The Changing Fictions of Masculinity

In a sensitive and provocative

  study of six great works of British literature, David Rosen traces the evolution

  of masculinity, inviting readers to contemplate the shifting joys and sorrows

  men have experienced throughout the last millennium, and the changing but constant

  tensions between their lives and ideals. Focusing on Beowulf, Sir Gawain

  and the Green Knight, Hamlet, Paradise Lost, Hard Times, and Sons and

  Lovers, Rosen shows how the actions of heroes fail to resolve tensions between

  masculine ideals and male experiences.