revolution_fr | Entries tagged with books

misatheredpanda.livejournal.com

I've just been in the British Library looking through Marat's Chains of Slavery. I have to confess I'd never properly read any Marat before, what with the iffy French it would have to be a very slow process. However I can get around that with this work because it's in English (that was considerate of him!), published for a British audience in 1774. I didn't have much time, nor did I have a laptop, but I did manage to copy out a few pages, which deal with the use of writing against tyranny. Oh, and did I mention this man is brilliant? My love is growing at an alarming rate.

( Read more... )

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.

simply-kelp.livejournal.com

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

spurnedambition.livejournal.com

I saw this book at my local library recently and it looked interesting (didn't get it unfortunately, I had a lot of books to check out already). There's also this book which I have found randomly browsing through amazon. Has anyone here read them? And if so, how is the French Revolution portrayed and are these books good?

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.

hanriotfran.livejournal.com

Hi, People!:

                             I'm very interested in this book. I wish I could afford it, since it's not translated into Spanish and, even if I can find it in the web (Amazon, Ebay and all) its price in dollars or Euros it's to expensive for me. Since our peso was devaluated, it costs three times its price.

                                 But I'm not writing here to complain, but wanting to know if someone had actually read "Mistress of The Revolution" and if it is worth to purchase it. I read some interviews to its authoress, Catherine Delors at the net, and it seems it's an interestin work. Of course, it's a novel, but good novels are as good as History books, I think.

                                    My main interest in "Mistress of the Revolution" is that one of its principal characters is Coffinhal, the man who attacked Hanriot and threw it to a common sewer, accusing him of cowardice the night of 9-10 Thermidor. I should want to know if Hanriot is present in the book and if the authoress shows him under a favorable point of view, or, if as ever, he is depicted as a drunkard and a wild person.

                                       I've read that for her, Coffinhal is quite a possitive character in the book...A thing I didn't like, LOL...

                                          HanriotFran(Vanesa)

citizenkreacher.livejournal.com

This is my first post here, because I only ever lurk on the interweb :)

I was at a book sale today and I bought Carlyle's The French Revolution for $2. It's a hard-back copy, and it has that musty, old-book smell that I love *___*
Unfortunately, no one in real life "gets" why I'm very excited by this excellent find, so I thought I would post it here in case folks wanted to join in the squee. I hope you don't mind :)

Current Mood: chipper

pevampire.livejournal.com

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)

livviebway.livejournal.com

Hey, I'm looking for a good biography of Danton. Anyone have any recommendations? Comments on biographies?

jesta-ariadne.livejournal.com

...a book called "Love is Revolution - The Story of Camille Desmoulins"?? It does sound rather, uh, dramatic..! I'm intrigued.

But honestly, half the reason I'm posting is because of the summary posted here which runs as follows:
. . . Nice DW with a little rubbing and chipping to edges/spine, a few small tears, very slight loss. B&W illustrations. Biography of Camille Desmoulins, heroine of the French Revolution.

Teeheee.

citoyenneclark.livejournal.com

I've compleated transcribig the chapter on Saint-Just from JM's Thompson's book Leaders of the French Revolution. Here are the links to my journal. Its surprisingly sympathetic to Saint-Just. (Considering Thompson's protege was Norman Hampson, who called Saint-Just a "satanic monster")

Part 1: Concerns his pre-revolution career (or what little of it there was)
http://citoyenneclark.livejournal.com/1195.html#cutid1

Part 2: Concerns Saint-Just's political theories, and compares the "Terror" to other much more violent regimes in French History
http://citoyenneclark.livejournal.com/1344.html

Part 3: Concerns Saint-Just's appearence, and the "ideal revolutionary"
http://citoyenneclark.livejournal.com/1576.html

Part 4 and 5: Mission to the Rhine, and conclusion to the chapter
http://citoyenneclark.livejournal.com/2036.html

Now that the chapter on Saint-Just is done, which chapter would you like to see next? There is: Sieyes, Mirabeau, Lafayette, Brissot, Louvet, Danton, Fabre D'Eglantine, Marat, Robespierre, and Dumourez.

Current Mood: sore
Current Location: Home
Current Music: Capitol Steps

fatimahcrossin.livejournal.com

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.

Current Mood: mellow
Current Location: at home, drinking Tequila Sunrise
Current Music: Sonic Youth - Protect me

sunliner.livejournal.com

Hey guys!

