The Quest for American Manhood

A significant part of American playwright David Rabe's work centers on the phenomenon of male aggression and violence. The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel, Sticks and Bones and Streamers comprise what has come to be known as Rabe's Vietnam Trilogy. In all of them, Rabe portrays male characters in crisis - men inculcated with their culture's race and gender stereotypes yet insecure about their own identity. Does the much-discussed 'crisis of masculinity' really exist? The study offers a glimpse at how specific historical events and socio-cultural developments in the United States shaped a concept of masculinity later unmasked as a myth. A detailed analysis of Rabe's plays looks at such topics as war and soldiering as defining means of masculinity. It also examines how the paradigm of manhood correlates to such aspects as race and gender, and what consequence (ill-fated) father-son-relationships can have on the male psyche. This book is addressed to students interested in David Rabe's work but also for anyone researching topics like gender, race and identity in contemporary American literature.