Nicholas Urfe’s Masculine Trap or the Construction of Manhood, its Ambivalences and Limitations in John Fowles’s The Magus
Western society and its fi ction faces the overwhelming problem of masculinity and its modeling. The era of war, capitalism, the challenges of feminism aff ect the ideology within which men are constructed both as individuals and as a social group. John Fowles’s fi ction tackles the crucial issue...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Institute of English Studies
2017-10-01
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| Series: | Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.anglica.ia.uw.edu.pl/images/pdf/26-1-articles/Anglica_26-1_IStrout_73-86.pdf |
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| Summary: | Western society and its fi ction faces the overwhelming problem of masculinity and its
modeling. The era of war, capitalism, the challenges of feminism aff ect the ideology within
which men are constructed both as individuals and as a social group. John Fowles’s
fi ction tackles the crucial issue of male power and control as masculinity is put to test and
trial in his 1965 novel The Magus. The defi nition of manhood, male virility and social
respectability of the period shape the 20th century male characters in Fowles’s fiction. This
paper aims to explore how John Fowles investigates the role of masculinity and power
myths on the personal level of relationship and a wider scale of war and capitalism in The
Magus. Notions of masculinity off er the protagonist, Nicholas Urfe, a sense of a superiority
and power over women in the course of the novel. Among the goals of the project
is to examine the mythical journey of Nicholas, which becomes a testing ground of his
masculinity and maturity, as well his trial and ‘disintoxication,’ which is intended to help
him to reevaluate his life and his relationships with women. One of the issues posed is
whether Nicholas Urfe is reborn as a new man at the end of his search for redemption or
if he remains the same egotistic, ‘lone wolf’ as he appears in the beginning of the novel. |
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| ISSN: | 0860-5734 0860-5734 |