Masculinity and Patriarchal Villainy in the British Novel

Sara Martín is Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Cultural Studies at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain. Dr Martín specialises in Gender Studies, particularly Masculinities Studies, which she applies to the study of popular fictions in English, with an emphasis on science fiction and, secondarily, horror and fantasy. Among her books are Monstruos al Final del Milenio (2002), Expediente X: En Honor a la Verdad (2006), Recycling Cultures (ed., 2006), La Literatura (2008), Desafíos a la Heterosexualidad Obligatoria (2011) and Persistence and Resistance in English Studies (co-ed., 2018). She co-edited with Fernando Ángel Moreno a monographic issue on Spanish science fiction for Science Fiction Studies (2017). Dr Martín’s translations include Manuel de Pedrolo’s masterpiece of Catalan Literature Typescript of the Second Origin (2018).

Introduction. Defining the Patriarchal Villain

Chapter 1. Adolf Hitler: The Threat of Absolute Villainy

Chapter 2. Big Brother and O’Brien: The Mystique of Power and the Reproduction of Patriarchal Masculinity

Chapter 3. Morgoth and Sauron: The Problem of Recurring Villainy

Chapter 4. Steerpike: Gormenghast’s Angry Young Man

Chapter 5. Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Larger Than Life: The Villain in the James Bond Series

Chapter 6. Richard Onslow Roper and the ‘Labyrinth of Monstrosities’: John le Carré’s Post-Cold War Villains

Chapter 7. Michael Dobbs’s Francis Urquhart Trilogy: Democracy at Risk

Chapter 8. Big Ger Cafferty, Crime Boss: The Constant Struggle to Retain Power

Chapter 9. Voldemort and the Limits of Dark Magic: Self-empowerment as Self-destruction

Conclusions