Double whiskey or beer?

Tensions of the masculine in “Stress”, by Lília Momplé

Abstract

Issues about what would define men and women as ontological entities distinguishable from each other or about the constitutive traits of what we usually call masculinity and femininity have often appeared throughout history, in the most varied scenarios and contexts. In the present study, we will follow this discursive tradition by proposing a reading of the gender relations staged in the short-story “Stress” (1997), by Lília Momplé. We believe that the setting sketched by the Mozambican writer in the narrative in question can unveil a series of nuances of the social construction of masculinity in general and, more specifically, of the particular configurations that this socio-historical construct has garnered in Mozambican soil, a space deeply marked by colonial violence and (post)modern disorder. As support for our argumentation, we resort to the theoretical framework of feminism and gender theory, with special emphasis on the works of Raewyn Connell (1987; 2005a; 2005b).