Constructions of Masculinity in British Literature from the Middle Ages to the Present: International Interdisciplinary Conference (Technical University of Dresden, June 17-20, 2009)

Abstract

Recently, it took individual actions of a Scottish-born, 48-year-old Australian to once again question legitimacy of traditional gender dichotomies generally subscribed to by state legislatures and wider public they are elected to represent. Norrie May-Welby of Sydney- born a man, before undergoing a sex change operation and eventually opting to become a neuter- made headlines after [...] receiving an official designation of gender neutrality in Australia but was in next to no time confronted with withdrawal of this document over questions of whether New South Wales registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages had power to issue such a designation.2 The case of May-Welby resonates with a dramatic development in contemporary relevance and problematic nature- nature of course being operative word- of a number of issues raised during international interdisciplinary conference Constructions of Masculinity in British Literature from Middle Ages to Present, an event hosted by Prof. Dr. Stefan Horlacher at Technical University of Dresden in lune, 2009. Organized with support of Fritz Thyssen Stiftung fur Wissenschaft, this conference was, as title suggests, primarily devoted to a series of literary-historical case studies within scope of surveying and comparing conception, construction, and representation of masculinity in different historical periods. Beyond exercising scholarly minds of presenters and participants from a wide range of academic fields in Europe and U.S., it also attracted attention of media, with Germany's preeminent tabloid newspaper BiId as well as television channel MDR losing no time in reporting on event. Media and public interest stems from perception of contemporary masculinity as being in an (oxymoronic) state of perpetual crisis, typical manifestations of which are increasing gender divide in academic performance, male perpetrated violence in home or workplace, and most dramatically copycat massacres in schools and colleges. It was thus fitting that, given flurry of media interest in matters masculine, conference opened with four papers that emphasized growing cultural, social, and political significance of masculinity studies as an academic discipline. Stefan Horlacher's introductory paper addressed from a theoretical perspective key questions of Why Masculinities? and Why Literature?, thereby establishing latter as preeminent discursive resource for epistemological insights into historical development and contemporary relevance of masculinities. By addressing key texts situated at intersection of literature, literary studies, sociology, psychoanalysis, and other fields of research, Horlacher provided necessary framework for examining interplay of fictional constructions and of what is commonly perceived non-fictional, that is, real-life enactments of masculinities, emphasizing literature's potential to provide alternatives and offer solutions. Horlacher argued that while bearing a clear historical imprint, literary texts nevertheless transcend any narrow notion of mimesis that would reduce them to a mirror or straightforward representation of reality as given. If one takes into account literature's ability (a) to constitute a discursive field in which even marginalized, aberrant voices can articulate themselves, (b) to give voice to something that could be called the collective unconscious, and (c) to transcend its time of origin, literature (and literary studies), according to Horlacher, can be viewed as an extraordinarily privileged medium for conception, reception, and analysis of historically changing phenomena linked to construction and deconstruction of (not just) British mascuHnities (compare Horlacher, 2004, 2010). In his keynote address, Harry Brod (Northern Iowa), one of founders of masculinity studies in U. …