This submission for the candidature of Doctor of Philosophy in Creative Writing consists of a novel that is in many ways concerned with masculinity as well as other facets of individual identity - family, class, nationality, social and political allegiance - and a critical commentary that examines the representation of masculinity in the novels of a number of contemporary Welsh women writers in English. Together, these two components of the thesis explore the contestability of male status, behaviour and values when the established patriarchal models are in a condition of terminal decline - which I believe to be the case, however much it sometimes appears that the forces of reaction are holding out.