Introduzione

This Introduction starts with a brief reconstruction of the origins and evolution of Masculinities Studies from the 1960s to the present. Special attention is paid to the post-2000 years, when theories and models of masculinity have proliferated on a global scale. Another issue taken into consideration is the so-called “crisis in masculinity” which, theorists claim, has grown in the twenty-first century owing to a variety of factors that have created “moral panic” in the media. The last part of the Introduction focuses on the volume’s exploration of masculinity models and figures across different cultures, historical periods and forms of narration. In addition to tracing connections among the thirteen chapters, this part highlights the important function that the arts, and literature in particular, fulfil in representing the crisis of hegemonic masculine roles and in promoting new ways of rethinking gender identity in different times and sociocultural contexts.