White Male Nostalgia in Contemporary North American Literature

by Tim Engles

Overview

White Male Nostalgia in Contemporary North American Literature charts the late twentieth-century development of reactionary emotions commonly felt by resentful, yet often goodhearted white men. Examining an eclectic array of literary case studies in light of recent work in critical whiteness and masculinity studies, history, geography, philosophy and theology, Tim Engles delineates five preliminary forms of white male nostalgia—as dramatized in novels by Sloan Wilson, Richard Wright, Carol Shields, Don DeLillo, Louis Begley and Margaret Atwood—demonstrating how literary fiction can help us understand the inner workings of deluded dominance. These authors write from identities outside the defensive domain of normalized white masculinity, demonstrating via extended interior dramas that although nostalgia is primarily thought of as an emotion felt by individuals, it also works to shore up entrenched collective power.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030080211
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	01/09/2019
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2018
Pages:	243
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

Tim Engles is Professor of English at Eastern Illinois University, USA, specializing in multicultural literature and critical whiteness studies. He has co-edited Critical Essays on Don DeLillo (2000) and Approaches to Teaching DeLillo’s White Noise (2006) and his recent publications address the work of Gloria Naylor, Tim O’Brien and Walter Dean Myers, as well as systemic racism in the criminal justice system and racialized social media slacktivism.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Making America White Male Again.- 2. Ethnicized White Male Nostalgia: Sloan Wilson’s The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.- 3. Moralizing White Male Nostalgia: Richard Wright’s Savage Holiday.- 4. Spatialized White Male Nostalgia: Carol Shields’s Happenstance.- 5. Denying White Male Nostalgia: Don DeLillo’s Underworld.- 6. Possessive White Male Nostalgia: Louis Begley’s About Schmidt.- 7. Epilogue: Margaret Atwood’s The Heart Goes Last and the Futures of Domineering

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Arresting from its most sweeping claims to its wonderfully telling details, this closely argued study reminds us of how supple and hard-hitting critical studies of whiteness can be at their very best. Steeped in historical knowledge, Engles’ brilliant readings of celebrated and neglected works diagnose how white middle class masculinity has long managed to claim outsider status and how thoroughly creative writers have called into question such claims.” (David Roediger, Foundation Professor of American Studies, University of Kansas, USA)

“This book is well-written, compellingly argued, and will contribute a great deal to work in American cultural studies of gender and race, as well as in contemporary fiction more broadly.” (Sally Robinson, Associate Professor of English, Texas A&M University, USA, and author of Marked Men: White Masculinity in Crisis, 2000)