Iron John: A Book About Men by Bly, Robert (1990) Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0201517205 ISBN 13: 9780201517200

Publisher: Addison-Wesley, 1990

Iron John is Robert Bly's long-awaited book on male initiation and the role of the mentor, the result of ten years' work with men to discover the truths about masculinity that get beyond the stereotypes of our popular culture. In the tradition of Blake, Yeats, and D. H. Lawrence, Bly has turned to the most ancient stories and legends to remind men and women of welcome images long forgotten, images of a vigorous masculinity both protective and emotionally centered.

From the Inside Flap:

long-awaited work of renowned poet and storyteller Robert Bly that explores and challenges the male psyche. In it, Bly brings to light a burgeoning "underground" of men seeking to find a lost heritage of emotional connection -- to their fathers, their children, their wives, themselves. Using the Grimm fairy tale as a vehicle, Bly takes us back to a model of masculinity which is neither Rambo nor "wimp," but rather more like Odysseus. He examines the myths and cultural underpinnings of this classic male model -- a combination of fierceness and tenderness long since sacrificed to the demands of the industrial revolution. Such a sacrifice, says Bly, has given rise to a male sense of loss and unacknowledged pain.

Iron John works to heal this pain and to define a new era in the relations between the sexes -- it is the definitive book about men -- for men and for women.

About the Author:

Robert Bly is a poet, storyteller, translator and worldwide lecturer. His poetry has won many awards, including the National Book Award. This is his first full-length book of prose. He lives with his wife in Madison, Minnesota.