Description

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How does the sudden onset of disability impact the sense of self in a person whose identity was, at least in part, predicated by the possession of an able body? How does this experience make visible the structures enabling our shared notions of heteronormative masculinity?

In the United States, the Second World War functioned as a key moment in the emergence of modern understandings of disability, demonstrating that an increased concern with disability in the postwar period would ultimately lead to greater incoherence in the definitions and cultural meanings of disability in America. The Illegible Man examines depictions of disability in American film and literature in twentieth-century postwar contexts. Will Kanyusik searches for the origin of discourse surrounding disability and masculinity after the Second World War, examining the relationship between documentaries and fiction films, their depictions of disability and masculinity, and how many of these films were created by the relationship between Hollywood and the Office of War Information in the 1940s.

Supported by original archival research, The Illegible Man presents a new understanding of the relationship between film, disability, masculinity, and war.

About the Author

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Will Kanyusik is Associate Professor of English at Loras College.