Ideologies of Exemplary Masculinity in French and British Adventure Novels 1870-1900
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Ideologies of Exemplary Masculinity in French and British Adventure Novels 1870-1900 Simon Rothon French Department School of European Languages Culture and Society University College London Thesis Re-submission May 2015 Principal Supervisor: Dr. Jann Matlock Subsidiary Supervisor: Dr. Roland-Francois Lack 1 Ideologies of Exemplary Masculinity in French and British Adventure Novels, 1870-1900 Summary of Contents: Page Introduction 1 Chapter One: Late Nineteenth-century Concepts of Exemplary Masculinity: 42 a Review of the Literature Chapter Two: A Qualitative Overview of French Adventure Fiction 100 1870-1900 Chapter Three: Reading Adventure Novels for Ideology 146 Chapter Four: Colonialism and Representations of Masculinity 207 in French Literary and Press Discourses 1870-1900 Chapter Five: Colonialism and Representations of Masculinity 271 in British Literary and Press Discourses 1870-1900 Chapter Six: Heroes at War 335 Conclusions 373 Appendix: Quantified Analysis of French Adventure Fiction Bibliography of Primary and Secondary Texts Archive and Manuscript Bibliography 2 Contents of Chapters Introduction 1 Social and Political Context: Crises of Confidence 2 Primary Research Question 3 Research Framework 3.1 Why Study Adventure Fiction? 3.2 Ideology 3.3 Masculinity 3.4 Exemplary Masculinity 3.5 Manliness 4 Subsidiary Research Questions 4.1 Chapter One: Late Nineteenth-century Concepts of Exemplary Masculinity 4.2 Chapter Two: A Qualitative Overview of French Adventure Fiction 1870-1900 4.3 Chapter Three: Reading Adventure Fiction for Ideology 4.4 Chapter Four: French Colonialism 4.5 Chapter Five: British Colonialism 4.6 Chapter Six: Heroes at War 5 Objectives Chapter One Late Nineteenth-century Concepts of Exemplary Masculinity: A Review of the Literature 1 Research Questions and Methodology 2 Four Novelistic Representations of Exemplary Masculinity 3 Masculinities in Late Nineteenth-century British Texts 4 Masculinities in Late Nineteenth-century French Texts 5 Polarised Concepts of Exemplary Masculinity 6 Discourses of Heroism 6.1 Context 6.2 Late Nineteenth-century Discourses of Heroism in France 6.3 Late Nineteenth-century Discourses of Heroism in Britain 3 7. Gender Identities 7.1 Context 7.2 Gender Identities in French Nineteenth-century Social and Literary Discourses 7.3 Gender Identities in British Nineteenth-century Social and Literary Discourses 7.4 The ‘Flight from Domesticity’ and its Antecedents 7.5 Mid Nineteenth-century Concepts of Heroic Manliness 7.6 Gender Identities and Threats to Masculine Autonomy 7.7 Manly Heroes in Flight from Domesticity 8 Manliness and Virilité 8.1 British Discourses of Manliness 8.2 French Discourses of Virilité 9 Conclusions: Comparative Aspects of Exemplary Masculinity, Manliness and Virilité Chapter Two A Qualitative Overview of French Adventure Fiction 1870-1900 1 Introduction: 1.1 Social and Political Context 1.2 Research Objectives 2 Adventure Fiction: Overview and Definition 2.1 British Adventure Fiction 1870-1900: a Brief Comparative Overview 2.2 French Adventure Fiction 1870-1900: an Overview 2.3 Definitions of French Adventure Fiction 1870-1900 2.4 Short Case Studies of Serialised Adventure Fiction in France 3 Case Studies of Adventure Fiction Authors 3.1 Paul d’Ivoi 3.2 Louis Boussenard 3.3 Some Recurrent Themes in the Texts of d’Ivoi and Boussenard 3.4 Ideological Valences in Second-tier Adventure Novels 3.4.1 Anti-German Propaganda 3.4.2 Anti-British Propaganda 3.4.3 Discourses of French Nationalism 4 Conclusions: The Power of Adventure Fiction Chapter Three Reading Adventure Fiction for Ideology 4 1 Research Framework 2 Political and Social Background 3 Ideological Filters 3.1 Eagleton 3.2 de Man 3.3 Macherey 3.4 Bakhtin 3.5 Cawelti 4 Putative Motives for the Inscription of Ideology in Literary Discourses of Exemplary Masculinity 5 Ideologies of Power 6 Ideologies of Honour 7 Ideologies of Manhood 8 Concepts of Sexism, Racism and Classism 9 Narrative Structure as a Vehicle for the Dissemination of Ideology 9.1 Realism and Naturalism compared with Adventure Fiction 9.2 Narrative Structure of Adventure Fiction versus Realism and Naturalism 9.3 Exploration Quest narratives 10 Conclusions: Ideology as Entertainment Chapter Four Colonialism and Representations of Masculinity in French Literary and Press Discourses 1870-1900 1 Introduction: 1.1 Styles of Heroism 1.2 Key Research Questions and Sources 1.3 Evaluative Framework 2 Colonial Pioneers and the Lure of the Unknown 2.1 Loti’s Soldier Heroes 2.2 Exploration, Ideology and Énergie 3 Colonial Heroes in Danger 3.1 ‘Whistling Bullets’ 3.2 Ideology and Public Honours 4 The Colonial Male in Confrontation with the ‘Other’ 4.1 The ‘Scramble’ for Africa and Asia: Rice and Gum Arabic 5 4.2 Marking the Territory: the Legacy of Soil as a Symbol 4.3 Assimilation, the Mission Civilisatrice and Miscegeny 4.4 Colonial Rule: The French and British Way 4.5 Fictional Representations of Assimilation and