Hypermasculinities in the Contemporary Novel

Cormac McCarthy, Toni Morrison, and James Baldwin

This book examines exaggerated masculinities in select novels by James Baldwin, Cormac McCarthy, and Toni Morrison. Defined by violence, racism, sexism, and homophobia that originated on the American frontier and transformed into a definition of “ideal” masculinity, the protagonists in these postwar American novels fail to perpetuate these hypermasculinities—and instead represent an ironic heroism that emerges in the narratives.