An interdisciplinary and transdiscursive approach to describe Polish masculinities of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The book thoroughly rethinks the Polish literary studies in the context of various masculinities shaped in Polish culture over the last two centuries. Drawing on theoretical foundations from social sciences, psychoanalysis, and literary theory, Śmieja reveals how the dominant literary fiction of masculinity attempts to justify its claim to hegemony and domination by pointing to historical traumas. "A compelling interpretive narrative: masculinity in patriarchal societies emerges as a dominant yet deceptive fiction of the male world that ultimately produces historical traumas, eventually fracturing and distorting male identity." – Prof. Tomasz Tomasik "Śmieja’s book masterfully dissects masculinity as a fantasy formation, a myth, a fiction rather than a stable, symbolically dominant reality." – Prof. Inga Iwasiów