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In case anyone was wondering why I haven't replied to comments and posts and such for the past few days, it's because I was in Portland and had extremely limited computer access. Now that I'm back I'll try to reply to all comments and posts as soon as possible (that should be by the end of the day tomorrow).
I spent most of the time I was in Portland in the very large used bookstore there, Powell's. Very large can sometimes mean exaggerations of unfortunate phenomena in smaller bookstores though (for example, in terms of biographies in the French History section: there were no fewer than *eighteen* different books (and I don't mean copies) on Antoinette--and comparable numbers for Louis XIV and Bonaparte, though at least those are understandable, since they had a rather large historical impact, but *Antoinette*?! Really, it's just pathetic. >__> As far as other people from the Revolutionary period go, there were the usual ten or so on La Fayette, one on Vergniaud, one on Marat, three on Robespierre (Scurr, Thompson, and that new collection of speeches that just came out)... and that's it.
...I don't suppose it's any wonder that people think the three most important people in French history are Louis XIV, Bonaparte, and Antoinette, with secondary roles for La Fayette and Richelieu (there were about as many books on him as La Fayette). And I suppose they are all more or less important, even if I don't like them. Or most of them, anyway. Where the hell does Antoinette come in though? Antoinette =/= important. At all. >:(
Oh, and I found out a few random Danton-related things (quite by accident, as you can imagine). The first is that, as Maelicia mentioned a while back, Danton apparently, um, read Justine. It would seem that it's Restif de la Bretonne who says as much--though I really don't want to know how he would know that. O_O; Also, that painting that's commonly assumed to be of Danton's second wife? There's no proof of that, apparently; some guy who owned it in the late 19th century claimed that it *must* be of her because it was from the same era and it kind of resembled a miniature of her. Random 19th century people can be really unintelligent sometimes.
And before I end this rambling and somewhat pointless post, I'll also mention that I read the chapter about Robespierre inde Baecque's book on seven deaths during the Revolution. My only comment on this really is that, while I don't disagree with his analysis, it was very difficult to read. ;____; Seriously, I barely got through it.
I spent most of the time I was in Portland in the very large used bookstore there, Powell's. Very large can sometimes mean exaggerations of unfortunate phenomena in smaller bookstores though (for example, in terms of biographies in the French History section: there were no fewer than *eighteen* different books (and I don't mean copies) on Antoinette--and comparable numbers for Louis XIV and Bonaparte, though at least those are understandable, since they had a rather large historical impact, but *Antoinette*?! Really, it's just pathetic. >__> As far as other people from the Revolutionary period go, there were the usual ten or so on La Fayette, one on Vergniaud, one on Marat, three on Robespierre (Scurr, Thompson, and that new collection of speeches that just came out)... and that's it.
...I don't suppose it's any wonder that people think the three most important people in French history are Louis XIV, Bonaparte, and Antoinette, with secondary roles for La Fayette and Richelieu (there were about as many books on him as La Fayette). And I suppose they are all more or less important, even if I don't like them. Or most of them, anyway. Where the hell does Antoinette come in though? Antoinette =/= important. At all. >:(
Oh, and I found out a few random Danton-related things (quite by accident, as you can imagine). The first is that, as Maelicia mentioned a while back, Danton apparently, um, read Justine. It would seem that it's Restif de la Bretonne who says as much--though I really don't want to know how he would know that. O_O; Also, that painting that's commonly assumed to be of Danton's second wife? There's no proof of that, apparently; some guy who owned it in the late 19th century claimed that it *must* be of her because it was from the same era and it kind of resembled a miniature of her. Random 19th century people can be really unintelligent sometimes.
And before I end this rambling and somewhat pointless post, I'll also mention that I read the chapter about Robespierre in
