Recent reading
Jul. 10th, 2023 01:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
troisoiseauxFinished The Fall of Robespierre: 24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris by Colin Jones, historical nonfiction about the events of 9 Thermidor/July 27, 1794. In a post a few years ago, I had lamented a Goldilocks-like inability to find nonfiction about either the French or Russian Revolutions with a level of detail/pacing that I found just right— and, hey, I found it! This book was about 400 pages of historical narrative, 50 pages of additional analysis, and 150 pages of bibliographical endnotes.
The early chapters are somewhat broader in focus, using general details (e.g., the 5 am opening of Paris' gates to farmers) or specific ones (recorded births and deaths at 3 am on 9 Thermidor) to talk about life, policies, administrative structure, etc., in Revolutionary France. Jones also sets up the pins, as it were, by taking stock of the rumors that had pushed everyone to the edge: Robespierre and his allies were convinced of a foreign-backed plot to overthrow him; his opponents were convinced that Robespierre was planning another political purge. Things really kicked into gear at about noon, when one deputy to the National Convention, Jean-Lambert Tallien, interrupts a speechifying Saint-Just to demand that Robespierre be arrested as a tyrant. This proves to be a highly popular suggestion! Chaos ensues!
Going into this, I was familiar with the broad timeline of the day— Robespierre's arrest at the Convention, escape to the Hôtel de Ville, and ultimately recapture— but I hadn't realized exactly how a. spontaneous and b. chaotic it all was?? On point a., Jones argues that there isn't evidence to support either of the rumored conspiracies; Tallien's denunciation of Robespierre took everyone but a few like-minded deputies by surprise but happened, conveniently, right as Robespierre's opponents on the Committee of Public Safety arrived to stop Saint-Just from reading a speech he was supposed to let them sign off on but didn't, and per Jones, "the CPS' success on the day owed a great deal to the way that [they] exploited the flying start that Tallien had given them, pivoting around and improvising in a way that unified the Convention completely."
On point b., the bulk of the book followed the chaotic maneuverings of the Convention (national government of France) vs. the Commune (municipal government of Paris), which were, respectively, anti- and pro-Robespierre (or pro- and anti-overthrowing him?), while the National Guard was pretty much split between the two— at one point, both the pro-Robespierre incumbent commander of the National Guard and his replacement named by the Convention were simultaneously under arrest by the other's faction.* It ultimately came down to a majority of Paris' sections (neighborhood-level administrative districts) siding with the Convention, and that ultimately came down to communication: although it took them until 10 p.m., the Convention was able to communicate a formal narrative of what they were doing and why - and, perhaps most importantly, the consequences of noncooperation - in a way that the Commune was not.
* One of my favorite details from this book is that the Commune then randomly picked a replacement commander on the basis of the guy's impressively martial facial hair, much to the annoyance of that guy, who did not want the job. ("Giot may look the part, but certainly does not feel up to what his metamorphosis demands of him. Making a tour of duty ... shortly afterwards, he is congratulated on his promotion ... Turning a little pirouette, he self-mockingly exclaims: 'Me! Me! Fucking Commander of Potatoes more like!'")
I've also been reading The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling by Henry Fielding, at simultaneously a snail's pace and at least one chapter a day (as each chapter is about 3-5 pages long and the book is 700+ pages). I'm really enjoying it! It's a rollicking read— I don't know what I expected from possibly the most famous English novel of the 18th century, but the scene where a pregnant teenager beats someone with a human leg bone definitely came as a surprise— and very interesting as a historical artifact, both in terms of content and what Fielding/the narrator assumes about the reader.
The early chapters are somewhat broader in focus, using general details (e.g., the 5 am opening of Paris' gates to farmers) or specific ones (recorded births and deaths at 3 am on 9 Thermidor) to talk about life, policies, administrative structure, etc., in Revolutionary France. Jones also sets up the pins, as it were, by taking stock of the rumors that had pushed everyone to the edge: Robespierre and his allies were convinced of a foreign-backed plot to overthrow him; his opponents were convinced that Robespierre was planning another political purge. Things really kicked into gear at about noon, when one deputy to the National Convention, Jean-Lambert Tallien, interrupts a speechifying Saint-Just to demand that Robespierre be arrested as a tyrant. This proves to be a highly popular suggestion! Chaos ensues!
Going into this, I was familiar with the broad timeline of the day— Robespierre's arrest at the Convention, escape to the Hôtel de Ville, and ultimately recapture— but I hadn't realized exactly how a. spontaneous and b. chaotic it all was?? On point a., Jones argues that there isn't evidence to support either of the rumored conspiracies; Tallien's denunciation of Robespierre took everyone but a few like-minded deputies by surprise but happened, conveniently, right as Robespierre's opponents on the Committee of Public Safety arrived to stop Saint-Just from reading a speech he was supposed to let them sign off on but didn't, and per Jones, "the CPS' success on the day owed a great deal to the way that [they] exploited the flying start that Tallien had given them, pivoting around and improvising in a way that unified the Convention completely."
On point b., the bulk of the book followed the chaotic maneuverings of the Convention (national government of France) vs. the Commune (municipal government of Paris), which were, respectively, anti- and pro-Robespierre (or pro- and anti-overthrowing him?), while the National Guard was pretty much split between the two— at one point, both the pro-Robespierre incumbent commander of the National Guard and his replacement named by the Convention were simultaneously under arrest by the other's faction.* It ultimately came down to a majority of Paris' sections (neighborhood-level administrative districts) siding with the Convention, and that ultimately came down to communication: although it took them until 10 p.m., the Convention was able to communicate a formal narrative of what they were doing and why - and, perhaps most importantly, the consequences of noncooperation - in a way that the Commune was not.
* One of my favorite details from this book is that the Commune then randomly picked a replacement commander on the basis of the guy's impressively martial facial hair, much to the annoyance of that guy, who did not want the job. ("Giot may look the part, but certainly does not feel up to what his metamorphosis demands of him. Making a tour of duty ... shortly afterwards, he is congratulated on his promotion ... Turning a little pirouette, he self-mockingly exclaims: 'Me! Me! Fucking Commander of Potatoes more like!'")
I've also been reading The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling by Henry Fielding, at simultaneously a snail's pace and at least one chapter a day (as each chapter is about 3-5 pages long and the book is 700+ pages). I'm really enjoying it! It's a rollicking read— I don't know what I expected from possibly the most famous English novel of the 18th century, but the scene where a pregnant teenager beats someone with a human leg bone definitely came as a surprise— and very interesting as a historical artifact, both in terms of content and what Fielding/the narrator assumes about the reader.
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Date: 2023-07-11 10:39 pm (UTC)