Recent reading (fic research edition)
Jan. 22nd, 2020 04:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaI 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.
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Date: 2020-01-24 07:10 am (UTC)I mean, I am struggling to not blurt out random cool stuff about 18th century Highlanders to people I know, but it is hard.
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Date: 2020-01-23 12:57 am (UTC):D :D :D
Hee! <3
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Date: 2020-01-23 06:22 pm (UTC)About court-martial procedures—I don't know if this is any help, but a bit of searching brought up this page from the website of a historical re-enactment society, which has some general information on 18th century British Army courts-martial and links to transcripts of several—including one of a senior officer (this one is from the 1770s, so a bit later than the period you're writing about, but the procedure was probably fairly similar). Might have some of the detail you need?
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Date: 2020-01-23 07:32 pm (UTC)And hey, it's the Earl of Loudoun presiding over it--appears to be the same one as in FotH, too...
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Date: 2020-01-23 08:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-24 07:17 am (UTC)Heeee. I mean, I don't know how fast his horse was, but Ewen is certainly a match otherwise. *g*
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