Abstract
While geographies of affect are increasingly influential and geographies of sexuality well established, there is considerable potential for enhancing links between these subfields. This article explores the archive of a gay World War II veteran, revealing the intricacies of an intense same-sex wartime affair in New Caledonia and introducing the concept of ‘networks of affect’: the interconnected pathways through space and time that provide conduits for emotion and desire. This account of networks of affect, read through archival materials, provides rich insight into wartime homoeroticism and allows us to further develop embodied geographies of affect and sexuality.
Highlights
We went into the detention barracks swimming enclosure
The relationship soon progressed to another level, and one evening in October David noted: I sat for a while but we neither said much – lost for words for once; longing to tell him what I felt, and perhaps, wanting to comfort him, I took his hand in mine
We found a secluded spot and after much resisting I let him have his way
Summary
We went into the detention barracks swimming enclosure. It was such a turn-on to crush each other, and feel his lips on mine: I couldn’t bear that in a few minutes I would have to let him go. David’s diary and photographs paint a vivid picture of male homoerotic desire, feeling and emotion in very particular locales: New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands during wartime.
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