In these original essays, an international group of scholars, including Claude Thomasset, Jean-Paul Bertaud, and Andrè Rauch, follow the socio-historical evolution of virility, as opposed to masculinity, to unsettle popular accounts of politics and culture. The book begins with ancient conceptions of the male gender, which persisted, with significant alterations, for centuries. Virility foundered during the Enlightenment, and then declined in the nineteenth century. Born out of defensiveness, twentieth-century conceptions of maleness embody a "virility on edge," which, when considered in relation to events, adds fascinating depth to our understanding of history.
Alain Corbin is a French historian and specialist of nineteenth-century France. His publications include Women for Hire: Prostitution and Sexuality in France After 1850; The Foul and the Fragrant: Odor and the French Social Imagination; Village Bells; and The Life of an Unknown. Jean-Jacques Courtine is professor of anthropology at the Sorbonne nouvelle (Paris III) and professor emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara. With Georges Vigarello, he edited Histoire du corps (History of the Body) and Histoire du visage (History of the Face). Georges Vigarello is one of Europe's best-known historians of the body. He has published prolifically on topics ranging from Concepts of Cleanliness and the cultural history of sports to The History of Rape and The History of the Body. Vigarello is research director at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), and he is the author, most recently, of The Metamorphoses of Fat: A History of Obesity.
Translator's NotePreface1. Greek Virilities, by Maurice Sartre2. Roman Virilities: Vir, Virilitas, Virtus, by Jean-Paul Thuillier3. Barbarian and KnightThe Barbarian World: Hybridity and Transformation of Virility, by Bruno DumézilThe Medieval: Strength and Blood, by Claude Thomasset4. Absolute Virility in the Early Modern WorldModern Virility: Convictions and Questionings, by Georges VigarelloVirility and Its "Others": The Representation of Paradoxical Masculinity, by Lawrence D. KritzmanExamples from Painting, by Nadeije Laneyrie-Dagen5. The Virile Man and the Savage in the Lands of Exploration, by Georges Vigarello6. Uneasy Virility in the Age of EnlightenmentCommon Folks' Virility, by Arlette FargeMen of Fiction, by Michel Delon7. The Code of Virility: InculcationThe Triumph of Virility in the Nineteenth Century, by Alain CorbinChildhood, or the "Journey Toward Virility," by Ivan Jablonka8. The Duel and the Defense of Virile Honor, by François Guillet9. The Necessary Manifestation of Sexual Energy, by Alain Corbin10. Military Virility, by Jean-Paul Bertaud11. Virility in the Colonial Context, from the Late Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century, by Christelle Taraud12. The Burden of VirilityThe Injunction of Virility, Source of Anguish and Anxiety, by Alain CorbinHomosexuality and Virility, by Régis Revenin13. The Great War and the History of Virility, by Stéphane Andoin Rouzeau14. Origins and Transformations of Male DominationImpossible Virility, by Jean-Jacques CourtineAnthropology of Virility: The Fear of Powerlessness, by Claudine Haroche15. Virilities on Edge, Violent Virilities, by Fabrice Virgili16. Virility Through the Looking Glass of Women, by Christine Bard17. "One Is Not Born Virile, One Becomes So," by Arnaud Baubérot18. Fascist Virility, by Johann Chapoutot19. Working-Class Virility, by Thierry Pillon20. Homosexual Transformations, by Florence Tamagne21. Exhibitions: Virility Stripped Bare, by Bruno Nassim Aboudar22. Brawn in Civilization: Virile Myth and Muscular Power, by Jean-Jacques CourtineNotesIndex
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