1 Joanna Stolarek Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities, Poland Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Warsaw, Poland Miscellaneous aspects of masculinity in Ian McEwan’s late 20 th century fiction Synopsis The aim of the article is to present the issue concerning masculinity, men’s role and their problems in selected novels of the British writer Ian McEwan. While briefly outlining McEwan’s fiction, the author of the article is going to present the world of contemporary men in British society, their relations with women and their different attitude towards marriage and family. Secondly, two novels are going to be examined and compared, The Cement Garden and The Child in Time in which the British novelist depicted two stages of male maturity process and two different approaches to life, society, in particular to gender relations. Key words: I. McEwan, masculinity, British society, 20 th century, gender relations Male-female relations have been always one of the most widely conferred issues in world art, philosophy and literature, predominantly in Anglo-American fiction. In the 20 th century, especially after 1945, writers examined and explored gender subject matter in the light of significantly radical social, cultural and political changes and transformations. Having witnessed enormous alterations in the sphere of culture, art, politics, economy and recently ecology, the artists, in particular novelists and short story writers, discussed modern gender relations and a changing role men and women performed in the post-war society. There is no escaping the fact that in view of the above-mentioned world changing processes entailing a sexual revolution, feminist movements, which resulted in a different perception of male-female roles and positions in society and professional spheres of lives, as well as a fast pace of living, constant chase for career and work success, pursuit of professional fulfillment, decreasing family links and a diminishing importance of family values, one may find greater and greater difficulty in the reassessment of the role of motherhood and fatherhood, especially the role of and problems linked to masculinity and to men’s crisis of identity. Since the increasing number of writers, critics and artists drew more and more attention to gender matters, scrutinizing predominantly subjects related to femininity and writing from a female