“Techno-Romantic Adventure” or “Affair with She-War”? Constructions of Military Masculinity in the Austrian and Polish Literature, in the Context of the Great War Cover Image

„Przygoda technoromantyczna” czy „romans z wojenką”? Konstrukcje męskości militarnej w literaturze austriackiej i polskiej w kontekście Wielkiej Wojny
“Techno-Romantic Adventure” or “Affair with She-War”? Constructions of Military Masculinity in the Austrian and Polish Literature, in the Context of the Great War

Author(s): Monika Szczepaniak
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Comparative Study of Literature, German Literature
Published by: Towarzystwo Literackie im. Adama Mickiewicza
Keywords: gender; masculinity; war; Great War; literature; geography

Summary/Abstract: European military masculinity is seemingly monolithic. In spite of common notions of the universal character of military organisations and institutions, there are in fact many different masculinities, embedded in different national traditions, ethnic cultures and local gendered spaces, generating different gendered realities. This article aims at comparative analysing of the construction of military masculinity in Polish and Austrian literature in the historical context of the First World War, de-valorising long-established concepts of heroic masculinity. The Polish and Austrian military habituses are in many respects similar, but there are a lot of striking differences. Both constructions are, in particular, products of specific sociopolitical, historical, mental and, last but not least, spatial and geographical conditions.

  • Issue Year: XLVII/2012
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 473-495
  • Page Count: 23
  • Language: Polish