Beards and Masculinity in American Literature isa pioneering study of the symbolic power of the beard in the history of American writing. This book covers the entire breadth of American writing - from 18thcentury American newspapers and periodicals through the 19thand 20thcenturies to recent contemporary engagements with the beard and masculinity. With chapters focused on the barber and the barbershop in American writing, the "need for a shave" in Ernest Hemingway's fiction, Whitman's beard as a sanctuary for poets reaching out to the bearded bard, and the contemporary re-engagement with the beard as a symbol of Otherness in post-9/11 fiction, Beards and Masculinity in American Literatureunderlines the symbolic power of facial hair in key works of American writing. | Beards And Masculinity In American Literature by Peter Ferry, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters