Against the Dominant FictionSeeking Alternatives to Hegemonic Fatherhood in Contemprary U.S.Literature

Abstract

My dissertation analyzes the role of literature in the alternative construction of models of non-patriarchal paternity, and questions whether it is possible to rethink father figures outside the limits of traditional masculinity through the use of narrative imagination. Departing from the assumption that both masculinity and fatherhood can be conceived as narratives in the sense proposed by Hanna Meretoja (2018), this investigation addresses the transformation endured by fatherhood paradigms throughout the past thirty years in diverse disciplines ranging from psychoanalysis to masculinity studies. I contend that the ethical potential of literature can foster models of paternal representation that go beyond the limits of the hegemonic ideal. In particular, I examine the father figures featured in The Invention of Solitude (Paul Auster, 1982), Fun Home (Alison Bechdel, 2006), The Road (Cormac McCarthy, 2006), and The Father (Sharon Olds, 1992). I aim to demonstrate that each of these texts employs different mechanisms to rethink fatherhood and the father-child bond in a non-patriarchal and hence truly ethical manner.