From Decline to Becoming: Evolving Images of Aging Masculinities in Stephen King’s Mr Mercedes

Marta Miquel-Baldellou

doi:10.18290/rh247211.6s

Published : 2024-06-06

Vol. 72 No. 11 Zeszyt specjalny (2024)

From Decline to Becoming: Evolving Images of Aging Masculinities in Stephen King’s Mr Mercedes

Marta Miquel-Baldellou

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9002-5679

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rh247211.6s

Abstract

The portrayal of the aging detective in King’s first novel of his trilogy of hard-boiled fiction, Mr Mercedes (2014), brings to the fore the interconnection between the discourses of gender and aging, while it also underscores contemporary reinterpretations that call into question the representation of the classic hard-boiled detective as a paradigm of dominant masculinity. Drawing on concepts from the field of age studies—such as Margaret Gullette’s decline and progress narratives, Hilde Lindemann Nelson’s counter-stories, and Pamela Gravagne’s narratives of becoming—this article analyses the way that old age determines the evolution from hegemonic to alternative masculinities in King’s contemporary portrayal of the hard-boiled detective.

Keywords:

aging masculinities, decline narratives, progress narratives, narratives of becoming, hard-boiled fiction

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