Beards and Masculinity in American Literature (Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature)

Beards and Masculinity in American Literature presents the social, historical, gender, and political power of facial hair in the representation of masculinities in American prose and poetry. Employing cutting-edge theories from the fields of Gender Studies, Masculinity Studies, and Queer Studies, author Peter Ferry unlocks the sociological symbolism of the growth, wearing, or indeed shaving of American facial hair at key points in the American literary tradition. Such an approach identifies the beard, in all its stylizations, as a device for revealing and reflecting upon the issues that define the performance of American masculinity in American writing.