Drawing evidence from the letters and travel journal of Jan Teding van Berkhout—scion of a wealthy regenten family from Delft—this article scrutinizes how elite masculinity and wellevendheid (politeness) were constructed, perceived, experienced, and contested in the eighteenth-century Dutch Republic. Berkhout’s correspondence not only hints at some important differences in the Netherlandish and British interpretation of polite masculinity but also evidences that ideas about what a “true man” was and how he should behave could differ substantially within one and the same family. Differences in age, gender, and the unequal balance of power created a set of—coexisting, competing, or clashing—multiple masculinities. Whether masculinity was performed front- or backstage also mattered, as politeness was frequently put on hold and replaced by intimate bawdiness. In fact, the spectrum of masculinities available in Berkhout’s correspondence casts some serious doubt on Connell’s idea of hegemonic masculinity.

中文翻译：

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可塑性的男子气概：在特丁·范·伯克豪特（Teding van Berkhout）的旅行书信中塑造男性身份（1739–1741）

本文从Jan Teding van Berkhout的来信和旅行日记中汲取证据，Jan Teding van Berkhout是代尔夫特一个富裕的摄政家庭的接班人。本文详细研究了18世纪荷兰共和国如何构造，感知，体验和挑战精英男性气概和礼貌。Berkhout的书信不仅暗示了荷兰人和英国人对礼貌男性气质的解释上的一些重要差异，而且还证明，关于“真正的男人”是什么以及他应该如何行事的观念在一个同一个家庭中可能存在很大差异。年龄，性别和不平等力量的差异造成了一系列（共存，竞争或冲突）多重男性气质。男性气质是在后台进行还是在后台进行，因为礼貌经常被搁置，取而代之的是亲密的ba媚。实际上，伯赫特（Berkhout）的书信中可用的男性气概对康奈尔（Connell）的霸权男性气概提出了严重怀疑。