Restless Men: Masculinity and Robinson Crusoe, 1788-1840

by K. Downing

Overview

Robinson Crusoe's call to adventure and do-it-yourself settlement resonated with British explorers. In tracing the links in a discursive chain through which a particular male subjectivity was forged, Karen Downing reveals how such men took their tensions with them to Australia, so that the colonies never were a solution to restless men's anxieties.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137348944
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	06/25/2014
Edition description:	2014
Pages:	237
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Karen Downing is a Visitor in the School of History at The Australian National University, Australia. She has a PhD from the Australian National University where she has taught gender and historiography and theory courses. Currently she is the assistant editor of History Australia.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Restless men 1. Confined by the Gout – Perceptions of Men's Physical Health 2. The Ecstasies and Transports of the Soul – Emotional Journeys of Self-discovery 3. My Head Filled Early With Rambling Thoughts – Raising Boys and Making Men 4. Satisfied with Nothing but Going to Sea – Seafaring Lives and Island Hopes 5. To Think That This Was All My Own – Land, Independence and Emigration 6. The Middle Station of Life – the Anxieties of Social Mobility 7. A Surprising Change of Circumstances – Men's Ambivalent Relationship with Authority 8. The Centre of All My Enterprises – the Paradox of Families Conclusion: 'Robinson Crusoe untravelled…'

Editorial Reviews

"Downing's text is very neatly situated in the historiography of masculinity ... [it] has made a valuable and engaging contribution to the literature on masculinities. Her scholarship is exceptional and her book deserves to be read by all who are interested in this field." - Australian Historical Studies

From the Publisher