Pssst.

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

So, I'm going to be joining the school Speech team this year, and one of the categories I'll be in is Entertainment. Basically, you present a bunch of misinformation on whatever subject it is that your speech is about. I decided to do mine on Robespierre. 8D

I've been writing up a list of the ridiculous things people believed about him or put about after his death (green skin, beheading little birdies, etc.) If anyone here has heard anything else that's particularly juicy, I would love to hear it.

On another note, I'm reading Mantel's A Place of Greater Safety right now. Awesomeness. I'm not much a fan of the prose itself, but overall, I like it a lot thus far. I also read Piercy's City of Darkness, City of Light not long ago. It was all right, but nothing special. I got a bit confused several times when reading. She...did not seem to like Lucile Desmoulins much. Or Charlotte Robespierre (mind, it seems Charlotte really was rather a...bitch, let's say, but every time I read a scene with her in that book, I was like, "Christ, did she run over your puppy or something? What do you have against this woman?!" For some reason, even though she superficially acts quite the same in Mantel's book, it seems much more...I dunno, probable, natural, something. All I can get out of Piercy's is that Charlotte brutally axe murdered her in a previous incarnation [probably for ogling Maxime] and she's trying to get revenge. XD;).

Ooh, um, wow. That's a longish paragraph.

Comments

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

When one gets to a certain point in A Place of Greater Safety, however, one sees that while Hilary Mantel is fair to Charlotte, she makes a lot of the other female characters unnecessarily...malevolent. I really don't know why.

...Then again, Charlotte was rather scarily possessive of both her brothers. Scarily.

[jonahmama.livejournal.com]

Re Robespierre misinformation: this will be a longish speech. ;) Among other unsubstantiated rumors both during and after his lifetime were sexual liaisons with Camille Desmoulins (Hebert's paper referred to "a very special friendship" I believe - yeah, that's what he meant), and of course our favorite, Saint-Just. Both are potentially true or completely absurd. Take your pick. He was also rumored to drink the blood of enemies of the Republic. I'll have to look for more.

So glad you're reading POGS! I personally love the prose and find it extremely quotable. There are a couple of things specifically that I don't know where Mantel got and that I dislike (the Annette liaison and the Elisabeth episode - you'll see what I mean), but the humor and the dialogue are priceless. I didn't much care for City of Darkness either. It was a little too soapy / sappy for my taste. Mantel is wicked, salacious and witty, especially once you get into it.

[kurotoshi.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Well, Robespierre was said to control weather to being Pussyfooting Tyrant Robespierre!

THIS site has them all http://www.angelfire.com/ca6/frenchrevolution89/robespierre.html

Best of luck!