Thank you so much for translating that! I have read the two plays of hers that were translated into English and been interested in the novel ever since, but as there is no translation and I do not speak Polish (always mean to sign up for a course - largely for that very reason, in fact - but never do), I've never been able to find out anything more about it than that it also deals with Robespierre. I'm not surprised to see its take on the relationship with Desmoulins, quite in tune with their little scene in "The Danton Case", with Robespierre always fearing that he has 'seen through his most intimate feelings'. What is the rest of the book like, content-wise? I trust it's not all slashy slush?
I wonder what Przybyszewska would have thought of 'fanfiction' that identifies itself as such, slash in particular, since in effect, that is precisely what she is writing - not only with the under-/over-/all-around-tones between those two, but with half of her entire cast at least attracted to Robespierre, if not to one another, and with so much gossiping and quasi-romantic angsting - to exaggerate slightly, she paints the entire revolution as a grand bisexual soap opera ... and yet she doesn't seem to have acknowledged that she was taking things lightly, writing out fantasies. The historical-political inaccuracies in her writings can be explained as 'alternative interpretations adjusted to better serve the expression of her own ideas and concerns' (the dangerous misconceptions that can arise from writers using history in this way without acknowledging clearly that they have not illustrated a fact but created a fiction have been pointed out in the past), but there is so much of these little personal affairs in them that doesn't seem to express either the acting figures' historical personalities nor any personal philosophy of the author's, but just seems to be dreams running wild, and-- well, yes, I wonder if she acknowledged that at least to herself, or if she actually believed that everything, the politics and the personal relations, was the way she presents it.
no subject
I wonder what Przybyszewska would have thought of 'fanfiction' that identifies itself as such, slash in particular, since in effect, that is precisely what she is writing - not only with the under-/over-/all-around-tones between those two, but with half of her entire cast at least attracted to Robespierre, if not to one another, and with so much gossiping and quasi-romantic angsting - to exaggerate slightly, she paints the entire revolution as a grand bisexual soap opera ... and yet she doesn't seem to have acknowledged that she was taking things lightly, writing out fantasies. The historical-political inaccuracies in her writings can be explained as 'alternative interpretations adjusted to better serve the expression of her own ideas and concerns' (the dangerous misconceptions that can arise from writers using history in this way without acknowledging clearly that they have not illustrated a fact but created a fiction have been pointed out in the past), but there is so much of these little personal affairs in them that doesn't seem to express either the acting figures' historical personalities nor any personal philosophy of the author's, but just seems to be dreams running wild, and-- well, yes, I wonder if she acknowledged that at least to herself, or if she actually believed that everything, the politics and the personal relations, was the way she presents it.