Idelber V. Avelar

This study traces the representation of masculinity in selected moments of contemporary Brazilian and Argentine literatures. Its starting point is the model of revolutionary masculinity proposed by political movements of the 1960s/1970s and its subsequent crisis. Anchored in the sociology of gender, feminist theory, and cultural studies, it examines several novels that have addressed questions such as: gay challenges to hegemonic masculinity, the perception of a crisis in male self-images, transformations in labor force and family structure, and women's appropriations of traits assumed to be masculine. Authors studied include Brazilians Fernando Gabeira, Silviano Santiago, Ana Miranda, and Caio Abreu, as well as Argentines Miguel Bonasso, Alan Pauls, Néstor Perlongher, and Gustavo Ferreyra.