CONTENTS -- Introduction -- K Masculinity as Successk SelfRMade Manhood in -- and -- G "The Buddy as Xnimak" Men's Friendships in -- U Where Xre Fathers in Xmerican Literaturek Fatherhood -- in -- and -- V Sexing Menx Male Sexualities in -- and -- P Richard Ford's Revisions of Violence as a Test of Manhood -- FOREWORD -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- Introducing Richard Ford -- Richard Ford as a Genderless Writerk -- Richard Ford's Sexual/Textual Politics -- Gendering Ford -- Male Fictions: Authors and Characters -- NOTES -- CHAPTER 1 Masculinity as Success? Self-Made Manhood in A Piece of My Heart and Rock Springs -- The Myth of Self-Made Manhood in US Literary History -- An Overview -- Richard Ford's Literary Revisions of Self-Made Manhood -- A Light of Hope Love vs. Success -- NOTES -- CHAPTER 2 "The Buddy as Anima?" Men's Friendships in The Sportswriter -- The Myth of Male Friendship in American Literature: An Overview -- Male Friendship: Myth vs Reality -- Rewritings of (Failed) Friendships between Men in Richard Ford's The Sportswriter -- NOTES -- CHAPTER 3 Where Are Fathers in American Literature? Fatherhood in Independence Day and The Lay of the Land -- American Fatherhood as Absence? -- Fatherhood as Patriarchy? -- New Images of Fatherhood in Independence Day -- "Relations End Nowhere": The Maturity of Fatherhood in The Lay of the Land -- NOTES -- CHAPTER 4 Sexing Men: Male Sexualities in Rock Springs and A Multitude of Sins -- Sexuality in American Literature: An Overview -- Revisiting Male Sexualities in Rock Springs and A Multitude of Sins -- NOTES -- CHAPTER 5 Richard Ford's Revisions of Violence as a Test of Manhood -- Images of Violence as a Test of Manhood in US Literary History: An Overview -- Revisions of Male Violence by Richard Ford -- NOTES -- BIBLIOGRXPHY -- Works by Richard Ford -- Works by Others -- INDEX.