Unearthing Unspeakable Masculinity in Barry Hines's Lost Works - An Archival Study

Abstract

This thesis is based on an archival study of Barry Hines’s unpublished or ‘lost’ works. Hines donated his archive to the University of Sheffield’s Special Collections in November 2008, shortly after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Like the author’s career, the material donated by Hines is extensive and varied. The Hines Papers contain television, film and play scripts; manuscripts; draft; proofs; research material; reviews and newspaper articles; photographs; and personal correspondence. In 2015, the School of English invited candidates to apply for PhD studentship entitled: “The Lost Works of Barry Hines – An Archival Study”. I was very fortunate to be awarded the opportunity to research Hines’s lost works. Hence, this thesis stems from the initial considerations outlined in the studentship which stated that the research should be based on the contextual and critical analysis of ten screenplays and prose works which have remained unperformed and unpublished.

Drawing on my interest in gender, and in particular, constructs of masculinity in literature, my approach to the archive offers a reading of the ever-changing landscape of masculinity, principally, working-class masculine narratives across five decades. Taking into consideration the outline of the studentship, and owing to the breadth of artefacts contained within the Hines Papers, this thesis narrowed its focus and concentrates on the analysis of the representation of unspeakable masculinity in Hines’s unpublished works. Hines is known for voicing the struggles of South Yorkshire working-class life. Yet, the material found in the archive reveals that some working-class masculine narratives were not permitted to give voice to the author’s perception of working-class society, while others took precedence and were allowed into the public arena. This thesis undertakes to question why some masculine narratives were thought to be fit for public consumption and why others have remained submerged and dormant within the archive.