Un homme, un vrai: martial and alternative masculinities in French War literature and film

Abstract

The corpus of literature and film in this dissertation offers underground versions of masculinities that exist during the high stakes time of war. The analysis of these works set either in war, or during a time and place close to war, brings out the different interpretations, interactions, acceptances and rejections of martial masculinity. While each novel or film is unique in its way of relating to the code of martial masculinity and in re-thinking the heroic warrior myth, my approach to these works provides a way of seeing the broader evolution and adaptation of individuals and their conception of masculinity through the same creative works that question these myths. Through an analysis of masculinities within the varying contexts of war, we see the ways in which such gender requirements function on an institutional and individual level. In emphasizing negotiations with masculinity, we are able to focus on particular gendered aspects of the former romanticization of war and the subsequent entrance into the violent reality of World War I's destruction and World War II's defeat for the French nation.