The distorted image of male identities in Virginia Woolf's Orlando : a biography (1928)‎ and William Faulkner's the sound and the fury (1929)‎

Abstract EN

This article tackles issues related to the representation of masculine identities in modernist literature, in addition to this, it investigates the subversive forms which impede male protagonists from improving their masculine role, identity and presence in society.

in Virginia Woolf's Orlando : a biography (1928), her selected protagonist Orlando often appears with clear androgynous qualities.

such qualities exist to subvert the originated masculine identity.

in addition to this novel, in William Faulkner's the sound and the fury (1929), the selected male character Benjy is portrayed as a childish man who never grows up.

this kind of portrayal does determine Benjy's masculine loss, sufferance and ambiguity as well.

in both selected works, male protagonists are portrayed as less masculine men due to the characterized forces of gender identity subversion.

therefore, the main aim behind this article is to emphasize the undergone struggle of those male protagonists to ensure their masculine resistance on behalf of such subversive conditions.