The complex nexus between masculinity and national identity has long troubled, but also fascinated the German cultural imagination. This has become apparent again since the fall of the Iron Curtain and the turn of the millennium when transnational developments have noticeably shaped Germany’s self-perception as a nation. This book examines the social and political impact of transnationalism with reference to current discourses of masculinity in novels by five contemporary male German-language authors. Specifically, it analyses how conceptions of the masculine interact with those of nationality, ethnicity, and otherness in the selected texts and assesses the new masculinities that result from those interactions. Exploring how local discourses of masculinity become part of transnational contexts in contemporary writing, the book moves a consideration of masculinities from a "native" into a transnational sphere.
Author(s): Frauke Matthes
Series: Global Masculinities
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 284
City: Cham
Note on Translations
Acknowledgements
Contents
About the Author
Chapter 1: Introduction: Masculinity, Transnationalism, and the German Cultural Imagination
Approaching Masculinity in Twenty-First-Century Germany
Masculine Anxieties and the Other
The New Visibility of Masculinity
New Masculinities in Contemporary German Literature: From “Native” to Transnational
References
Chapter 2: Men Without Women: Clemens Meyer
East German Masculinities in a Transnational World
Becoming Men at the Cusp of 2000: Als wir träumten
Marginalized Masculinities—Local and Transnational: Im Stein
Men in Love, or Shifting Masculinities
References
Chapter 3: Masculinity in Conflict: Maxim Biller
Masculinity and the (Negative) German-Jewish Symbiosis
Fierce Encounters: Die Tochter
“Liebe in Deutschland”?
Love, Conflict, and German Jewish Masculinities
References
Chapter 4: Masculinity and Religion: Navid Kermani
Difference, Islam, and Challenging Hegemonic Masculinity
Marketing Difference: Kurzmitteilung
Negotiating Difference: Große Liebe
Experiencing Difference in Politicized Worlds
References
Chapter 5: Masculinities Across Borders: Feridun Zaimoglu
Literary Models of Masculinity and Feridun Zaimoglu’s “Border Thinking”
Romantic Transnationals: Liebesbrand
Coda: Romantic Masculinity in Hinterland
Working-Class Locals: Ruß
Writing Masculinities Across Literary Borders
References
Chapter 6: Man in Crisis: Ilija Trojanow
The Explorer’s Crisis: From “Native” to Transnational
From Weltensammler to “Eco-Warrior,” or Crisis of Masculinity Meets Crisis of Nature: EisTau
Encountering Nature and the Male Self: Responsibility, Otherness, and Affect
Post-Nature—Post-Masculinity
Crisis, Ambiguities, and New Masculinities
References
Chapter 7: Conclusion: Towards New Masculinities in Contemporary German Literature
References
References
Index
