Some recommendations

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

I'm just stopping by to highly recommend the works of the historian Olivier Blanc, whose book Les hommes de Londres: Histoire secrète de la Terreur I'm in the process of reading. In this particular book, which has unfortunately not been translated into English (nor is it available for sale anywhere on the internet that I could find, despite its having come out in 1989!) Blanc makes a rather convincing argument for Barère's having been an agent paid by Pitt to undermine the Republic. I know that may sound on the paranoid side, but he has truckloads of documentation to prove it.

In any case, I believe the only books of Blanc's that have been translated into English are a book on 18th century architecture, which of course is not strictly related to the Revolution, and one called La dernière lettre: Prisons et condamnés de la Révolution, 1793-1793 and translated somewhat loosely as Last Letters: Prisons and Prisoners of the French Revolution, 1793-1794. I've only read excerpts from it, but from what I've read it seems worth recommending, especially as it's prefaced by Michel Vovelle.

From that particular book, I even have a picture for you, which you may not have seen before. (I know I hadn't.)


In case you can't read the caption - admittedly, it is a bit fuzzy - it says "Lucille Duplessis Epouse de Camille Desmoulins" or "Lucille Duplessis, wife of Camille Desmoulins."

My translation of Blanc's caption is, "'Good evening, my dear maman, a tear escapes from my eyes; it is for you. I am about to go to sleep in the calm of innocence.' Last note of Lucile Desmoulins, 13 April 1794. Writing and drawing (by Brune, the future marshal) conserved in the Historical Library of the City of Paris."

Also, on a completely unrelated note, read Timothy Tackett's Becoming a Revolutionary: The Deputies of the National Assembly and the Origins of the French Revolution. It is made of win.

Comments

Re: Poor Barère!

[sneerbite.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for this - I will try to get hold of this book and see for myself, as you suggest! : ) I absolutely agree with you on the need to think first before jumping to the defense of revolutionaries. And I am, without doubt, very guilty of not doing so enough. But perhaps it is always when somebody seems to gets bad press all the time, or very frequently, (such as Barère, or Saint-Just for that matter) that one is more easily led to defending them without evaluating the arguments against them. I certainly have done so, in both their cases. Also, I often think that they all - or many of them - deserve better treatment, simply because of the difficulties they were facing, which we cannot possibly relive or fully comprehend. Thank you so much for bringing this book to my attention - I am hoping that there will be a better argument/evidence than in the one that I read, and who knows, perhaps it will really change how I see Barère!

Re: Poor Barère!

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely right. I'm so glad I could be of help.

Re: Poor Barère!

[victoriavandal.livejournal.com]

He always reminds me of Jack Straw (doesn't stick his neck out, stays out of the faction fighting, survives...)

Re: Poor Barère!

[sneerbite.livejournal.com]

Hehe, yes. He was a bit like that. But younger and better looking. LOL.