Overview
- Yields new interpretations of canonical Irish plays
- Analyses how the Northern Irish conflict has impacted theatrical and social performances of Irish manhood
- Creates a means of analysing contemporary Irish theatre and the gender and sexual politics that drive it
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
This book charts the journey, in terms of both stasis and change, that masculinities and manhood have made in Irish drama, and by extension in the broader culture and society, from the 1960s to the present. Examining a diverse corpus of drama and theatre events, both mainstream and on the fringe, this study critically elaborates a seismic shift in Irish masculinities. This book argues, then, that Irish manhood has shifted from embodying and enacting post-colonial concerns of nationalism and national identity, to performing models of masculinity that are driven and moulded by the political and cultural practices of neoliberal capitalism. Masculinities and Manhood in Contemporary Irish Drama charts this shift through chapters on performing masculinity in plays set in both the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland, and through several chapters that focus on Women’s and Queer drama. It thus takes its readers on a journey: a journey that begins with an overtly patriarchal, nationalist manhood that often made direct comment on the state of the nation, and ultimately arrives at several arguably regressive forms of globalised masculinity, which are couched in misaligned notions of individualism and free-choice and that frequently perceive themselves as being in crisis.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Cormac O’Brien is Assistant Professor of Irish Drama in the School of English, Drama and Film at University College Dublin, Ireland. A Fulbright Scholar, Cormac publishes widely on gender and sexuality in Irish drama and literature, and has produced several landmark studies of HIV and AIDS in Irish theatre and culture.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Masculinities and Manhood in Contemporary Irish Drama
Book Subtitle: Acting the Man
Authors: Cormac O'Brien
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84075-4
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-84074-7Published: 11 December 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-84077-8Published: 11 December 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-84075-4Published: 10 December 2021
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 292
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: Contemporary Theatre, National/Regional Theatre and Performance, Performing Arts, Gender Studies