Male Subjectivity at the Margins

Book Description:

In her provocative new book, Kaja Silverman offers a bold new look at some masculinities which deviate from the social norm. Male Subjectivity at the Margins brilliantly reads male filmmakers, novelists and literary cinematic characters who position themselves more as "women" than as "men" and in so doing surrender male power and privilege. Silverman writes about male masochism, homosexuality, exhibitionism from a sympathetic point of view, arguing that these so-called "perversions" can be better undrstood from a political perspective rather than a moral one. In fact Male Subjectivity at the Margins maintains that their practitioners represent, at least potentially, allies for feminism. Silverman pursues her argument through a range of literary and cinematic texts, including Wiliam Wyler’s classic The Best Years of Our Lives , the films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the novels of Henry James, T.E. Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom , and Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past .