Books that Feature the Theme of Masculinity
This thematic Collection centers books that explore the concepts of manhood and masculinity. Through novels, plays, and literary genres, a diverse chorus of authors examines various interpretations of masculine identity and the masculine experience through coming-of-age stories, war narratives, and fantasy realms.
Publication year 2008
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Conflict, Perseverance, Guilt, Hate & Anger, Hope, Shame & Pride, Disability, Masculinity, Race, Coming of Age, Place, Family, Self Discovery, Social Class, Education, Literature
Tags Realistic Fiction, Dramatic Literature, Children`s Literature
Publication year 1988
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Friendship, Social Class, Masculinity, Race, Loyalty & Betrayal
Tags Realistic Fiction, Coming of Age, African American Literature, Children`s Literature, Arts & Culture
Scorpions is a young adult, coming-of-age novel written by best-selling children’s author Walter Dean Myers. Like many of Myers’s works, the book is based on his experience of growing up in New York City’s historically African American Harlem neighborhood. Exploring themes of brotherhood and masculinity, love and loyalty, race, class, and curtailed opportunity, the narrative follows 12-year-old Jamal Hicks as he is confronted with a life-changing dilemma: whether or not to step into the shoes... Read Scorpions Summary
Publication year 1995
Genre Play, Fiction
Themes Death, Race, Masculinity
Tags Drama, Tragedy, Comedy & Satire, Race & Racism, African American Literature, World History, Dramatic Literature, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction
Seven Guitars, which premiered in 1995 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and transferred to Broadway in 1996, is the seventh play in August Wilson’s American Century Cycle, also known as the Pittsburgh Cycle. This series, consisting of ten plays that are each set in a different decade of the 20th century, explore the lives of African Americans during each era. With the exclusion Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1984), which takes place in 1920s Chicago... Read Seven Guitars Summary
Publication year 2025
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Hope, Regret, Language, Masculinity, Future, The Past, Self Discovery, Nation, Politics & Government, War
Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
Publication year 1397
Genre Novel/Book in Verse, Fiction
Themes Masculinity, Fear, Loyalty & Betrayal
Tags Classic Fiction, Narrative Poem, Medieval, British Literature
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a chivalric romance of unknown authorship. Written sometime in the late-14th century, the work employs a complex metrical scheme that involves several lines of pentameter punctuated by a “bob and wheel”: a two-syllable “bob” followed by a rhyming quatrain of six-syllable lines. The bob and wheel structure is fairly typical of Middle English verse, as is the alliterative verse used throughout the sections written in pentameter. Its subject... Read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Summary
Publication year 2024
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Forgiveness, Grief, Guilt, Hate & Anger, Hope, Loneliness, Shame & Pride, Gender Identity, Masculinity, Mental Health, Race, Coming of Age, Future, The Past, Family, Fathers, Self Discovery, Community, Politics & Government, Justice
Publication year 2019
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Femininity, Masculinity, Race, Coming of Age, Friendship, Self Discovery, Equality, Justice, Loyalty & Betrayal, Safety & Danger
Tags Realistic Fiction, Science Fiction, Race & Racism, Sports, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2020
Genre Graphic Novel/Book, Fiction
Themes Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Fear, Hope, Joy, Loneliness, Love, Memory, Shame & Pride, Regret, Forgiveness, Femininity, Gender Identity, Masculinity, Race, Sexual Identity, Fate, Religion & Spirituality, Safety & Danger, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies, Animals, Appearance & Reality
Tags Fantasy, Magical Realism, LGBTQ+, Children`s Literature
Publication year 2025
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Gender Identity, Indigenous Identity, Masculinity, Mental Health, Aging, Environment, Family, Self Discovery, Community, Politics & Government, Justice, Literature, Loyalty & Betrayal, Religion & Spirituality
Tags Action & Adventure, Mystery & Crime Fiction
Publication year 2022
Genre Short Story Collection, Fiction
Themes Love, Loyalty & Betrayal, Gender Identity, Masculinity, Safety & Danger
Tags Irish Literature
Publication year 1925
Genre Short Story, Fiction
Themes Loneliness, War, Family, Masculinity
Tags Historical Fiction, American Literature, Modernism, Military & War, Education, Education, Classic Fiction
