Vampiric Masculinity. Rachilde's Le grand saigneur (1922) and the Writing of Gender Violence in Post-War France

Abstract

Rachilde’s novel Le grand saigneur (1922) stands out from her other works in the 1920s and 1930s for its provocative portrayal of the French war veteran as a sadist who inflicts violence on those who do not conform to the codes of militarized, hegemonic masculinity. This article argues that the novel reflects the post-war years as a violent era for women and non-conforming men, shaped by the hateful discourses that emerged during the First World War. Rachilde writes about psychological and physical threats to women and non-conforming masculinity by delving into the violent fantasies nurtured by a larger-than-life, though well-recognizable, supporter of hegemonic masculinity against them. Drawing on an eclectic mix of literary genres, Rachilde depicts a society in which the impunity of men protected by their wealth and military status and the guilt bestowed upon (sometimes internalized by) women trivialize diverse forms of gender violence. Le grand saigneur belongs to the few ‘romans anti-sentimentaux’ Rachilde wrote during the interwar period. It is also an arresting attempt to write about gender violence through multiple subjectivities in order to explore the gendered, cultural, traumatic, and socio-economic factors that enabled it at this troubled historical juncture.