The 60's Man: Hierarchical structures and the Articulation of Male Experience in Selected Novels of Norman Mailer, Ken Kesey and Philip Roth

Abstract

This thesis examines the masculine character in American literature. It focuses on representations of ideal masculinity and male character, power, hierarchical social ordering systems, and prestige. The subject matter is a selection of American literary texts depicting men during the 1960s. In the novels studied men are found to pursue power and prestige through hierarchical systems and institutions which work to naturalise the notion that men should conform to a particular archetype of "ideal" masculinity, and that even in texts which present male experience in other terms, male experience is seen to be conditioned by the pursuit of power and prestige through hierarchical structures. ... The novels on which the study focuses are Norman Mailer's 'An American Dream' (1965) and 'Why Are We in Vietnam' (1967); Ken Kesey's 'Sometimes a Great Notion' (1964); and Philip Roth's 'Portnoy's Complaint' (1969); 'The Ghost Writer' (1980); 'Zuckerman Unbound' (1981); and 'The Anatomy Lesson' (1983).