0 The Reballification Of The American Male Or Iron John By Robert Bly

Now that I have picked up Butler-Bowdon's 50 Self-Help Books: 50 Inspirational Books to Transform Your Life again, I realize the reason it had become so easy to put down. Butler-Bowdon follows up the "self-help" book entitled The Bible, with Robert Bly's Iron John. There is something that is both repulsive and familiar about the segue from The Bible to a male dominated book that uses mythology to demonstrate the strength of men and the little woman's need for that strength.

Since it is not my place to review this book (especially given the bite-sized portion I was given) I will attempt to remain unbiased.

There was this dude named Robert Bly who went around the country discussing mythology and writing pretty poems. So, looking at his own impressive credentials Bobby said to himself, "Who better to tell men how to be more masculine than I, Bobby Bly." Thus BB wrote an analysis of a Brother's Grimm story entitle Iron John. I think that what strikes me odd is that real manliness can be learned in a fairy tale, but again, you aren't here to read my take on this Wild Man Masculinity for Dummies.

Okay so back to my neutral analysis of the condensed version of a literary (fairy tales count as literature right) analysis. Ummmm, before I resume, I just have one question, does anyone know the yardstick which is used to differentiate a high school book report, a college thesis, a master's dissertation and Robert Bly explaining a fairy tale? Just curious.

It is posited that somewhere along the way men became too gentle and sensitive, losing touch with their inner knight. Women, being the way women are, will test a man's limits and boundaries. Women do not want a man who cannot stand his ground, swing his mighty sword and protect what belongs to him. So, he should read Robert Bly's cave drawings, I mean book, to learn to reconnect to the wild man inside.

I have to tell you that in the small Jersey town where I was a kid there was a wild man - let's call him Otis - who jumped around, darted in and out of the drainage pipes and, until the cops caught him, was know to swing his sword. If Bly were right about what a real man should be than the womenfolk in town should have been throwing their panties at this guy, instead of avoiding eye contact, clutching their children nearer, and staying out of the park after sunset. Just trying to apply real-life circumstances to Bly's theories.

So, wisely, Butler-Bowdon did a far better job of being neutral than I, but then again, this was a book that exalted manhood while diminishing womanhood. I wonder if he would be able to remain unbiased if the topic was, "Men who regurgitate other people's books for a living, and how to make them go out and get a real job." I bet he takes a side there.



Credit: gamma-male.blogspot.com