Forever England: Reflections on Masculinity and Empire

An accessible series of reflections about the effects on British white masculinity of Britain's history of empire—from Victorian times to the present day—this volume presents a unique dichotomy of psychoanalytic insight and social history. Stemming from the pathological middle-class family of Victorian times, generations of dysfunctional men were produced, suffering from mother fixation, narcissism, and many other varieties of sexual deviation. This book documents the lives of some of Britain's heroes and mother's boys, including T. E. Lawrence and Rupert Brooke. Turning to contemporary culture, it argues that the popularity of stars such as Hugh Grant is evidence of the lingering attachment to the archetype of the perpetually adolescent, incoherent-yet attractive to some-upper middle-class man.