Gavroche and the Great War: Soldier Gouaille and the Legend of the Poilu

Abstract

This article describes the use of soldier Gouaille or cocky humour in the construction of a consensual typology of the French infantry soldier (Poilu) of the First World War. Drawing on a variety of nineteenth-century literary models, including that of the gamin de Paris, Great War novelists depicted the Poilu as a clever, resourceful, Parisian working-class grumbler and joker. In so doing, they created a model of soldier heroism and of republican patriotism that would have a wide national appeal and that would inform representations of the soldier throughout the twentieth century.

Publisher

Intellect Ltd.

Publication Date

1-1-2009

Publication Title

Journal of War and Culture Studies

Department

French and Italian

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.1386/jwcs.2.2.121_1

Keywords

First World War, Soldier, France, Poilu, Novels, Humor

Language

English

Format

text

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