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Apr. 8th, 2009 01:11 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
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EDIT. And this is why you should not do these things in a hurry. Have tried to fix the several typos and added the footnote which I forgot to type up in the first place. Apologies.
I have been stalking this community for a while, but am only now joining because I have a question. (It’s so exciting to see people interested in the French Revolution! Most of my family/friends/colleagues/&etc. just ignore me when I mention anything about it...)
Where do you buy your books on the French Revolution. Some, I’m sure you happen to find by chance, but where do you get the ones that you set out to buy. I have been browsing Amazon lately (because my books are quite lonely), and so many of them are very expensive! (For I am, regrettably, a poor college student...) How much do you generally pay for a book on the French Revolution? It depends on the content, I suppose, but like for an ‘Oeuvres Completes de...’, or those demmed elusive (gad, a Pimpernel reference...) biographies on Saint-Just, Hérault, &etc.
Salut et fraternité,
Kelp
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.
A lot of the websites about Saint-Just highly recommends Eugene Curtis's biography of Saint-Just.
But it was published in 1935~! Is it possible to get a copy today? I mean, like 80 years have passed
I suppose university libraries might have one but our high school library certainly doesn't (all it has
is stupid prep books)
Salut et Fraternité, Citoyennes et Citoyens !
I have been watching this community for a while and now I have decided to introduce myself and ask you a question.
I am greatly interested in French Revolution, with whom I have a strange relationship of love and hate - but I think this will be amusing to discuss another time.
Well, I am strangely, madly, deeply, lustfully, wildly, passionately in love with Saint-Just - yes - but in my mother language, Italian, there is rather only a few stuff upon him. So until now I only have had the chance to read Camus and Malraux essays which are available in my country.
I like these essays very, very much - I believe both the two existentialists reach a non-banal perspective of the character (even though they are men and miss the intuition of something only a woman can understand...), but I'd like to read more on my love.
I have read almost everything I have found on the Internet about him and now I would buy some foreign text more focused on his biography, since Camus and Malraux's are only short chapters drawn from more complex books and provide rather a general perspective on Antoine as a man and about his role in history of that age than pure biographical information.
I have seen there is an amount of biographies, but I have still not decided what to choose.
I can read English, French and German, and since I have a strong intellectual complexion due to my marxist education despite my reviewing it under a feminist, pagan, anarchist point of view, I'd like better a rigorous scientific account rather than a fiction-oriented one: in spite of his myth, Antoine is a man, first of all - and I am in love with him just because of this.
I have noticed Vinot's biography and I feel attracted to it but I am not absolutely sure - would you advice me to buy it ? And/or other texts ?
Just tell me whatever you believe to be useful.
Ok, I think this is enough for my first time here. Thank you in advance for your answers and comments - every suggestion is here absolutely welcome !
Au revoir,
F.
This will be the third and last part of the translation of Élisabeth's memoirs. It treats Thermidor, as well as some random miscellanies. Given that, it's probably unnecessary to warn you that it may be depressing, but I'll do so anyway, just in case. It's not all depressing though, and it is worth reading. If anyone is interested, I also have the original French version of this section and the last one here at my journal.
I must warn you that this is the last somewhat happy section. The next (and last) one skips all the way to Thermidor. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. This post talks about complications for Élisabeth and Le Bas's relationship, their marriage, and Le Bas and Saint-Just's mission to the Armée du Rhin. Enjoy! (And don't forget to comment. :D)