Queer Napoleon: from Napoleonic Friendship to Gays in the Military

Wednesday, March 27, 6:30 p.m.: Honoring the 2010-2011 Laurie Wylie Prize in French Cultural Studies Recipient
(La Maison française of NYU)

Brian MARTIN, is Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Williams College, where he teaches courses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century French literature and film. After graduating magna cum laude with a bachelors degree in French and English from Harvard College in 1993, Martin completed a masters degree in Comparative Literature at UCLA in 1996, and his Ph.D. in French language and literature at Harvard University in 2003. A Fulbright scholar at the University of Stockholm (Sweden) in 1993-94, Martin taught American literature at the École Normale Supérieure (in Fontenay-aux-Roses, France) from 1999-2000. He is the author of the book Napoleonic Friendship: Military Fraternity, Intimacy, and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century France (2011). Published by the University of New Hampshire Press in its series “Becoming Modern: New Nineteenth-Century Studies,” Napoleonic Friendship examines the history of intimate friendship among soldiers in the French military, from Napoleon to the First World War. Nominated for a Lambda Literary Prize in 2012, Napoleonic Friendship was one of the first books on “Gays in the Military” published following the historic repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” in 2011, and was recently awarded the Laurence Wylie Prize in French Cultural Studies (for 2010-11). Martin’s work focuses broadly on gender and sexuality in France, and on Nordic masculinities from Scandinavia to Québec.

For more information on Brian Martin:
http://cflang.williams.edu/profile/bmartin/ 

For more on Napoleonic Friendship (2011) :
http://www.upne.com/1-58465-923-8.html 

To contact Brian Martin:
bmartin@williams.edu 

Queer Napoleon: from Napoleonic Friendship to Gays in the Military

Abstract:
Napoleonic Friendship examines the history of male intimacy in the French military, from Napoleon to the First World War. Following the French Revolution, radical military reforms created conditions for new physical and emotional intimacy between soldiers, establishing a model of fraternal affection during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars that would persist amid the ravages of the Franco-Prussian War and World War I. Through readings of Napoleonic military memoirs (and other non-fiction archival material) and French military fiction (from Hugo and Balzac to Zola and Proust), Martin examines a broad range of emotional and erotic relationships, from combat buddies to soldier lovers.
The 2010-2011 Laurence Wylie Prize in French Cultural Studies has been awarded to Brian Martin for his book Napoleonic Friendship: Military Fraternity, Intimacy, and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century France. Sixty-five books were submitted for consideration, all of them published in 2010 or 2011. The Wylie Prize is awarded every second year to the best book in French social or cultural studies. Nominated books must be scholarly essays dealing with French society or culture concerning any historical period. France is conceived in broad geographic terms, including the Caribbean, Africa, the Maghreb, the Indian Ocean, South and Southeast Asia, etc. While fiction and literary criticism are excluded, nominated books may combine literature with other disciplines. Books may be written in English or French, but the author must reside in North America. All things being equal, preference is given to scholars at the beginning of their careers. Present members of the prize committee are Tom Conley (Harvard), Laurent Dubois (Duke), Brigitte Lane (Tufts), and Stéphane Gerson (NYU).

Book Abstract

Brian Joseph Martin
Napoleonic Friendship:
Military Fraternity, Intimacy, and Sexuality in Nineteenth-Century France
(Durham: University of New Hampshire Press, 2011)

Published in the series “Becoming Modern: New Nineteenth-Century Studies”
by the University of New Hampshire Press and the University Press of New England

One of the first books on “Gays in the Military” published following the historic repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” in 2011, Napoleonic Friendship examines the history of male intimacy in the French military, from Napoleon to the First World War. Echoing the historical record of gay soldiers in the United States, Napoleonic Friendship is the first book-length study on the origin of queer soldiers in modern France.

Based on extensive archival research in France, Napoleonic Friendship traces the development of affectionate friendships in the French Army from 1789 to 1916. Following the French Revolution, radical military reforms created conditions for new physical and emotional intimacy between soldiers, establishing a model of fraternal affection during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars that would persist amid the ravages of the Franco-Prussian War and World War I.

Through readings of Napoleonic military memoirs (and other non-fiction archival material) and French military fiction (from Hugo and Balzac to Zola and Proust), Martin examines a broad range of emotional and erotic relationships, from combat buddies to soldier lovers. He argues that the French Revolution’s emphasis on military fraternity evolved into an unprecedented sense of camaraderie in the armies of Napoleon. For many soldiers, the hardships of combat led to intimate friendships. For some, the homosociality of military life inspired mutual affection, lifelong commitment, and homoerotic desire.