Stories of Manhood: Journeys into the hidden
hearts of men
Edited by Steve Biddulph.
Sydney, Australia: Finch Publishing, 2000.
Steve Biddulph, already probably
Australia’s premier men’s movement author with Manhood: An action
plan for changing men’s lives and Raising Boys, has crafted
another stunning book. Stories of Manhood: Journeys into the hidden
hearts of men, billed as a companion volume to Manhood,
may be all the more impressive for the fact that it is an edited
volume. Certainly the book’s virtually unequalled emotional and
topical range is central to its undoubted strong appeal to anyone
interested in men and in the dialectic now raging to establish a new
balance of power between men and women.
Biddulph
evidently possesses not only a keen voice of his own but also an
uncanny knack at bringing together a set of authors who are
exceedingly diverse in many different respects—background, topic,
perspective, voice. Peter Carey contributes one of the most moving
pieces I have ever read, “A Small Memorial” to some children of his
who passed through his life and their lives all too quickly. Carey’s
honesty and spare yet emotionally expressive writing can hardly fail
to bring a little mist to the reader’s eyes.
Charles Fransen needs only one
page to describe a small epiphany, in which he comes to realize that
the happiness of an ailing daughter matters more than his boss’s
anger. Ian Hargreaves takes many of us as close as we may ever want to
come to a vasectomy and—in the author’s case—its aftermath, which
proved painful in more than one way. The author maintains a light
touch and avoids self-pity. Leo Schofield memorably sets forth not
only abuse suffered in a “Christian Brothers” religious school but
also a complex, even compassionate (if unforgiving) portrait of his
abuser, a sexually and psychologically twisted instructor memorably
nicknamed “Itchy.”
Michael Pollard tells us how his
“goofy brother,” his Big Brother, through some timely and tough-minded
yet loving advice, helps him to stay out of jail and eventually set
his life moving in a good direction. Nancy Lerner, evidently the only
female lead contributor to this volume, also provides its longest
piece, regaling us with intoxicating tales of her tribulations as a
teacher in an all-boy school. She finds that with eccentricities of
hair and dress restrained and the freedom from the inevitable pressure
cooker of girls’ presence, boys paradoxically found themselves freer
to forge their own individual identities. Eccentric intellectual Kevin
thrived, as did a superlatively competitive (and top-ranked) student
who somehow learned to gracefully relinquish his premier position when
an Asian genius joined the school. The school’s boys earn to relate to
and respect an extremely curvaceous and corresponding talented young
female teacher.
Bob Ellis finds a way to come to
terms with his aging mother’s gradual (and lovingly detailed)
departure from this world. Bill Brandt contributes a breath-catching
photograph of a man home from the mines, bent over a bucket while his
wife helps him in the no doubt vain struggle to clean himself. “The
ancient partnership between men and women” is aptly captured in this
haunting image.
The volume contains numerous
other pieces, including a United Nations’ official’s daring rescue of
several East Timor natives, a man’s gritty and compassionate story of
caring for his own father despite the mixed relationship they had in
earlier years, and a husband and wife’s struggle in nineteenth century
Scotland over the proper punishment for a child who stole some eggs.
Many other noteworthy contributions are also included in Stories of
Manhood, which benefits from Finch’s usual top-of-the-line layout
and production values. Even the cartoons give the reader periodic
breaks that are very welcome. Since Finch ships worldwide, you may
want to buy Steve Biddulph’s delightful book and read all twenty-six
of the pieces he has collected for yourselves!
©2000 J. Steven Svoboda
