Pat Barker’s Achilles: Excess of Manliness and Hegemonic Masculinity toward Self-Destruction
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol19.290Keywords:
Achilles, Briseis, Patroclus, hero, masculinitiesAbstract
In this article, we analyze the figure of Achilles as Pat Barker rewrites him in The Silence of the Girls (2018). The first section intertwines the concept of hegemonic masculinity, developed by Raewyn Connell, with the two types of Homeric masculinities identified by Barbara Graziosi: proper manliness (ἠνορέη) and excess of manliness (ἀγηνορίη). By dedicating each following section to a specific character, we analyze and discuss how they are reinvented in Barker’s retelling of the Trojan War. We juxtapose Achilles as a representative of hegemonic masculinity to Patroclus as a representative of exemplary masculinity. Finally, we investigate the extent to which Briseis and Achilles undergo a process of loss of identity inasmuch as hegemonic masculinity is concerned.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Tiago Cordeiro, Professor Luiz Fernando Ferreira Sá
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with thersites agree to the following terms:
- Publishing in thersites is free of any charges.
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication.
- Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author, so long as the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. The journal is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. More information about this license is available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
