SPACES OF ADVENTURE AND CULTURAL POLITICS OF MASCULINITY - BALLANTYNE,R.M AND THE YOUNG-FUR-TRADERS

Masculinities reflect the characteristics of the spaces-real and imagi nary, material and metaphorical-in which they are constructed. Mapmake rs, ranging from academic geographers to popular storytellers, chart m asculinist geographies: spaces in which masculinities are mapped. One important genre of masculinist geographical narrative is adventure. I explore the masculinism of adventure through a detailed, contextual re ading of one particular adventure story, The Young Fur Traders-a Briti sh Victorian boys' adventure story set in Canada, written by the Scott ish writer Robert Michael Ballantyne. In the setting of The Young Fur Traders, Ballantyne mapped a form of masculinity known generally as Ch ristian manliness. Literal journeys through the spaces of adventure co nstituted metaphorical journeys through adolescence, from white, middl e-class boyhood to white, middle-class manhood. Settings-liminal, larg ely unknown but broadly realistic, male-dominated, primitive, simplifi ed, and idealised spaces-were imprinted upon this masculinity. The set tings of adventure stories are cultural spaces in which hegemonic masc ulinity is mapped and, in some cases, unmapped.