‘You could see the marks all over’: Locating abject masculinities in Nico Walker’s Cherry and Roy Scranton’s War Porn

Abstract

The veteran ‘hero’ is ubiquitous in the American cultural imaginary and goes largely unchallenged in dominant political and cultural discourse. This article examines the place occupied by the veteran in the cultural imaginary in relation to Nico Walker’s Cherry and Roy Scranton’s War Porn, which work to displace this narrative trope from a civilian readership’s engagement with war. Employing Claire Sisco-King’s notion of ‘abject hegemony’, I argue that these narratives succeed in this task of displacement by constructing ‘abject’ masculinities, affirming the emplacement of an ideology of hegemonic white masculinity. The logics of this ideology deny space to other voices, maintaining the primacy of the white male subject position in criticism of war. A critique of imperialism and civilian engagement with war must therefore take account of the place not only of the mythologised veteran hero, but also of the broader workings of hegemonic masculinity underpinning war and its representation.