Voices from the Quarters: The Fiction of Ernest J. Gaines (review)
masculinity is surprising and disconcerting. I also found the organization of the book, which also extends the text-based approach, to be repetitive at times. Since each chapter unpacks a similar set of ideas in relation to different works, the subtle shifts in argumentative focus are somewhat obscured. Nonetheless, the ramifications of this study are exciting. From the moment that Strychacz announces his intention to present us with masculinity as both deeply rhetorical and theatrical, I knew I was on new terrain that is just beginning to be mapped. The book is full of fascinating but unrealized asides about the way modernism has been informed by very restrictive notions of masculinity, an issue that he promises to explore in his next study. In the meantime, Strychacz has given readers, as promised, a "defamiliarized Hemingway," and in the process a new approach to reading familiar stories.