Performing the Curmudgeon: The Toothless Lion
Growing old is a process of reinvention. Performing the curmudgeon is one way to redefine dignity in a time of waning powers. The curmudgeon trades in earlier roles of authority and virility and, by repositioning himself above the fray, creates a new space where he can perform. This paper draws on J.L. Austin’s notion of performative utterances and explores how they can coalesce to form a persona which becomes a functioning gender parody (J. Butler) and participate in a broader dynamic of masculinities (R.W. Connell and J.W. Messerschmidt). After defining the curmudgeon, this paper considers two “case studies:” the comedian George Carlin and the poet Philip Larkin, in light of issues of chronology, space, sexuality and the creation of a “post-virile” status. Lastly, it addresses the political coding of the curmudgeon and its future as a masculine parody.