Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2004. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 315-351).

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, March 2010. / Electronic version restricted until 1st March 2015.

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2006. / Advisor: Leigh Edwards, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of English. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 22, 2006) Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 107 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. Christopher Kocela, committee chair; Paul J. Voss, Calvin Thomas, committee members. Electronic text (96 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Oct. 16, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-96).

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2005. / Title from title screen. LeeAnne Richardson, committee chair; Marilynn Richtarik, Margaret Mills Harper, committee members. Electronic text (56 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed May 2, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-56).

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis I examine the portrayal of masculinity in selected works of Damon Galgut. Masculinities are read through the lens of the double and the uncanny as conceived by Freud and other scholars. The selected novels include The Beautiful Screaming of Pigs (1991), The Quarry (1995), The Good Doctor (2004), The Impostor (2008) and In a Strange Room (2010). In the introduction theoretical issues relating to masculinities, the double and the uncanny are discussed and a broad framework for the thesis is outlined. Subsequently each chapter discusses the representation of men and masculinities in the selected novels. Issues such as masculinity in the military, friendship amongst men, relationships with women, masculinity and apartheid, masculinity and whiteness and heterosexuality and homosexuality are discussed and explored through the lens of the double and the uncanny. Questions that emerge from this study are: What perspectives does Galgut offer of masculinities before and after apartheid? How do the men experience their political and social environment? How do the male characters in the novels interact with the female characters? What obligations do men and women have towards each other?: / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie tesis ondersoek ek die uitbeelding van manlikheid in geselekteerde werke van Damon Galgut. Manlikhede word gelees deur die lens van die dubbelganger en die Unheimliche soos deur Freud en ander teoretici gekonsipieer. Die geselekteerde romans sluit in The Beautiful Screaming of Pigs (1991), The Quarry (1995), The Good Doctor (2004), The Impostor (2008) en In a Strange Room (2010). In die inleiding word teoretiese kwessies met betrekking tot manlikhede, die dubbelganger en die Unheimliche bespreek en ʼn breë raamwerk vir die tesis word uiteengesit. Daarna bespreek elke hoofstuk die voorstelling van mans en manlikhede in die geselekteerde romans. Kwessies soos manlikheid in die weermag, vriendskap tussen mans, verhoudings met vroue, manlikheid en apartheid, manlikheid en witheid, en heteroseksualiteit en homoseksualiteit word deur die lens van die dubbelganger en die Umheimliche bespreek en verken. Die volgende vrae word in die studie aangepak: Watter perspektiewe bied Galgut op manlikhede voor en ná apartheid? Hoe ondervind die mans hulle politieke en sosiale omgewing? Hoe gaan die manlike karakters in die romans met die vroulike karakters om? Watter verpligtinge het mans en vroue teenoor mekaar?

This thesis examines masculinities in the Íslendingasögur. It attempts to uncover the dominant model of masculinity that operates in the sagas, outlines how masculinities and masculine characters function within these texts, and investigates the means by which the sagas, and saga characters, may subvert masculine dominance. The thesis applies to men and masculinities in saga literature the same scrutiny traditionally used to study women and femininities. The first - introductory - chapter reviews the limited scholarship that presently exists on masculinities in Old Norse literature. It then proposes a new model for the critical study of saga masculinities, drawing on sociological theories of hegemonic and subordinated masculinities. The second chapter ranges across the entire Íslendingasaga corpus in order to demonstrate how masculinity inflects homosocial relationships (and thus virtually all aspects of saga texts). It also suggests that almost all masculine characters have a problematic relationship with masculinity as a result of the intersectional nature of subject formation. The third chapter, focusing on Njáls saga, argues that the male body is used to undermine the prevailing model of masculinity. It is argued that the Njála author purposefully deploys somatic indices that have gendered significance to show embodied resistance to the demands of masculinity. The fourth chapter examines the representation and treatment of a character (Grettir Ásmundarson) that embodies masculinity to an exceptional degree, but who nevertheless - or perhaps for that reason - experiences a problematic relationship with masculinity. Finally, an epilogue briefly investigates some of the ways in which female characters may undermine and problematize the masculinity of men and the category of masculinity itself. Ultimately, this thesis shows that masculinity is not simply glorified in the sagas, but is represented as being both inherently fragile and a burden to all characters, masculine and non-masculine alike.

This study describes and analyses the treatment of male characters in the work of the East German author, Irmtraud Morgner. The main focus of the thesis is on Morgner's handling of masculinity in relation to her treatment of the fantastic. Given that the majority of scholarship on Morgner concentrates on feminist aspects of her work, the aim of this thesis is to redress this imbalance by concentrating on the importance to her fictional narratives of male figures. The ways in which Morgner portrays her male characters shed significant new light on the function of the fantastic in her work. A detailed analysis of her texts shows that Morgner excludes all but a few of her male characters from the fantastic. By investigating the reasons for this, the thesis seeks to contribute to a better understanding of Morgner's complex views on gender issues. The argument is advanced that Morgner's treatment of her male characters and their interaction, or lack of interaction with the fantastic, reveals a more nuanced disillusionment with society than emerges from examinations of her female characters alone. Such a reading therefore permits a deeper and more differentiated understanding of her work.

This thesis explores the construction of masculinity in novels written by New Women authors between the years 1881-1899. The fin de siècle was a period during which gender roles were renegotiated with fervour by both male and female authors, but it was the so-called New Woman in particular who was trying to transform the Victorian notion of femininity to incorporate the demands of the burgeoning women's movement. This thesis argues that in their fiction, New Women authors often tried to achieve this transformation by creating male characters who were designed to justify and to mitigate the New Woman protagonist's departure from traditional structures of heterosexual relationships. The methodology underlying this thesis is the notion that men and women were perceived as binary opposites during the Victorian period. I refer to this as the binary code of the sexes. This code assumes that men and women naturally possess diametrically opposed character attributes, and also that “masculine” attributes are perforce better than “feminine” ones. In the body of this work, I argue that New Women authors attempted to contest both of these assumptions by creating, on the one hand, traditional male characters whose masculinity is corrupted in crucial and recurring ways, and on the other, impaired male characters who cannot assume the traditional role of man. The comparison of the New Woman protagonist with the corrupt traditional man elevates her feminine attributes, while the impaired man's dependency legitimises her acquisition of what were otherwise considered “masculine” attributes and privileges, thereby contesting the notion that men and women possess sex-specific attributes at all. The second part of my thesis examines contrasting examples, in which this way of characterising masculinity – as traditional or impaired – is questioned and manipulated. It examines the limitations of the New Women authors' specific approach to reconstructing the binary code.