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The Cedar and Brokeback Mountains
Barclay Burns, John
Barclay Burns, John
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n2008-22.pdf
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"Proulx’s story reflects the depictions of intense and possibly erotic male friendships in the writers examined by Christopher Packard: James Fenimore Cooper, Bret Harte, Mark Twain, and Owen Wister among others. He talks about “homoerotic affection in historical discourse that was free from the derogatory meanings associated with post-1900 evaluations of male-male erotic friendships” (3-4).4 However, her story also echoes ancient narratives of strong male affections. This is not to suggest that Proulx, consciously or unconsciously, had Gilgamesh or other heroic models in mind, but the parallels are significant: strong young men, flawed in both tales, a passionate and enduring devotion to each other, a task/quest and a mountain, the descent to marriage, the death of one of the pair, grief, acceptance, and long remembering. The ancient and modern tales follow remarkably similar courses. One example suffices: after Jack’s death, Ennis’ visit to Jack’s parents in their remote farm in Lightning Flat is touchingly reminiscent of Gilgamesh’s journey to Utnapishtim and his wife at the world’s end.5 Jacob’s Wound [4] This work expands Jennings’ chapter in Stone (2002) and incorporates insights from his study of homoeroticism in the New Testament. It shares their aims and style, though time and familiarity have dimmed the capacity of his raunchy gay terminology to shock and underscore his unique approach. He emphasizes that he is not adding to the “dreary debate” on homosexuality in the Bible; his strategy is to explore “the astonishing diversity of material in the Hebrew Bible that lends itself to homoerotic interpretation” (x)."(pg 2)
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2008
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With permission of the license/copyright holder