Colonial Manhood in d’Ivoi, Loti and Boussenard 4.6 ‘La Fortune Ennemie’: Anti-British Propaganda, Schadenfreude and Xenophobia 4.7 Ferry ‘Le Tonkinois’: Opposition at Home to Under-resourced Expeditions 5 Conclusions: Colonial Ambivalence and Perceptions of French Manhood Chapter Five Colonialism and Representations of Masculinity in British Literary and Press Discourses 1870-1900 1 Introduction 1.1 ‘Gordon’s Grave’ 1.2 Ideological Clusters 2 Nationhood, Love and Family 2.1 Jingoism and Justification 2.2 Colonial Exploits as Domestic Propaganda 2.3 The Modesty of the Manly Hero: Haggard’s Allan Quatermain 2.4 Discretion, Modesty and Fair Play 3 ‘Sword within Hand’: Aggression, Physical Prowess, Vigour, Energy and Athleticism 3.1 Evaluative Framework 3.2 The Perceived Need for Heroic Exemplars 3.3 The ‘Leap to Glory’ of the Colonial Manly Hero 3.4 A Real-life Manly Hero: Captain Frederick Gustavus Burnaby 4 ‘False though the Foe be’: Representations of the Colonial Other 4.1 Heroes at Home and Abroad 4.2 ‘False Foes’ in the Discourse of the Manly Hero 4.3 ‘Foul though the Weather’: Adversarial Climate, Disease and Army Rations 5 Conclusions Chapter Six Heroes at War 1 Political Context: ‘Debout por la Lutte Suprême’ 2 Exemplary Masculinity on the Battlefield 6 3 Camaraderie at War 4 ‘Pomp and Circumstance’: The Rituals and Ceremonies of War 5 Honour Codes and Glory 6 The Discourse of the Exemplary Warrior Hero and the Quest Structure 7 Summary Conclusions Appendix Quantified Analysis of French Adventure Fiction 1870-1900 1 A Quantitative Analysis of French Adventure Fiction 1870-1900 1.1 Sources and Limitations 1.2 The Adventure of Publishing the Adventure Novel 1.2.1 Pierre-Jules Hetzel and his Competitors 1.2.2 Michel and Calmann Lévy 2 A Calibration of the French Adventure Fiction Market 1870-1900 2.1 Publishing Media and Statistics 2.2 Estimating the Market Share of Fiction within Published Literature 1870-1900 2.3 Identifying Writers of Adventure Fiction 2.4 Comparing Publishers’ Sales Statistics with Estimates of Readership 2.5 The Roman-Feuilleton and its Role in the Dissemination of Adventure Fiction 2.6 Critical Reception of the Roman-Feuilleton 2.7 Sequential Publication Strategies of Adventure Fiction 3 Readership 3.1 Readership of Adventure Fiction 3.2 Age and Gender of Readers of Adventure Fiction 3.3 The Social Class of Readers of Adventure Fiction 3.4 Educational Profiles of Readers of Adventure Fiction 3.5 Summary of Readership Profiles 4 Conclusions 7 Introduction 1 Social and Political Context: Crises of Confidence On 16 February 1885, the French daily newspaper Le Petit Parisien added its proprietor’s perspective to a national debate that had, since the early 1870s, captured the attention of politicians, journalists and the public. Under the headline, ‘La Force des Peuples’, the editorial compared the relative birth rates of France with those of its European rivals, especially Germany, at whose hands France had suffered a humiliating military defeat fourteen years earlier.1 The author of the editorial, Jean Frollo, most probably the pseudonym of the newspaper’s proprietor Deputy Charles Ange Laisant,2 emphasised the vulnerability of a country surrounded by potential aggressors at a time when a low birth rate and what he calls an ‘inferior’ male population made it difficult to fill the ranks of the armed forces.3 Although Frollo quotes no figures in the editorial, census results for the period 1825 to 1914 indicate a live birth rate of 20 per 1,000 in France compared with an estimate of over 30 per 1,000 for the previous century. The population of France increased by about 10% from 36 million to 39.5 million between 1872 and 1911, at a time when Germany’s population had increased by 58%.4 In the two decades between 1871 and 1891, France’s population increased by 2.3 1 ‘La Force des Peuples’, Le Petit Parisien, 16 February 1885, p. 1. 2 See Adolphe Robert and Gaston Cougny, Dictionnaire des parlementaires français 1789 à 1889, vol. 3 (Paris: Bourloton, 1889) p. 540. Laisant, a former army officer, had taken control of Le Petit Parisien in January 1879 and had used his editorial position in 1880 to accuse M. de Cissey, a former Minister of War, of an inappropriate relationship with a Prussian baroness who was suspected of espionage. Laisant used the pseudonym Jean Frollo for this campaign. Following this, the pseudonym was used by more than one contributor to Le Petit Parisien in the 1880s and 90s (Therenty 2011: 960), although by 1899 the pseudonym Frollo once again represented Laisant (Kalifa et al., ed. 2011: 1422). 3 Cole relates how ‘widespread fears of cultural and national degeneration led many public figures to call once more for increases in the number of births’ (2000: 1). 4 Census figures quoted by Nye (1993: 77). 8 million, Great Britain’s by 6.3 million and Germany’s by 8.3 million.5 Although Frollo’s editorial employs the hyperbole of mass journalism, Cole reports that Senators and Deputies of the Third Republic’s National Assembly were ‘nearly unanimous in their horror of depopulation’ (2000: 4).