Scholarship

Studs, Tools, and the Family Jewels: Metaphors Men Live By
(Univ. of WI Press, 2001)

“In this brave and provocative book, Peter F. Murphy looks inside the metaphors of masculinity to reveal that sexual slang is more about fear than power, more about distrust than control, more about softness than hardness. Our language, our bodies, our selves – a paper-thin veneer that masquerades as cold, hard, steel.”

Michael Kimmel, author of Manhood in America

The purpose of this book is not to shock but rather to educate, provoke a discussion, and engender change. Looking at the sexual metaphors that are so pervasive in American culture – jock, tool, shooting blanks, gang bang, and others even more explicit – he argues that men are trapped and damaged by language that constantly intertwines sexuality and friendship with images of war, machinery, sports, and work.

These metaphors men live by reinforce the view that relationships are tactical encounters that must be won, because the alternative is the loss of manhood. The macho languages with which men cover their fear or weakness is a way of bonding with other men. The implicit or explicit attacks on women and gay men that underlie this language translate, in their most extreme forms, into actual violence. Murphy argues that awareness of these metaphorical power plays is the basis for behavioral change: “How we talk about ourselves as men can alter the way we live as men.”

Fictions of Masculinity: Crossing Cultures, Crossing Sexualities
(NYU Press, 1994)

“Peter Murphy has assembled an innovative, challenging, and important set of contributions to a growing field of inquiry into constructions of masculinities in literature, inspired principally by feminist and gay studies. Illuminatingly crossing lines of gender, sexualities, cultures, and methodologies, Fictions of Masculinity greatly advances our understanding of representations of men, masculinities, misandry, and misogyny in a wide range of literary works and genres, and helps us to imagine (and thereby ultimately bring about alternative constructions).”

Harry Brod, editor of The Making of Masculinities: New Men’s Studies and Theorizing Masculinities

This collection of essays is inspired by the realization that masculinity, like femininity, is a fictional construction. Myths of masculinity have been perpetuated in literature, art, popular culture, and the politics of our daily lives. This anthology focuses on the role literature has played in reinforcing the assumptions about masculinity and, at time, helping to establish the norm of manhood. The articles attempt, also, to identify other images, other roles, other options for men and masculinity.

Selected essays include the following: David Leverenz on “the Last Real Man in America: From Natty Bumpo to Batman;” Peter Schwenger on “Barthelme, Freud and the Killing of Kafka’s Father;” Leonard Duroche on Gunter Grass; Miriam Cooke on Naguib Mahfouz; Alfred Habbeger on The Red Badge of Courage; David Bergman on J. R. Ackerley, and Richard Dellamora on E. M. Forster, to name just a few.

Feminism and Masculinities
(Oxford Univ. Press, 2004)

"A careful selection of wide-ranging essays, divided between 1970-85 and 1985-present. The book's purported aim of investigating masculinity from a feminist perspective is fulfilled...the coverage of feminist-inspired consideration of masculinities is admirably lucid without sacrificing subtlety of argument...Students of feminism and masculinities will surely benefit from consulting it, but it can be enjoyed by general readers beyond the usual customers of Oxford Readings in Feminism. It can be widely recommended."

Kenneth MacKinnon, review in The Times Higher Education Supplement

This book provides an international mixture of the best classic foundational pieces and recent key works that investigate masculinity from a feminist perspective. The chapters examine a wide range of topics including gay liberation, the men's movement, black and working-class masculinities,homophobia and the Internet.

Additional Publications

Books and Monographs

Writings By and About George Lukacs: A Bibliography of English References, (New York: American Institute for Marxist Studies), 1976.

Articles

“Insidious Humor and the Construction of Masculinity,” Mattoid (Australian), special international issue on “Examining/Experiencing Masculinities,” (1999), 61-73.

"'To Write What Cannot Be Written': The Woman Writer and Male Authority in John Hawkes's Virginie: Her Two Lives," in Men Writing the Feminine, ed. Thaïs Morgan (State University of New York Press), 1994. 77-88.

"Cultural Studies as Praxis." College Literature, (June 1992), 31-43.

"Male Heterosexuality in John Hawkes's The Passion Artist," Twentieth Century Literature,
(Winter 1991), 403-418.

"The Art of Pool," The Buffalo News, 13 December 1985, 3+.

"Sid Patterson: St. Lawrence River Rat," Rootdrinker: A Journal of the St. Lawrence Border Country (Spring 1978), 4+.

"Ice Fishing Traditions in St. Lawrence County," Studies in Traditional American Crafts (Oneida, NY: Madison County Historical Society) 1978.

"Living By His Wits: The Buffoon and Male Survival," Signs (2006)

Reviews

“Our Guys: The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the Perfect Suburb by Bernard Lefkowitz,” a review, Men and Masculinities, (July, 1998), 103-105

“Clint Eastwood: A Cultural Production by Paul Smith,” a review, Modern Fiction Studies, (Summer, 1995), 407-409

"Iron John: A Book About Men," by Robert Bly, a review, Changing Men (Fall/Winter 1991), 51.

"Toward a Feminist Masculinity: A Review Essay," Feminist Studies (Summer 1989), 351-361.

"Whistlejacket by John Hawkes," a review, Review of Contemporary Fiction (Fall 1988), 164-165.

"Working Knowledge," a review of Working Knowledge: Skill and Community in a Small Shop by Douglas Harper, The Oral History Review (Fall 1988), 157-159.

"John Hawkes Scholarship," a review of John Hawkes: A Research Guide by Carol Hryciw-Wing, Bulletin of Bibliographies (September 1988), 213-214.

"Fathers and Daughters," a review of Adventures in the Alaskan Skin Trade, by John Hawkes, American Book Review 8 (January-February, 1986), 16.

Reviews for Telos: A Journal of Social Thought, 1975-1981 (4-5 per issue).

"A Man's Game: Masculinity and the Anti-Aesthetics of American Literary Naturalism by John Dudley," a review, South Atlantic Review