Description
Book SynopsisLeading with the Chin focuses on the Esquire writings of James Baldwin, Truman Capote, Raymond Carver, Don DeLillo, Norman Mailer, and Tim O’Brien to examine how these authors negotiated important shifts in American masculinity. Using the works of these six authors as case studies, Leading with the Chin argues that Esquire permitted writers to confront national fantasies of American masculinity as they were impacted by the rise of neoliberalism, civil rights and gay rights, and the cultural dominance of the professional-managerial class.
Applying the methodologies of periodical studies and the theoretical concerns of masculinity studies, this book recontextualizes the prose and fiction of these authors by analyzing them in the material context of the magazine. Relating each author’s articulation of masculinity to the advertisements, editorials, and articles published in each issue, Leading with the Chin shows that Esquire<
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Introduction: The Crisis of Masculinity and the Problem of Identity Theoretical and Methodological Background Case Study: November 1958 Chapter Breakdown Part One: Recovering Masculinity in the 1960s 1 American Dreams, Gendered Nightmares 1. The Crisis of Masculinity and the Problem of Conformity 2. Hegemonic Masculinity in An American Dream 3. An American Dream and Esquire Magazine 4. Conclusion 2 Cooling It with James Baldwin 1. Baldwin’s Critique of Hegemonic Masculinity 2. Baldwin’s Queer Critique of Race in Esquire 3. "James Baldwin Tells Us All How to Cool It This Summer" 4. Conclusion Part Two: "The Richness of Life Itself" in the 1970s 3 Low-Rent Tragedies of Beset Manhood 1. "The Market Represents": Esquire, Carver, and Consumer Realism 2. Carver’s First Esquire Story: "Neighbors" and the "Space" of Advertising 3. "What Is It?" and "Collectors" – Reified Masculinities, Diminished Selfhood 4. Conclusion 4 True Men and Queer Spaces in Truman Capote’s Answered Prayers 1. Gay Visibility and Esquire’s Queer ’70s 2. Capote’s Critique of Heteronormativity 3. Fugitives from the Gender Order: Best-Kept Boys and Queer Utopias 4. Conclusion Part Three: Cold Warriors of the 1980s 5 Sexual Fallout in Tim O’Brien’s The Nuclear Age 1. Cold War Discourse and Gender Trouble in The Nuclear Age 2. Cold Warriors and Cowboys: "Somewhere the Duke Is Smiling" 3. Retrenching the Domestic Sphere in "Grandma’s Pantry" 4. "Ovaries Like Hand Grenades": Emphasized Femininities in The Nuclear Age 5. Conclusion 6 Don DeLillo in the American Kitchen 1. "Men in Small Rooms": American Masculinity, American Kitchens 2. "Suck in That Gut, America!": JFK’s Exemplary Masculinities 3. Getting a Grip on the Runaway World: The Author as Exemplary Masculinity 4. Conclusion Conclusion: How to Be a Man Notes Works Cited Index
