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The Folklore Society Presidential Address 2025

  • 16/09/2025
  • 17:30-18:30

The Soldier’s Tale

The Folklore Society Presidential Address 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.

Online attendance can be booked at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-soldiers-tale-tickets-1252240528129

Tickets are free, but we invite you to make a donation to support the work of The Folklore Society by selecting the ‘Free Admission with Donation’ option at the check-out.

In-person attendance at the lecture is open to Members of The Folklore Society who intend to attend the Annual General Meeting from 18:45-19:45 after the lecture at 50 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 5BT. As space is limited, please email via https://folklore-society.com/contact to let us know you’re attending in person.

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