“Soldier’s Home” is a short story first published in Ernest Hemingway’s 1925 debut collection In Our Time. The version discussed in this guide is from The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: The Finca Vigia Edition (Scribner, 2003).The story’s protagonist is Harold Krebs, a young man who returns home to Oklahoma after serving in World War I. It is one of many works by Hemingway, a WWI survivor, to show the impacts of the war... Read Soldier's Home Summary
Publication year 2019
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Friendship, Loyalty & Betrayal, Trust & Doubt, Good & Evil, Marriage, Mothers, Conflict, Revenge, Masculinity, Sexual Identity, Family, Justice
Tags Horror & Suspense, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Parenting, Trauma & Abuse, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 1964
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Place, Siblings, Masculinity
Tags Modern Classic Fiction, Dramatic Literature, Realistic Fiction, Business & Economics, Social Class, Relationships, Science & Nature, American Literature, The Beat Generation, US History, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction
Sometimes a Great Notion (1964) is American author Ken Kesey’s second novel. The plot revolves around the Stampers, a family of independent loggers who choose to continue working in opposition to a logging union’s dispute with company leadership. The novel uses an experimental structure, switching between first-person and omniscient narrators and telling the story from the perspectives of multiple characters.Kesey and his counterculture group, the “Merry Pranksters,” were the precursors to the hippies of the... Read Sometimes a Great Notion Summary
Publication year 1609
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Beauty, Birth, Hope, Masculinity, Sexual Identity, Death, Food, Daughters & Sons, Future
Tags Lyric Poem, Education, Education, World History, Romance, Classic Fiction
Publication year 1591
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Fear, Masculinity, Art, Literature
Publication year 2025
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Childhood & Youth, Perseverance, Gratitude, Loneliness, Memory, Coming of Age, Future, The Past, Family, Teamwork, Self Discovery, Economics, Politics & Government, Science & Technology, Masculinity
Tags Memoir & Autobiography
Publication year 1990
Genre Play, Fiction
Themes Social Class, Gender Identity, Education, Masculinity, Femininity, Self Discovery, Power & Greed
Tags Historical Drama, Comedy & Satire, Gender & Feminism, Love & Sexuality, American Literature, Trauma & Abuse, Dramatic Literature, Education, Education
Theresa Rebeck’s provocative feminist two-act drama Spike Heels, first produced in 1990, is a problem play, that is a drama that looks at cultural, social, and economic issues. Problem plays intended to participate in the cultural conversation have a long and significant history in the theater. Playwrights like the Ancient Greek Euripides, 19th century Henrik Ibsen and George Bernard Shaw (whose presence looms large in Spike Heels), and a wide number of contemporary playwrights have... Read Spike Heels Summary
Publication year 1925
Genre Short Story, Fiction
Themes Masculinity, Loyalty & Betrayal, Revenge
Tags Harlem Renaissance, Women`s Studies, American Literature, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, US History, Arts & Culture, Black Lives Matter, African American Literature
“Spunk” is a short story by Zora Neale Hurston published in 1925. Set in the rural Southern United States, “Spunk” follows the conflict that ensues when one man pursues another man’s wife. The story’s publication helped establish Hurston as a significant literary voice during the Harlem Renaissance. In 1989, George C. Wolfe adapted the story, along with content from two others by Hurston, into a play by the same name. Citations in this guide correspond... Read Spunk Summary
Publication year 1927
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Loneliness, Masculinity, Mental Health, The Past, Self Discovery, War, Art, Beauty, Literature, Music, Religion & Spirituality
Tags Life-Inspired Fiction, Philosophy, Existentialism, German Literature, World History, Psychology, Psychology, Philosophy, Classic Fiction
Steppenwolf, originally published in German in 1927, then translated into English in 1929, is the eighth novel published by Swiss German novelist Hermann Hesse. The novel was commercially successful upon publication, and it remains a popular novel to the present day. However, Hesse remarked that whereas his intention was to find humor in life and resist despair, Steppenwolf has often been misunderstood as a glorification of suffering. Much of Hesse’s body of work addresses spiritual... Read Steppenwolf Summary
Publication year 2022
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Femininity, Family, Masculinity, Truth & Lies, Safety & Danger, Mothers, Power & Greed, Justice, Good & Evil, Equality, Shame & Pride
Tags Mythology, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Gender & Feminism, Trauma & Abuse, World History