L'Archange et le Procureur

[amie-de-rimbaud.livejournal.com]

I read the novel L’Archange et le Procureur by Christophe Bigot over winter break and thought I’d briefly share a few of my thoughts. I was surprised to see such positive reviews online, since my own is rather lukewarm.

The story is narrated by Annette Duplessis, who is fulfilling the request of Horace (in a letter from Haiti) to impart his parents’ ‘true’ story. On the level of historical content, there weren’t any serious problems that I can remember. In terms of characterization, Bigot doesn’t glorify the Desmoulins couple; both have their flaws, related and qualified by Annette, the moral anchor of the novel. Saint Just is the most ‘evil’ presence; although he doesn’t appear much, his influence over Robespierre determines the fates of Camille, Lucile, and the Revolution. When she goes to plead for her daughter’s life, Annette glimpses a shirtless Saint Just in Robespierre’s bedroom.

When I first saw the title, I assumed that Lucile was the ‘archange,’ which made me wary of an idealized portrait. But it actually refers to a quotation from Marc Bloch that opens the novel (“L’histoire, à condition de renoncer elle-même à ces faux airs d’archange...”) and to Saint Just, who reminds Annette of an engraving in the Desmoulins home of the “archange de la liberté.” Lucile isn’t quite an angel, which is good; she ranges from coquettish to callous, but isn’t overall very interesting, her primary quality being extreme devotion to Camille.

The novel doesn’t take an especially new or different angle on the Desmoulins story. I’d recommend it if you have some time to spare, but it’s not a must-read for any Camille fan.

Comments

[maelicia.livejournal.com]

Also, usually in French, Saint-Just is called an "archange" (in English, they more commonly just say "angel of death" or that sort of nonsense), but originally, although I don't know who started it, it's usually "archange de la Révolution", or "archange de la Terreur" for those who don't like him much or are just awed by woah!evil!Saint-Just... There's also Gueniffey who tried to be original with an "ange exterminateur" *eyerolls*

The part with the shirtless Saint-Just somehow reminds me the misquoted story brought up by Hector Fleishmann, from Georges Duval, in which Fleishmann misinterprets that Duval would have seen Saint-Just in a dressing gown at Robespierre's bedroom, but it was actually in Saint-Just's apartment.

And, wow, another characterisation of evil and manipulative Saint-Just -- who's probably sleeping with Robespierre. *headdesk* And that was published in 2008? (?) Progresssssssssss. -_-

[maelicia.livejournal.com]

Edit on the last point, from here: http://www.cyberpresse.ca/arts/200809/08/01-662581-larchange-et-le-procureur-une-famille-dans-la-revolution.php

Saint-Just, que Camille soupçonnait d'avoir monté Robespierre contre lui, était en fait le petit ami de l'Incorruptible, suggère Anne. (Translation: Saint-Just, that Camille suspected to have set Robespierre against him, was in fact the Incorruptible's boyfriend, suggests Anne.)

...wow. The things we learn that suddenly became facts with a "TRUE" stamp!

[maelicia.livejournal.com]

(Sorry for spamming)

This is interesting, because the author explains where the title does come from: http://www.littera05.com/rencontres/christophebigot.html (From Saint-Just's and Desmoulins' nicknames.)

However, eeeek, at some points, it seems like he took the slash stories we can find online and mixed them with LRF to write a novel. Eek.

[amie-de-rimbaud.livejournal.com]

Ha, thanks for sharing. I think it's odd he alludes to Saint-Just in the title; as a character in the novel, he doesn't really play a significant role in terms of relationships (*sauf* the Robespierre liaison), dialogue, etc., things that comprise the greater part of the narrative. He's more of an ominous political force, not really a fleshed out individual.

[janewt.livejournal.com]

Out of curiosity, how does he handle the bit where Desmoulins spent a while writing Annette love-letters before getting engaged to Lucile?

One thing that interests me about the 19th/early 20th c. biographies I've read is that they seem to prefer the he-watched-Lucile-blossom-imperceptibly-from-a-child-into-a-woman style of things over having him carry on a more-or-less polite flirtation with a married woman and then getting involved with her daughter. It's a very trivial bit of history, but it interests me in terms of what kind of fiction people have liked to develop for themselves in different periods.

[amie-de-rimbaud.livejournal.com]

That aspect is downplayed quite a bit, with Annette trying to convince the audience (Horace) of the primacy and purity of Camille's relationship with Lucile.

[janewt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, given the hypothetical setting, it would be odd for her to go into that much. ("So, Horace, back in the day, me and your dad....") I was just curious as to whether the author seemed to be taking the devoted relationship between Camille and Lucile absolutely at face value--or, for instance, whether Annette is also trying to convince herself as well as the audience.

[celine-carol.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered how true some of the *more interesting* rumors, like Camille being a bit too friendly with Lucille's mother and Saint-Just and Robespierre being intimately involved, really are... Can anyone tell me how true/likely those things were?
It would be interesting to know..

Also, is that book in French?

[janewt.livejournal.com]

Desmoulins did have a long acquaintance with Mme Duplessis, so far as I can tell. Here's my reference for it; I was curious and dug through Google books for quite a while:

This is from Revue des bibliothèques, vol 18. "Camille et Lucile Desmoulins, notes et documents inédits." pp 181-204 (http://books.google.com/books?id=dUwDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA181#v=onepage&q=&f=false).

Here's clips from the specific parts, p. 188 (http://books.google.com/books?id=dUwDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA188&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U2E4wYrB5Dpzc4K-PadZbaZwbN-XQ&ci=162%2C128%2C807%2C1280&edge=0), p. 189 (http://books.google.com/books?id=dUwDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA189&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U1zciQPxLKXN-CjE6oKRmNAAlPjUg&ci=55%2C102%2C759%2C1274&edge=0), and p. 190 (http://books.google.com/books?id=dUwDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA190&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U0Q7E1qiP0kmBQAQuGHC2Abt7hLVw&ci=174%2C87%2C771%2C1312&edge=0). (Most of that's bad poetry, sorry.)

