Professional paper
Men and Masculinity in Hari Kunzru’s Transmission
Stefan Čizmar
Abstract
Hari Kunzru’s novel Transmission offers a unique insight into the cross-section of class, race, and gender, and can offer valuable insights for the field of men’s studies due to its focus on an oppressed male protagonist and his interactions with powerful male figures while he is navigating American capitalism. This paper starts from a largely Marxist conception of masculinity, which sees it as an ideology that stems from the ruling class and helps men accept their position in the social hierarchy. This creates the distinction between the hegemonic, dominant, strain of masculinity and the subordinate strains of masculinity which belong to men who are not in positions of power. The paper further analyses the ways in which the novel subverts hegemonic masculinity by tying it to the capitalist system and showing how it fails alongside it, which signals the idea that masculinity is fleeting and unstable, tenable only during economic upswings. The novel also subverts hegemonic masculinity by showing how the powerful male figures in it simply adopt poses that help them look powerful, creating images of successful masculinity, while in reality, they are at the mercy of the economy and other, more powerful men. Lastly, the novel subverts hegemonic masculinity by championing the seemingly emasculated protagonist, who is rewarded after deciding not to emulate hegemonic masculinity.
Keywords
Hari Kunzru; Transmission; masculinity; class; men’s studies
Hrčak ID:
325115
URI
Publication date:
24.12.2024.
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