Errancies of Desire: Monstrous Masculinities across the Atlantic

The book explores how male desire is often misguided and leads to violent and sexist behavior, crossing national and cultural divides. It argues that when these symptoms are institutionalized and misinterpreted as a masculine norm, all men can become monsters.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 208 pages
Publication date: 06 January 2023
Publisher: Syracuse University Press

Social commentators, psychologists, and journalists all agree that traditional masculinity is facing a crisis in the new millennium. This predicament is often portrayed in contemporary film and literature as a problem of desire, particularly heterosexual desire. Male libido, it seems, can be particularly vicious when it is misguided. However, the root cause of this problem is not consistently diagnosed. While some texts may place it in the unrestrained expression of human sexuality and its associated discourses, others argue that it is the perverse result of popular constructions of sex and gender.

To address this conundrum, Errancies of Desire focuses on the intersections of phallocratic violence and masculine identity in contemporary works of fiction across three subcontinents: North America, Western Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa. In doing so, Messier details how male desire is predicated on mediated forms of predatory and misogynistic sexuality that transcend national and cultural boundaries. Employing a comparative methodology, he interrogates common perceptions of national differences and masculine identities grounded in historical specificity.

Errancies of Desire effectively argues that when associated symptoms of violent and sexist behavior are institutionalized and misguidedly construed as a masculine norm, all men can become monsters.

Weight: 316g
Dimension: 151 x 229 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780815637875