Peter Paul Ferry
Professor i engelsk litteratur
Institutt for kultur- og språkvitenskap
Bio
Research
My research is focused mainly on the interdisciplinary study of the representations of men and masculinities in literature, culture, and society. I have published two monographs and a range of articles that discuss representations of men and masculinities in 19th, 20th, and 21st century American writing. I also have broader interests in the flaneur and masculinity, ecomasculinites, and further topics linked to the Critical Study of Men and Masculinities.
My most recent monograph is Beards and Masculinity in American Literature (Routledge 2020). This book celebrates canonical beards in canonical works of American writing - from Walt Whitman to Ernest Hemingway - as well as discussing the range of issues that beards evoke with regards to the everyday performance of masculinity.
I am currently working on further beards research: beards and maritime masculinity in the writing of Herman Melville; beards and The Beatles; and bearded ladies in 19th and 20th century American society.
I also have a podcast called Writing Beards. It can be found on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
I am also currently working on a book project exploring the representation of masculinity in the works of George Saunders.
Teaching
I teach American Literature, Contemporary Literature, and Literary Theory courses at BA and MA level. I also supervise BA and MA theses on a range of topics connected to British, Irish, American, and Global Literatures. Recent successful theses have included ecomasculinities in the writing of John Williams, representations of trauma in contemporary Irish literature, and hegemonic masculinity and religion in contemporary African Literature.
Publications
Monographs
• Beards and Masculinity in American Literature. Routledge, 2020.
• Masculinity in Contemporary New York Fiction. Routledge, 2015.
Journal articles and book chapters
• “The Periodical and the Flâneur in Early New York Writing.” New York: A Literary History. Ed. Ross Wilson. Cambridge University Press, 2020, 165-179.
• “Writing Men on the Margins: Joseph Mitchell, Masculinity and the Flâneur in New York City." Literary Journalism Studies. Vol. 9 No. 2 (Fall 2017): 52-73.
• “The Beard, Masculinity, and Otherness in the Contemporary American Novel.” Journal of American Studies Vol. 51 No. 1 (Feb 2017): 163-182.
• “Writing Men: Recognising the Sociological Value of Counter-Hegemonic Masculinities in American Fiction.” Masculinities and Social Change. Vol.2 No.2 (2013): 146-166.
• “An Interpretation of Masculinity in Manhattan: Reading Jed Rubenfeld’s The Interpretation of Murder.” Atlantis (Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies). Vol. 34 No.2 (Dec 2012): 49-65.
• “Reading Manhattan, Reading American Masculinity: Reintroducing the flâneur with E.B. White’s Here is New York and Joshua Ferris’ The Unnamed.” Culture, Society and Masculinities. Vol. 3 No.1 (2011): 49-61.