My interest in history waned for a while, but I'm all of a sudden into it again, and as summer is coming I'm looking for some stuff to read. Last night I started making a "to read" list and, to my dismay, could only come up with four things I actually wanted to get through. Four! Anyway, I'd be really appreciative if you all could give some recommendations on good books about the French Revolution. Fiction is preferable, but I'm not entirely opposed to nonfiction.

I've read Vive La Revolution on that front, which I thought was delightful. Fictionally speaking, I read A Place of Greater Safety last summer, but thought it got sort of tedious after a while—I liked reading about the personal lives of the revolutionaries more than anything else, regardless of the accuracy ('cause I wasn't really in it for that). I mean... I can take politics, and a decent amount of it is interesting, but when it makes up the bulk of the book it becomes dry and simply isn't enough to keep me entertained. I've also read A Tale of Two Cities which is one of my favorite books but so horribly inaccurate it hurts.

So anyway, I thought you'd all be good to ask. Anything to offer?

rs09985.livejournal.com

Thoughts on The Terror by David Andress~

I am about 1/4 of the way through the book, and I must say that it is quite good so far. Any thought?

Current Music: Green Day - Brain Stew

estellacat.livejournal.com

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.

( Part III )

Current Mood: restless

estellacat.livejournal.com

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)

( Part II )

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: something by Handel that my mother is attempting to sing

estellacat.livejournal.com

Now that I've you all a few days to digest the last chapters and appendices of Charlotte Robespierre's memoirs, as promised, this will be the first of probably several posts of Élisabeth Le Bas's. A note though: the tone, as you might have guessed, is rather different from Charlotte's. Élisabeth's memoirs are focused on herself, rather than the famous historical figures she knew. She only really discusses them in relation to herself. Which is actually more interesting in some cases, narrative-wise. But you'll see. And please do comment on the content: it would be nice to be able to discuss it. (Especially since this is the part containing the basis for that infamous scene in A Place of Greater Safety--if you don't know about that, so much the better for you and your brain.)

( Part I )

Oh, also, this is drawn from Autour de Robespierre : Le Conventionnel Le Bas, which is by Paul Coutant, alias Stéfane-Pol, Le Bas's grandson's son-in-law--as the note penciled into my copy so helpfully points out.

EDIT: I've also posted this in the original here, if anyone is interested.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Deh vieni non tardar - Le nozze di Figaro

estellacat.livejournal.com

( ...And the last six. )

If anyone shows any interest I might also post my translation of Élisabeth Le Bas's memoirs...

Current Mood: hopeful

estellacat.livejournal.com

These are basically the appendices to Charlotte Robespierre's memoirs. Some of them are, admittedly, rather random, but they're mostly fairly interesting. Again, due to length, this post is going to have to have two parts.

( The first six... )

I am sincerely sorry for my poor translation of the poetry, by the way; I tried to make it rhyme as much as possible, but in the end I just gave up. Or rather, I figured it was better to be accurate than poetic, per se, since it would be impossible to appraise the merit--or lack thereof--of any poem in translation in any case.

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: La Sylva - Forqueray

estellacat.livejournal.com

( Chapter Five (Part Two) )

Next: "Notes and Justificatory Documents"

Current Mood: calm

estellacat.livejournal.com

This is the last chapter of Charlotte Robespierre's memoirs themselves--hopefully one that someone will find more interesting than the last--but I since I've also translated the "Justificatory Documents" published at the end of the memoirs (or at least of the edition I have), I'm going to make a separate post to include them. Due to the length of this chapter, it will have to be posted in two parts.

( Chapter Five (Part One) )

Current Mood: miffed
Current Music: La Prise de la Bastille - Symphonie en Sol mineur, Francois Martin

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Welcome to 1789...

Entries tagged with books

(no subject)

Je suis curieuse...

Opinions?

Some recommendations

"Mistress of The Revolution" , by Catherine Delors.

The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle

Rare books (..)

Danton Biography

Anyone heard of...

Leaders of the French Revolution--Chapter on Saint-Just

A good book about Saint-Just ?

(no subject)

Thoughts..

Élisabeth Le Bas's Memoirs (Part III)

Élisabeth Le Bas's Memoirs (Part II)

Élisabeth Le Bas's Memoirs (Part I)

Notes and Justificatory Documents once more

Notes and Justificatory Documents

Charlotte Robespierre's Memoirs (again)

Charlotte Robespierre's Memoirs

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February 2018

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