Request

[missweirdness.livejournal.com]

I'm doing this for one of my friends, as she just found out about the glorious Saint-Just (after a long texting session xD); So therefore, i need some suggestions as to the books that i can give to her.

Any books about him, please? S'il te plait? xD

thanks anyhow ^^

Comments

[lucieandco.livejournal.com]

How much context does your friend know? How much context do you want there to be? Is this to be an introduction to the smaller details of the life, thoughts and achievements of an individual on the background of an already pretty good idea of the general events and circumstances of the late eighteenth century and the Revolution, or is it more a case of 'there was this really awesome (and really pretty) chap whom you should totally fangirl and, uh, yeah, there were a few things going on in the world at the time he was alive, but what they were and how they related to his biography isn't half as fascinating as the fact that he may or may not have worn earrings'?
At any rate there is a relative dearth of (easily available and equally recommendable) books that focus very much on Saint-Just, especially in English. (If your friend speaks/reads French or another language it's been translated into, Bernard Vinot's 1985 biography might be one that - being relatively recent - is easy to find, easy to read, and easy to not want to use as an alternative heating source. But then, if your friend does speak French the historians on this community will surely be able to give you an extensive list of to-reads and not-to-reads.) I would suggest R. R. Palmer's "Twelve Who Ruled", which obviously mentions him quite a bit, has plenty of context, and is an engaging read for the newly introduced and for long-term aficionados alike.
For starters, though, why not simply send her off to browse around saint-just.net for a couple of hours? If she is interested in more in-depth information afterwards, she should be able to pick some books that sound alluring to her from the bibliographies.

[missweirdness.livejournal.com]

well, i got her hooked on saint-just (as she recently discovered him..) but yeah she comes to me asking for information on like everything on the revolution. She doesn't know too much about the revolution and seems pretty interested in it. Nah, but i'll recommend her to saint-just.net like you suggested. I kind of forgot about it xD but yeah. How about that list of not what to read and what to read about him?

that would be good. I might even be interested myself.