From Library Journal
Mazis (humanities and philosophy, Pennsylvania State Univ.) provides a wonderfully sensitive discussion of male archetypes that have been largely neglected by the men's movement. For Mazis, the Trickster, the Magician, and the Grieving Man are important to connecting men with feelings (the painful, the playful, the humorous) in everyday life. Beginning with a marvelous analysis of Desert Storm and its analogs in heroic legend, Mazis leads his reader to oases that celebrate interconnection, wonder, willingness to let things happen (rather than asserting control), and facing one's own vulnerability. Highly recommended for public, seminary, and undergraduate libraries.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
We've heard a lot recently about archetypes of masculinity--kings, warriors, and the like. Although important to understanding the male psyche, these images can be retrogressive if we exclude such repressed images as those conjured by philosopher Mazis' title. He argues that Desert Storm is a quintessential image of today's "armored" maleness, raging from a disembodied distance and unleashing megatons of angry sexuality. He criticizes today's men's movement for failing to excavate such images of masculinity as the trickster, the magician-cook, and the grieving man. You need not flush the king and his friends down the (iron) john if they are balanced and brought to earth by these less self-serving masculine images. A sharply written, finely reasoned work. Pat Monaghan
