The Masculine Mode

Schwenger, Peter

doi:10.1086/448013

Cited by 9 publications

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“…5. Schwenger (1979) provides an illuminating However, neither of these combines the discussion of the 'buddy movie' as a construc-assonance in the second line with the greater tion of male-male relationships, using the repetitive assonance in the first that is found example of Deliverance. I am grateful to Brian in Holly's verse (i.e.…”

Section: Mutual Desirability and Musical Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Oh, Boy! (Oh, Boy!): mutual desirability and musical structure in the buddy group

Bradby¹

2002

Pop. Mus.

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If rock'n'roll represented new, sexualised gender identities for the teenagers of the late 1950s, why (and how) were such identities constructed through the multiple voices of the group? In Buddy Holly's ‘Oh, Boy!’ the chorus plays a prominent supportive role in relation to the lead singer; but its continual echoing of the singer's ‘Oh boy!’ allows also for a literal hearing of cries of mutual desire and admiration between two men. This representation of the ‘buddy group’ has continuities with other group, or dual representations of male identity, where mutual, male selves and desires are constructed around an imagined, comforting woman. The presence of traces of the maternal body (Kristeva's ‘semiotic’ sphere) is audible in ‘Oh, Boy!’ through the chorus's separation of rhythm and melody, and in particular, its use of ‘children's rhythms’, consistent with those analysed by the musicologist Constantin Brailoiu as a cross-cultural phenomenon. In ‘Oh, Boy!’ children's rhythms are reworked in a dialogue between singer and chorus, and between guitar and chorus in the instrumental break, in such a way that after the break the singer is able to resolve the rhythmic tensions introduced in the first half of the song and get ‘everything right’. The new symbolic identity of male adolescent independence is audibly structured by the semiotic, so reversing the surface hearing of the song as involving the subordination of the chorus to lead singer in the consensual hierarchy of ‘buddy’ relations. The relationship of Buddy Holly to Bo Diddley adds a further dimension to this structure, where ostensible equality cannot mask the uncomfortable social hierarchy of the white rock star and black mentor, and where an appeal to the other as ‘boy’ would evoke not the buddy group, but slavery.

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Section: Mutual Desirability and Musical Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Oh, Boy! (Oh, Boy!): mutual desirability and musical structure in the buddy group

Bradby¹

2002

Pop. Mus.

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“…There are, as Peter Schwenger cites in ‘The Masculine Mode’ (1989), problems with a masculinity studies approach. He argues that when considering fiction, ‘[t]he danger here is that books may be viewed merely as case books, a happy hunting ground for Men We Disapprove Of and Good Guys’ (101).…”

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Masculinity Studies and Literature

Hobbs

2013

Literature Compass

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In contrast to feminist theory or women’s studies, masculinity studies is a relatively new approach to analysing literature. This article discusses the state of literary masculinity studies and its relationship to sociological men’s studies and feminism. It highlights the intention of masculinity studies scholarship to expose the damaging impact of patriarchy on men (as well as women), and its aim to celebrate alternative masculinities over hegemonic ideals through an analysis of male protagonists. It also notes the criticisms brought against the theoretical approach: that men are already adequately represented in literary theory; that the approach can be either universalist or too fragmented by sub‐categorisations of masculinity according to class, race, sexuality, etc. Giving an overview of the scholarship in the field, the article notes that while sexuality and ethnicity are becoming more frequent subjects for critics, issues of age – both youth and senescence – are relatively ignored, and suggests that this theme requires further examination in literary masculinity studies and in men’s studies more widely.

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“…Anna Mitgutsch szerint azonban a nők által írt szövegek "az elbeszélésmód arrogáns félreértésébe" ütköznek: szerinte a biologizált 'nemnek megfelelő' nyelv helyett éppen az elbeszélésmódban kell keresni a "specifikusan női esztétika" forrását, hiszen éppen ez a testiséghez, imagináriushoz kapcsolódó, valóságot szubjektíven észlelő-megismerő-kezelő attitűd az, ami a legmarkánsabb eltérést mutatja a férfi látásmóddal szemben (Mitgutsch 1997). A női írás ugyanis rákérdez önmaga szövegiségére és testiségére, míg a férfi nem gondolkozhat saját férfimivoltán, hiszen "az elvezethet ahhoz a számára veszélyes belátáshoz, hogy a férfiassága megkérdőjelezhető, nem természetesen adott" (Schwenger 1979, 621-633 nyomán Menyhért 2000 (Žižek 1994, 10). Hiszen, ahogy arról P. Balogh Andrea is ír, "jelenleg is egy férfi-orientált, a nemek közötti viszonyokat hierarchikusan elrendező nemi ideológia mentén alakulnak az esztétikai normák, és a hivatalosan elismert értelmezési eljárások" (P. Balogh, 2005, 81 (Bán 2003a, 2).…”

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The Masculine Mode

Cited by 9 publications

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Oh, Boy! (Oh, Boy!): mutual desirability and musical structure in the buddy group

Oh, Boy! (Oh, Boy!): mutual desirability and musical structure in the buddy group

Masculinity Studies and Literature

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