Oh, that's right, I ought to have remembered that you study mainly Victorian literature, since I already responded to your post on the subject. The portrayal of the Revolution in literature is definitely a fascinating subject. I did - actually, I should say "I'm doing", since I never finished it - a series on the representation of Éléonore Duplay in literature (and a few entries on Saint-Just as well, for the books he shows up in but where he's not a major character, to keep things short). I would have liked to do the same for Robespierre, but it's impossible to be exhaustive in the same way: I wouldn't have been able to include every place in a book that Robespierre appears, so then I would have had to justify which excerpts I chose and it would have ended up practically being a disseration by the time I was through.
Was Ann Radcliffe really sympathetic to the Revolution? If so, I might have to look into reading her (in my copious spare time).
I've heard of Zanoni, but I've never read it. I can't decide whether it sounds like it would be painful or (perhaps unintentionally) entertaining to read, but I'm sure it would say a good deal about Victorian sensibilities. Mixing the French Revolution and the occult seems to have become a trend recently too, though. maelicia found a French comic including Robespierre and succubi, or something like that. There's also a webcomic and, apparently a YA novel about vampires and the Revolution (I saw the latter in a bookstore last summer, but I found the concept so unappealing I'm afraid I didn't take a closer look).
I think part of Camille Desmoulins's appeal for the Victorians, aside from this idea of his having had a "perfect" family life destroyed by the Revolution, is that it's very easy for people who don't like the Revolution to recuperate him by ignoring his entire pre-Vieux Cordelier career. According to the preferred reading, Camille and Lucile's executions just prove what a heartless monster Robespierre supposedly was, which, if that's what you want to believe, can make Camille attractive to you without anything else. Add in the love story and the orphaned child and you can hardly go wrong. Well, as long as you don't actually read Les Révolutions de France et de Brabant, for example. Ironically, the romantic Camille of the Victorians is precisely the one I don't care for. I have much more sympathy for the author of the Révolutions de France et de Brabant (I mention that journal in particular because I've read a lot of it for my research).
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2011-11-09 02:01 am (UTC)Was Ann Radcliffe really sympathetic to the Revolution? If so, I might have to look into reading her (in my copious spare time).
I've heard of Zanoni, but I've never read it. I can't decide whether it sounds like it would be painful or (perhaps unintentionally) entertaining to read, but I'm sure it would say a good deal about Victorian sensibilities. Mixing the French Revolution and the occult seems to have become a trend recently too, though.
I think part of Camille Desmoulins's appeal for the Victorians, aside from this idea of his having had a "perfect" family life destroyed by the Revolution, is that it's very easy for people who don't like the Revolution to recuperate him by ignoring his entire pre-Vieux Cordelier career. According to the preferred reading, Camille and Lucile's executions just prove what a heartless monster Robespierre supposedly was, which, if that's what you want to believe, can make Camille attractive to you without anything else. Add in the love story and the orphaned child and you can hardly go wrong. Well, as long as you don't actually read Les Révolutions de France et de Brabant, for example. Ironically, the romantic Camille of the Victorians is precisely the one I don't care for. I have much more sympathy for the author of the Révolutions de France et de Brabant (I mention that journal in particular because I've read a lot of it for my research).