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Sep. 4th, 2023 08:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsThe stated thesis of The Fall of Robespierre: 24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris is that the end result of 9 Thermidor [Robespierre & cohort ejected from government and eventually from life despite best efforts of supporters] was not the result of any particular figure's successful plotting, but the last great chaotic expression of popular will in the first French Republic.
The unstated, but clearly and dearly felt thesis is that every member of the Revolutionary government of this period was the most annoying coworker imaginable. Colin Jones is very good at summarizing his primary sources in ways that maximally evoke this, which makes the book extremely readable and occasionally very funny:
For some time now, Billaud has been taciturn and distant when Robespierre and Saint-Just are in the same room. Saint-Just accuses him of ponderous silences and endless mutterings of the phrase, 'we are on the edge of a volcano.' (It is unclear who or what he thinks will erupt, but the phrase has been given topicality by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, reported in the press just a few days earlier.)
I enjoyed this very much but the flip side is that while Colin Jones is indeed very good at summarizing I still usually want more quotations from the primary source texts that allows me to have confidence in the summary and Colin Jones wants me to be Appreciating the Immediacy and Tension of the Moment and as a result generally does not want to give it to me in any form except a brief endnote directing me to a source I probably can't access. This is an eternal struggle with me and nonfiction books but I feel it especially whenever me and Colin Jones have a little chuckle together at the expense of this toxic revolutionary workplace. I want to feel fully justified in my little chuckle!
Anyway. The book is structured, also, as an argument about time & distance -- as the city divides itself between the National Convention [national revolutionary government] which has just ordered Robespierre & cronies arrested, and the Paris Commune [local revolutionary government] which has just launched an attempt to rescue him from prison and declare itself + Robespierre the legitimate government and the National Convention in counterrevolutionary revolt, we are tracking The Day and we are tracking Every Hour as the people of Paris slowly figure out a.) what the fuck is actually going on and b.) who they actually want to support about it. To be honest I think this feels a bit forced as a conceit up until noon or so when the Convention unexpectedly turns on Robespierre, because everything that's happening to that point is more or less about Important Revolutionary Figures (and also because he feels he has to start at midnight and all that happens at midnight is people thinking about what happened the previous day) but it really does pick up in the afternoon-to-evening period when the outcome of events depends much more on where the National Guard is and who they decide to support. I very much enjoyed the account of various battalions sending each other earnest messages to suss out each other's political sympathies and stealing memelike phraseology from each other as the trend caught on and felt deeply for the out-of-his-depth individual who got appointed temporary commander of the Paris Commune's contingent of the National Guard on account of his magnificent moustaches ("Me! Me! Fucking commander of potatoes more like!")
Actually, in my heart of hearts I think that the thesis that Jones is trying to make about the ways in which the outcome of the day was decided by popular consensus would actually be stronger if he had just written a book focusing entirely on the response in the city for the twelve hours after the shit hits the fan in the National Convention, rather than stretching it out for the full twenty-four. On the other hand I think that he would have been deeply sad to lose so many opportunities to be sarcastic about the toxic work environment up at the National Convention, and who am I to deny him this. Every time I read a book about the French or Russian revolutions I am struck all over again by the committee meetings that might kill you but, crucially, also have all the other normal miserable features of committee meetings, and that's why I will never be strong enough to be a leading player when the revolution comes.
The unstated, but clearly and dearly felt thesis is that every member of the Revolutionary government of this period was the most annoying coworker imaginable. Colin Jones is very good at summarizing his primary sources in ways that maximally evoke this, which makes the book extremely readable and occasionally very funny:
For some time now, Billaud has been taciturn and distant when Robespierre and Saint-Just are in the same room. Saint-Just accuses him of ponderous silences and endless mutterings of the phrase, 'we are on the edge of a volcano.' (It is unclear who or what he thinks will erupt, but the phrase has been given topicality by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, reported in the press just a few days earlier.)
I enjoyed this very much but the flip side is that while Colin Jones is indeed very good at summarizing I still usually want more quotations from the primary source texts that allows me to have confidence in the summary and Colin Jones wants me to be Appreciating the Immediacy and Tension of the Moment and as a result generally does not want to give it to me in any form except a brief endnote directing me to a source I probably can't access. This is an eternal struggle with me and nonfiction books but I feel it especially whenever me and Colin Jones have a little chuckle together at the expense of this toxic revolutionary workplace. I want to feel fully justified in my little chuckle!
Anyway. The book is structured, also, as an argument about time & distance -- as the city divides itself between the National Convention [national revolutionary government] which has just ordered Robespierre & cronies arrested, and the Paris Commune [local revolutionary government] which has just launched an attempt to rescue him from prison and declare itself + Robespierre the legitimate government and the National Convention in counterrevolutionary revolt, we are tracking The Day and we are tracking Every Hour as the people of Paris slowly figure out a.) what the fuck is actually going on and b.) who they actually want to support about it. To be honest I think this feels a bit forced as a conceit up until noon or so when the Convention unexpectedly turns on Robespierre, because everything that's happening to that point is more or less about Important Revolutionary Figures (and also because he feels he has to start at midnight and all that happens at midnight is people thinking about what happened the previous day) but it really does pick up in the afternoon-to-evening period when the outcome of events depends much more on where the National Guard is and who they decide to support. I very much enjoyed the account of various battalions sending each other earnest messages to suss out each other's political sympathies and stealing memelike phraseology from each other as the trend caught on and felt deeply for the out-of-his-depth individual who got appointed temporary commander of the Paris Commune's contingent of the National Guard on account of his magnificent moustaches ("Me! Me! Fucking commander of potatoes more like!")
Actually, in my heart of hearts I think that the thesis that Jones is trying to make about the ways in which the outcome of the day was decided by popular consensus would actually be stronger if he had just written a book focusing entirely on the response in the city for the twelve hours after the shit hits the fan in the National Convention, rather than stretching it out for the full twenty-four. On the other hand I think that he would have been deeply sad to lose so many opportunities to be sarcastic about the toxic work environment up at the National Convention, and who am I to deny him this. Every time I read a book about the French or Russian revolutions I am struck all over again by the committee meetings that might kill you but, crucially, also have all the other normal miserable features of committee meetings, and that's why I will never be strong enough to be a leading player when the revolution comes.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-04 03:55 pm (UTC)The unstated, but clearly and dearly felt thesis is that every member of the Revolutionary government of this period was the most annoying coworker imaginable.
My new favorite guy from the French Revolution is the anonymous clerk who had to close the windows so the general public could not hear Robespierre and Lazare Carnot (I think?) screaming state secrets at each other. My second favorite guy is the temporary commander of the National Guard who did not want the job.
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Date: 2023-09-04 10:01 pm (UTC)I ALSO loved both these guys, I felt so bad for the Commander of Potatoes, it wasn't in the least bit his fault!
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Date: 2023-09-04 05:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-04 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-04 05:36 pm (UTC)You have just convinced me, not that I needed much convincing, that I want to be a foot soldier rather than a major player in the revolution.
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Date: 2023-09-04 06:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-04 10:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-05 11:20 am (UTC)Nightmare for them, comedy for us!
Agree on the source thing. How can I trust the author? What if they are quoting things OUT OF CONTEXT -
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Date: 2023-09-06 04:12 pm (UTC)I'm imagining all the most annoying people I've had to deal with in six years of socialist organizing coming together with the power of the nation-state at their disposal, and I regret to inform everybody that I've decided to become a monarchist
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Date: 2023-09-06 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-06 05:56 pm (UTC)