication: December 9, 2013
Imprint: LSU Press Language: English
Author: Tison Pugh
ISBN: 9780807151860
Publisher: LSU Press
Publication: December 9, 2013
Imprint: LSU Press
Language: English

For the U.S. South, the myth of chivalric masculinity dominates the cultural and historical landscape. Visions of white southern men as archetypes of honor and gentility run throughout regional narratives with little regard for the actions and, at times, the atrocities committed by such men. In Queer Chivalry, Tison Pugh exposes the inherent contradictions in these depictions of cavalier manhood, investigating the foundations of southern gallantry as a reincarnated and reauthorized version of medieval masculinity. Pugh argues that the idea of masculinity -- particularly as seen in works by prominent southern authors from Mark Twain to Ellen Gilchrist -- constitutes a cultural myth that queerly demarcates accepted norms of manliness, often by displaying the impossibility of its achievement.
Beginning with Twain's famous critique of "the Sir Walter disease" that pilloried the South, Pugh focuses on authors who questioned the code of chivalry by creating protagonists whose quests for personal knighthood prove quixotic. Through detailed readings of major works -- including Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Flannery O'Connor's short fiction, John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces, Robert Penn Warren's A Place to Come To, Walker Percy's novels, and Gilchrist's The Annunciation -- Pugh demonstrates that the hypermasculinity of white-knight ideals only draws attention to the ambiguous gender of the literary southern male.
Employing insights from gender and psychoanalytic theory, Queer Chivalry contributes to recent critical discussions of the cloaked anxieties about gender and sexuality in southern literature. Ultimately, Pugh uncovers queer limits in the cavalier mythos, showing how facts and fictions contributed to the ideological formulation of the South.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

For the U.S. South, the myth of chivalric masculinity dominates the cultural and historical landscape. Visions of white southern men as archetypes of honor and gentility run throughout regional narratives with little regard for the actions and, at times, the atrocities committed by such men. In Queer Chivalry, Tison Pugh exposes the inherent contradictions in these depictions of cavalier manhood, investigating the foundations of southern gallantry as a reincarnated and reauthorized version of medieval masculinity. Pugh argues that the idea of masculinity -- particularly as seen in works by prominent southern authors from Mark Twain to Ellen Gilchrist -- constitutes a cultural myth that queerly demarcates accepted norms of manliness, often by displaying the impossibility of its achievement.
Beginning with Twain's famous critique of "the Sir Walter disease" that pilloried the South, Pugh focuses on authors who questioned the code of chivalry by creating protagonists whose quests for personal knighthood prove quixotic. Through detailed readings of major works -- including Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Flannery O'Connor's short fiction, John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces, Robert Penn Warren's A Place to Come To, Walker Percy's novels, and Gilchrist's The Annunciation -- Pugh demonstrates that the hypermasculinity of white-knight ideals only draws attention to the ambiguous gender of the literary southern male.
Employing insights from gender and psychoanalytic theory, Queer Chivalry contributes to recent critical discussions of the cloaked anxieties about gender and sexuality in southern literature. Ultimately, Pugh uncovers queer limits in the cavalier mythos, showing how facts and fictions contributed to the ideological formulation of the South.

More books from LSU Press

Cover of the book Louisiana Place Names by Tison Pugh
Cover of the book Slavery and American Economic Development by Tison Pugh
Cover of the book Freedom's Seekers by Tison Pugh
Cover of the book Lincoln's Resolute Unionist by Tison Pugh
Cover of the book Search and Rescue by Tison Pugh
Cover of the book The Dalai Lama's Secret and Other Reporting Adventures by Tison Pugh
Cover of the book The Reconstruction of Mark Twain by Tison Pugh
Cover of the book No More Heroes by Tison Pugh
Cover of the book A Wisconsin Yankee in Confederate Bayou Country by Tison Pugh
Cover of the book Revenge of the Teacher's Pet by Tison Pugh
Cover of the book Debugging the Link between Social Theory and Social Insects by Tison Pugh
Cover of the book An Artisan Intellectual by Tison Pugh
Cover of the book Disease, Resistance, and Lies by Tison Pugh
Cover of the book John Washington's Civil War by Tison Pugh
Cover of the book Apocalypse and the Millennium in the American Civil War Era by Tison Pugh
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy