Narrating (French) Masculinities: Building Male Identity in André Gide's the Immoralist

Summary

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After [Michel Foucault]'s illness and while he is developing his strength, he performs a heroic act uncharacteristic of his "old self." While walking to visit the Italian town of Positano, where he would rejoin [Marceline] traveling by carriage, Michel recognizes her driver from along the road, the latter evidently intoxicated and driving recklessly. At the collapse of the man's horse, Michel drags the man from his carriage, strikes him, drawing blood, and ties him up. It seems that this show of courage and his regained physical strength reawakens in Michel his sense of honor, typically masculine and, as [Robert A. Nye] describes it, displayed in the defense of "helpless" women. This realization is conveyed in Michel's statement, "The danger had not been great; but I had had to show my strength, and in her defense," (p. 62). He remarks that that night he "possessed" Marceline,(4) apparently for the first time since their wedding night; he credits the occasion of the latter to its "novelty." It seems that the conflict with the carriage driver awoke in Michel a deep feeling of what could seem to the reader as "manliness," which in turn precipitated another such act, that of making love to his wife. It seems that the ordeal had a similar effect on Marceline, as is implied when Michel notes, "What glances, after that, Marceline and I exchanged!" (p. 62). The choice of expression for the love act is revealing. Though it may be ascribed to the conventionality of the term "possession" for love-making, this aggressive image of taking possession follows logically from the violent encounter that precedes it. Previously, Michel had apologized to his wife, explaining his lack of desire for her as attributable to his exhaustion. Well after his full recovery, however, this custom continued. Through his physical rehabilitation, Michel's (masculine) preoccupation with strength entails a certain concern with virility.

Part of the ready-made model he describes, arguably the most important part, is masculine identity. Ménalque's description of "moral agoraphobia" as cowardice must have had quite an effect on Michel, who despises being seen as weak or cowardly. This provides further evidence that Michel values many of the virtues characteristic of hegemonic masculinity. Although it is not expressly stated, as it rarely is in [Gide]'s work, Ménalque's homosexuality is strongly implied. When he must leave the country for an extended period, he asks Michel to spend the last night with him and prove that he is not "a man of principles." When the night arrives, two weeks later, Marceline's health has worsened. Michel goes nonetheless, and the two men discuss their respective plans for the future. Ménalque seems to regret that he must leave while Michel remains behind, but Michel remains determined to content himself with, as Ménalque calls it, the "fireside happiness" that he has made for himself. Ménalque sees in his friend contradictions and counsels him to leave his past behind, or risk losing his future happiness. "A man has to choose" he says. "What matters is to know what he wants" (p. 108). Ménalque embodies the masculinity sought by Michel. He has no familial obligations, is unmarried, has few possessions to tie him down, and can sustain a nomadic existence, constantly feeding his desire for the new. We see at the end of the novel that Michel adopts a similar lifestyle; Marceline's death and that of his parents release him from all obligations to the family. The sale of La Morinière, the family farm, as well as all of his substantial possessions frees him of the social constraints tied to owning property. Michel's constant relocation allows him the liberty of movement and free existence often hindered by a national consciousness of what is required of "real men" and true republicans. Michel's self-exile to Algeria is, in a sense, his escape from the pressures of hegemonic masculinity. It is interesting to note, however, that Michel is portrayed in the book's final pages as somewhat trapped at his residence in Biskra. As he notes to his confidant, the letter writer, it may be his new friend Ali who prevents his moving on; his ensnarement indicates that he is perhaps trapped in a land where he is free to embrace his new masculine identity, though he is only beginning, at the close of the novel, to openly announce it to the world.

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Narrating (French) Masculinities: Building Male Identity in André Gide's the Immoralist

This study examines the representation of masculinity in André Gide's The Immoralist, an early work by the author, in which he depicts his anti-hero's rediscovery and reinvention of himself after a prolonged illness. One aim of the paper is to frame the sociohistorical context in France, specifically those elements that concern gendered social identities, during the time the récit was written, around the turn of the last century. Gide's character, Michel, comes to define himself as a man by rejecting the imposition of hegemonic French masculinity. Gide illustrates the possibility of plural masculinities in his creation of an alternative masculine identity.

Keywords: masculinities, André Gide, The Immoralist, French literature, morality, hegemony

Men's studies and, more specifically, the study of masculinities evidently owe much to feminism and feminist criticism. As Stephen M. Whitehead (2001) remarks, "The critical interrogation of men and masculinities is a relatively recent phenomenon, emerging out of the second-wave feminism of the 1970s and 1980s" (p. 355). Given the central position of French feminists in the foundation of feminist theory, it seems surprising that we have heard little from theorists of masculinities in France, with a few important exceptions including Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu, who were not essentially theorists of masculinity or men's studies per se. This is not, however, the primary concern of this study, but what will be directly addressed is the representation of masculinity in French literary works, specifically in André Gide's most read novel, The Immoralist. To date, and despite the extensive development of feminist criticism, no comprehensive methodology has been established for the analysis of literary texts from a masculinities perspective. One may argue that criticism has, until a few decades ago, been largely from a male perspective (which is true) and that any new criticism claiming a textual reading of masculinities is merely a male appropriation of the feminist project. Although the former is true, I consider that men's/masculinity studi...

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