The Emotional Work of a Would-Be Polar Explorer: Gustave Lambert’s Lecture Tour in the 1860s

Abstract

Abstract This essay draws both on the history of emotions and on celebrity studies to analyse the more than two hundred lectures given by Gustave Lambert, a would-be polar explorer, between 1866 and 1870. These lectures are examined through the press coverage they provoked in various French periodicals and, secondarily, through correspondence. The article argues that Arlie Hochschild’s concept of emotional work is relevant to the analysis of Lambert’s lecturing and its effects both on his audiences and on himself.