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The Soldier’s Tale: Folklore Society Presidential Address 2025 and AGM

— Posted on 25th August 2025

by Professor David Hopkin

Tuesday 16 September, 17:30-18:30 BST

‘Down a hot and dusty road

Tramps a soldier with his load.’

Igor Stravinsky and Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, The Soldier’s Tale (1917)

Following my 2024 lecture on ‘The Sailor’s Tale’, in this address I look at another occupational group–soldiers–who were also associated with a specific genre of oral literature. Perhaps surprisingly, the fairytale was soldiers’ preferred genre of narrative, albeit of a particular kind. A shared fund of narratives circulated among soldiers of different European nations, well into the early twentieth century.

These tales were often characterised by violent conflict between officers and men, as well as by a deep-seated misogyny. According to the folklorist Yuri Sokolov, ‘The soldier’s tale (and it almost always proves at the same time to be a tale about a soldier) not only developed its own imagery and types, but it also has, in its vocabulary, as well as in its style and rhythm, its own ‘soldier-tale’ poetics.’

In this lecture I will explore these types, images, styles and rhythms, seeking to understand what role storytelling played in military life, and what soldiers were communicating through their stories.

David Hopkin is Professor of European History at the University of Oxford, and President of The Folklore Society.

 

Register to attend the lecture in person: Seats at 50 Fitzroy Street are limited, so priority will be given to Folklore Society members intending to stay for The Folklore Society’s Annual General Meeting from 18:45-19:45: email us via https://folklore-society.com/contact to book a seat (first come, first served).

Register to attend the lecture online:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-soldiers-tale-tickets-1252240528129

The lecture is open to all, and tickets are free (but we welcome donations to help support the work of The Folklore Society. To make a donation, please select the option ‘Free Admission and Voluntary donation’.

 

The Folklore Society Annual General Meeting 2024

The AGM will take place after the lecture, from 18:45-19:45: Folklore Society members only.

Folklore Society members may attend in person at 50 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 5BT or online via Zoom, and all members are now entitled to vote, whether participating in person or online.

To attend the AGM in person: please email via https://folklore-society.com/contact to let us know you’re coming. Seats are limited, so first come, first served.

To attend the AGM online: the AGM Zoom meeting link, agenda, minutes of 2024 AGM, and the Accounts & Trustee Report 2023, will be emailed to all Folklore Society members.

 

 

Image: Andrew Lang,The Yellow Fairy Book (1894), illus. H.J. Ford; via Wikisource.