From “HUSH” to “OFFICIAL” (Fashioning of “Gospodina”) – Masculinity, Identity and Duelling in Bulgaria in the Late Nineteeth Century
From “HUSH” to “OFFICIAL” (Fashioning of “Gospodina”) – Masculinity, Identity and Duelling in Bulgaria in the Late Nineteeth Century

Author(s): Stefan Detchev
Subject(s): Local History / Microhistory, Comparative Study of Literature, Studies in violence and power
Published by: Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS)
Keywords: honour and duelling; 19th century elites;
Summary/Abstract: In the paper I am going to address the following questions. How was the story presented at the politicized market (conservative, liberal, socialist press) by male writers and how was it interpreted by their readers? How did men from the elite understand honour? What were the social functions of the duel? Why did some contemporaries make attempts to incorporate duelling into a particular way of life and why did these efforts fail? What did the duel reveal about the drive of Bulgarian society towards modernization? What did it reflect in terms of the traditions of Bulgarian society, its cultural norms and forms of behaviour, desires and anxieties? If Kevin McAleer points out that at fin-de-siècle, the Germans were Europe’s most tenacious and serious duelists the historian feels compelled to distinguish the Bulgarian kind of duel from other national styles at the time.

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