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Recent reading (fic research edition)
Jan. 22nd, 2020 04:10 pmI am writing and it is glorious. : D The sequel to that fic I recently posted is up to 10,000 words now and I am just getting the characters into bed. It's been so long since I was inspired like this, and I have missed it!
Meanwhile, I still have a hard time reading other fiction because of my fannish headspace. So instead, I read stuff for fic research (bless university interlibrary loans!).
Men In Love: Masculinity and Sexuality in the Eighteenth Century by George E. Haggerty (1999)
Oof, a difficult-to-understand subject. Let's see if I can sum up at least part of what the book says. Sodomy is punishable by death, obviously. But what does that mean? Loving friendships between upper-class men, with effusions that we would consider romantic, was apparently permitted and even admired, and sometimes these men also had physical relationships. This was also connected with them being steeped in classical tradition. Apparently it was only sodomy if they had enemies who exposed/accused them? OTOH there were lower-class men in molly-houses who were executed for sodomy without there being proof of the physical act. It was enough that they had "marriage" ceremonies that mocked the male-female marriage. Obviously society depended on homosocial bonds to maintain the patriarchal order, but where the border went between those bonds and sodomy is difficult to understand. The book suggests that the line is where those relationships go from supporting the social order to subverting it.
Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket by Richard Holmes (2002)
Very good for details of daily life, understanding army organization, quoting lots of letters/diaries, etc. But I skimmed a lot of later historical stuff, since it is about both the 18th and 19th centuries. Also, why does it not have more details of court-martial procedures?? How dare he not write about the subject I need for my fic...
The Military Experience in the Age of Reason by Christopher Duffy (1987)
Also skimmed a bit, since it is about the whole of Europe. The section on how honor worked is quite useful. On the one hand the author writes quite scathingly of "...the seething violence and insecurity of the upper classes", OTOH he also says that: "Having encountered so much that was bizarre or selfish about the cult of honour, it is impossible for us to withhold our admiration for the importance that the 18th century attached to the primacy of the individual conscience [in potentially refusing to follow orders]." Also does not have enough on court-martials, though.
Meanwhile, I still have a hard time reading other fiction because of my fannish headspace. So instead, I read stuff for fic research (bless university interlibrary loans!).
Men In Love: Masculinity and Sexuality in the Eighteenth Century by George E. Haggerty (1999)
Oof, a difficult-to-understand subject. Let's see if I can sum up at least part of what the book says. Sodomy is punishable by death, obviously. But what does that mean? Loving friendships between upper-class men, with effusions that we would consider romantic, was apparently permitted and even admired, and sometimes these men also had physical relationships. This was also connected with them being steeped in classical tradition. Apparently it was only sodomy if they had enemies who exposed/accused them? OTOH there were lower-class men in molly-houses who were executed for sodomy without there being proof of the physical act. It was enough that they had "marriage" ceremonies that mocked the male-female marriage. Obviously society depended on homosocial bonds to maintain the patriarchal order, but where the border went between those bonds and sodomy is difficult to understand. The book suggests that the line is where those relationships go from supporting the social order to subverting it.
Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket by Richard Holmes (2002)
Very good for details of daily life, understanding army organization, quoting lots of letters/diaries, etc. But I skimmed a lot of later historical stuff, since it is about both the 18th and 19th centuries. Also, why does it not have more details of court-martial procedures?? How dare he not write about the subject I need for my fic...
The Military Experience in the Age of Reason by Christopher Duffy (1987)
Also skimmed a bit, since it is about the whole of Europe. The section on how honor worked is quite useful. On the one hand the author writes quite scathingly of "...the seething violence and insecurity of the upper classes", OTOH he also says that: "Having encountered so much that was bizarre or selfish about the cult of honour, it is impossible for us to withhold our admiration for the importance that the 18th century attached to the primacy of the individual conscience [in potentially refusing to follow orders]." Also does not have enough on court-martials, though.
