Manliness in Literature

Core Virtues of Classical Manliness

• Arete (Greek): Excellence in all things—physical, moral, intellectual
• Sophrosyne (Greek): Self-control and moderation
• Virtus (Roman): Courage, strength, and moral integrity in public life
• Pietas (Roman): Duty to divinity, family, and country

Greek Works

• The Iliad – Homer (focuses on the wrath of Achilles in the Trojan War; contrasts the Trojan hero Hector’s virtuous nature with Achilles’ anger)
• The Odyssey – Homer (follows the veteran Odysseus on his journey home from Troy and culminates in his triumphant retaking of his throne; also examines the youthful journey into manhood by his son Telemachus)
• The Argonautica – Apollonius of Rhodes (tells the tale of Jason and the crew he assembles to retrieve the Golden Fleece; touches on the specific strengths of most of the 50 heroes who constitute the crew)

Roman Works

• The Aeneid – Virgil (follows the escape of Aeneas from the ruins of Troy and his journey eventually to establish the Roman world)
• The Metamorphoses – Ovid (a compendium of Greek and a few Roman myths, each tale somewhat short)
• Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans – Plutarch (a set of biographies, pairing an admirable Greek figure to an admirable Roman figure; some are historical and some are mythical)

Core Medieval Manly Virtues

• Fortitudo: Strength and courage in battle and adversity
• Fides: Loyalty to lord, lady, and God
• Temperantia: Self-restraint, especially in love and pride
• Honor: Reputation upheld through deeds and truth
• Humilitas: Recognition of one’s limits and submission to divine will

Medieval Works

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – Anonymous (tells a tale of Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s nephew, after he accepts a challenge from a mysterious knight; the story focuses on Gawain’s Christian virtues and his response when they are tested)
• The Song of Roland – Turold (tells the story of Charlemagne’s rear guard, especially the heroic Roland in a battle against the Muslim occupiers of Spain)
• Le Morte D’Arthur – Thomas Malory (tells the story of King Arthur from before his birth to his death and includes tales of Gawain, Launcelot, and other knights)
• Parzival – Wolfram von Eschenbach (follows the story of the knight who found the Holy Grail)
• El Cid – Anonymous (recounts the career of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar who defended his reputation and his country) [Charlton Heston starred in the film.]

Later Manly Virtues

• Renaissance Manliness: Strength, wit, and classical education
• Christian Manliness: Chastity, charity, moral endurance, self-sacrificing for others
• Enlightenment Manliness: Reason, self-reliance, and civic virtue
• 19^th Century: Romantic heroism, moral redemption, spiritual depth
• 20^th Century: Existential grit, emotional restraint, ethical courage

Later Works

• Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe (the famous tale of a ship-wrecked man and how he survives)
• Two Years Before the Mast – Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (the non-fiction account of the author’s taking two years after his junior year in college to serve on a merchant ship in the 1820s)
• The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas (traces the transformation from suffering to vengeance to moral redemption of a patient man)
• A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens (a tale of a wastrel’s growth into Christian manhood during the French Revolution)
• Les Misérables – Victor Hugo (a man driven to thievery transforms from a convict to an exemplar of redemptive masculinity)
• Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky (follows a nihilistic student on a journey from pride to repentance, exploring manliness through conscience – a remarkably Christian novel)
• To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee (Atticus Finch models principled manhood in the face of injustice)
• The Road – Cormac McCarthy (details the sacrificial journey of a father and son after an apocalyptic event)

There are, of course, scores of other books worth reading. This is just a brief list of some of my favorites. (I could have added The Epic of Gilgamesh – the oldest recorded tale known to history, but it didn’t fit the scheme of identifying manly virtues for a literary period. It is a good book, easy to read, and very, very short.)