[janewt.livejournal.com]

(It's the footnote on p. 188 that has an excerpt from a letter; if anyone here has found the entirety of all those documents that the article discusses I'd very much love to know.)

[celine-carol.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It's going to take me awhile to puzzle my way through the French.
Gotta love Googlebooks....

[janewt.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

[maelicia.livejournal.com]

Saint-Just and Robespierre being intimately involved, really are...
I bring up slightly my thoughts about it in this part of my critique on the BBC docudrama (http://community.livejournal.com/revolution_fr/89018.html#cutid2). I'm planning on bringing it up in a part of my master diss so maybe then I can speak about it in a slightly more academic and a slightly less "fangirly" way. However, the one sure thing is that there are no sources to confirm this rumor, and even by the late sources/comments (memoirs, etc.) of the 19th century (I'm thinking of Georges Duval especially), there are more assumptions that can be made from our biased 21st century look on the texts. I'm not sure how to interpret them because I'd need to know of the period's codes to subtly hint at homosexuality, and it's not the easiest thing to figure out. But there's really nothing in late 18th cent. sources, shortly after their death, to allude that they may have been antiphysiques (the term to say homosexual used then). The Thermidorian sources even had to actually invent them vices -- but then, that could also be argued: they never aimed at accuracy and pamphlets always had a pornographic feel to it, and I don't think anyone either cared about accuracy or wanted to read about their gay adventures.

Overall, as it looks right now, it all seems like it's a very recent interpretation. The worst, however, is that even though it's recent (and thus contemporary or after the fights for homosexual rights) they are still seemingly using this to disparage them or make them look "evil".

[janewt.livejournal.com]

...still seemingly using this to disparage them or make them look "evil".

It irritates me so much to see people still using the kind of cop-out short-hand of "see, look, you can tell there's something bad about them because gay sex."

[celine-carol.livejournal.com]

Ugh.. And the thing that gets me is that some of their contemporaries were more or less lionized for their extramarital sexual exploits (shows how manly they were, I suppose), which you would think would be worse... (I mean, you cheat on your wife, I wouldn't trust you not to 'cheat' on the country)...

The 'BBC Docudrama'= among the more annoying things I've seen. :P

[sibylla-oo.livejournal.com]

The rumours of Saint Just-Robespierre intimate involvement are of a late date. There are no proofs such rumours circulated when they were alive nor such "accusation" appeared in the Thermidorian pamphlets, a fact I find particularly significative.
Moreover, neither of them was accussed of homosexual behaviour inividually in his lifetime or soon after his death, though there's a mysterious quote by Danton about Saint Just's love of Turkish baths, whatever Danton meant by it.
I fin extremely eloquent the fact that the Thermidorians did not, as far as I know, bring up such accusation, as they brought up against Robespierre anything that came on their mind.
Quite on the contrary, Saint Just was accused of 1) executing women who refused him 2) having affaires with actresses. The only hint at homosexual interests might be that of Nodier (or is it Duval?), in his memories written decades after Thermidor, but even in this case the narrative makes one feel more like the author was interested in Saint Just than Saint Just in the author ;-)
As for Robespierre, there are other experts here to talk about Thermidorian propaganda, but if any hints on Robespierre's sexual inclinations were made, I have NEVER found ANY comtemporary/thermidorian ones relating him to ANY of his CPS colleagues.

[celine-carol.livejournal.com]

lol, so gracious of them to spare him that stigma... Just wondering, do they really know if he was actually engaged to Eleanor or not? (Since E. and his sister had drastically different opinions on the matter)
Hmm.. I looked up to see what Turkish baths were, and Wikipedia (the most reliable of internet sources) said that they were very similar to Greek/Roman bathing rituals, so I guess that could make sense, since SJ was pretty keen on classical culture?

[sibylla-oo.livejournal.com]

Well, I know what Turkish baths are, I have even visited them several times. What I meant was that I did not know what they stood for in the late 18th century Paris. For example, sauna, a perfectly innocent family activity in Northern and Central Europe, refers in Spain to a place of casual male gay encounter (so if you are in Spain and see a "sauna" neon on a builing, think twice whether it's really what you are looking for).

As for the engagement with Eleonore: that's quite a different story, because at least there are testimonies coming from some of the people actually involved, though these testimonies are contradictory. It's a matter of giving credibility to different sources. In case of R-SJ involvment, there are no such sources to interpret.

[celine-carol.livejournal.com]

Well, that's interesting... I think things like that (the Northern/Southern difference in that meaning) are fascinating in a way. (I'm from America and have never been to Europe, so the idea of any sort of non-private bathing ritual completely baffles me to begin with).

Sorry if my last comment implied I didn't think you knew what Turkish baths were btw! I didn't intend it that way :)

[sibylla-oo.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, public baths...a beautiful Roman heritage preserved by Mediterranean Muslims, as Mediterrean Christian countries let it disappear in the Middle Ages due to 1)Church anti-bath campaigns 2)plague 3) wave of cold weather lasting for a couple of centuries....Now the urban spas seem to bring it back.

No need to apologize, btw.

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the review! :)

Saint Just is the most ‘evil’ presence;

Ah! Great, another book perpetuating that representation of Saint-Just.

When she goes to plead for her daughter’s life, Annette glimpses a shirtless Saint Just in Robespierre’s bedroom.

...

Riiiiiight. Like maelicia said, I love how, even in these supposedly progressive times of ours, people are still using "gay" as shorthand for "unnatural/evil."