- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Da Capo Press Inc; Reprint edition (2 Mar 1990)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0201517205
- ISBN-13: 978-0201517200
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.3 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 605,981 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Here, using the Grimm Fairy tale "Iron John" as a vehicle, Bly explores the myths and cultural underpinnings of a distinctly vigorous male mode of feeling, a combination of fierceness and tenderness long since sacrificed to the demands of the industrial revolution.
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First Sentence
We talk a great deal about "the American man," as if there were some constant quality that remained stable over decades, or even within a single decade. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
We talk a great deal about "the American man," as if there were some constant quality that remained stable over decades, or even within a single decade. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Looking through the lens of myth, poet Robert Bly concludes that the Industrial Revolution pulled families apart. He blames absent fathers who failed to initiate boys into adulthood for many of today's cultural woes, including passivity among men, unhappy marriages and the prevalence of gangs. Bly cites stories from the ancient Greeks through the Brothers Grimm to show that young men's struggle to achieve mature adulthood has remained constant throughout history. The myth of Iron John follows the development of a young prince from his early ties to his mother, to his maturation and entry into the world of his father. Mothers, says Bly, must relinquish their babies to enable their sons to grow up. Bly uses his ramble through literature to explore deep issues that play out in men's personal and work lives. His metaphoric, poetic language may be off-putting to concrete thinkers, but getAbstract recommends Bly's classic to men and women who are looking for insight into modern men's psychic drives and struggles.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Iron John is Bly's interpretation of an old folktale about a "Wild Man" who takes a young boy, and guides him toward a whole manhood. Bly sees in this tale an outline of the pre-Greek (or at least pre-Christian) system of initiation.
Mr. Bly's work was for the most part with Baby Boomers, and this book shows it. He focuses on issues that were important to that generation, such as Vietnam, workaholic/wife-beating fathers, "manic Catholic priests", and Republicanism. As an early post-Boomer, I find that my issues are somewhat different than this. However, Mr. Bly does take aim at many different groups, including New-Agers, and those who are "smoking weed, reading nothing, and being generally groovy."
I must admit that this book did not answer my questions. However, Mr. Bly's poetic look at what men are and can be speaks powerfully to me. This book is a fascinating and touching work, and is something men should find time to read.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
One of the great books of our time. Bly's analysis of the problems of masculinity in the modern world is brilliant, and the whole book abounds in original insights. This is the work of a poet, not a philosopher or psychologist, and his ideas speak to the heart as well as to the intellect.
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