Men/Boys Behaving Differently: Contemporary Representations of Masculinity in Children's LiteratureKerryMallan,
2001single work criticism — Appears in:
English In Australia,November
no.
1322001;'Crisis' has been the password of recent writings about boys, masculinity and manhood from
popular journalism to academic press. In all of these often disparate accounts there is the
attempt on the part of the writers to find an anchorage in the storm, to utter a temporary
'truth' on the current state of affairs. In a similar way, the cause for the so-called 'crisis in
masculinity' is just as diverse.With this brief outline of the discourse of 'crisis in masculinity' in mind, this paper will
2
consider what contemporary writing for young people can offer in terms of the current issues
impacting on masculinity. In particular, specific questions will emerge as part of the
discussion: How are writers for young people contributing to critiques of masculinity (and
gender generally) through strategies of parody, self-reflexivity, and subversion? In reading
these fictional accounts, does a more serious account of current anxieties lie beneath their
playful surfaces? How might students benefit from an engagement with these and other texts
in terms of their developing understandings of gender in general and masculine subjectivities
in particular?
Men/Boys Behaving Differently: Contemporary Representations of Masculinity in Children's LiteratureKerryMallan,
2001single work criticism — Appears in:
English In Australia,November
no.
1322001;'Crisis' has been the password of recent writings about boys, masculinity and manhood from
popular journalism to academic press. In all of these often disparate accounts there is the
attempt on the part of the writers to find an anchorage in the storm, to utter a temporary
'truth' on the current state of affairs. In a similar way, the cause for the so-called 'crisis in
masculinity' is just as diverse.With this brief outline of the discourse of 'crisis in masculinity' in mind, this paper will
2
consider what contemporary writing for young people can offer in terms of the current issues
impacting on masculinity. In particular, specific questions will emerge as part of the
discussion: How are writers for young people contributing to critiques of masculinity (and
gender generally) through strategies of parody, self-reflexivity, and subversion? In reading
these fictional accounts, does a more serious account of current anxieties lie beneath their
playful surfaces? How might students benefit from an engagement with these and other texts
in terms of their developing understandings of gender in general and masculine subjectivities
in particular?
