Anxious Representations of Uncertain Masculinity: The Failed Journey to Self-Understanding in Ambrose Bierce's “The Death of Halpin Frayser”

Abstract

In his 1891 tale “The Death of Halpin Frayser,” Ambrose Bierce presents the crisis of masculine identity through familial tropes of gothic otherness that he connects to specific historical and cultural contexts. As a result, he shows that the psychic dimensions of the impasse he depicts are not just individually but also socially constructed. By using the insights of post-Freudian psychoanalytical theories, and especially the perspectives of Lacan (1977) and Kristeva (1982, 1984), this study will show how the story works to expose the instability of masculine identity through its representation of the Oedipal crisis and its gendered repercussions.