Book Recommendations on the French Revolution (the "short" list version)
(For some reason, the original anonymous ask and answer I thought I had saved in my drafts has disappeared? Did I accidentally delete it? Who knows with Tumblr. Anyway, good thing I screenshotted it, I guess.)
Since I am STILL working on my extremely long post series going in depth into recommendations, I guess I should really just answer this ask and give a plain and simple list, as it was requested -_- (Don't worry, the extremely long post series is still going to happen.)
First of all, let’s just say, again (and it really must be insisted on), that most Anglophone historiography is… not very good. There are exceptions, but not many. At least, not enough to satisfy me. Fortunately, some good French books have been translated to English – so that’s great news!
So here are my main recommendations:
Sophie Wahnich’s La liberté ou la mort. Essai sur la Terreur et le terrorisme (2003) which was translated to In Defence of the Terror: Liberty Or Death in the French Revolution with a foreword by Slavoj Zizek in 2012.
This essay basically changed my life, and led me to take the path I have walked since as a historian. Zizek’s foreword is very good in summarizing the ideological oppositions to the French Revolution (until he rambles the way he usually does).
It opens with a quote from Résistant poet René Char which perfectly sets the tone:
“I want never to forget how I was forced to become – for how long? – a monster of justice and intolerance, a narrow-minded simplifier, an arctic character uninterested in anyone who was not in league with him to kill the dogs of hell.”
Keep in mind that when I first read it, in 2003, the very notion of anything like the Charlottesville rally happening was still in the realm of pure fantasy.
Marie-Hélène Huet’s Mourning Glory: The Will of the French Revolution (1997). One of the rare books in my list that was originally written in English (!). I think a lot of it might be available to read via Google Books, but it’s worth buying.
This book is hard to categorize: it talks of historiography and ideology, and it’s overall a fascinating book.
It feels a lot like Sophie Wahnich’s first essay – it was also similarly influential on my research. It inspired a lot of my M.A. thesis. I’ve recently found my book version of it, and this book was annotated like I’ve rarely annotated a book. It was quite impressive.
Dominique Godineau’s Citoyennes Tricoteuses: Les femmes du peuple à Paris pendant la Révolution française (1988) which was translated to The Women of Paris and Their French Revolution (1998).
It’s the best book on women’s history during the French Revolution IMO. I really don’t have much more to say about it: it’s excellent. It talks of working class women, it talks of the conflicts between different women groups, it talks of what happened after Thermidor and the Prairial insurrections, and the women who were arrested. No book has compared to it yet.
Jean-Pierre Gross’s Fair Shares for All: Jacobin Egalitarianism in Practice (1997). You can download it for free via The Charnel House (link opens as pdf).
Another rare book that was originally written in English, and later translated to French, though the author is French! (I think some French authors have picked up that the real battlefield is in Anglophonia…) It’s very important to understand social rights, a founding legacy of the French Revolution.
François Gendron’s essential book on the Thermidorian Reaction: first published in Québec as La jeunesse dorée. Episodes de la Révolution française (1979) (The Gilded Youth. Episodes of the French Revolution). It was then published in France as La jeunesse sous Thermidor (The Youth During Thermidor). As I explained here, its publication history is quite controversial (though it seems no one noticed?). It was thankfully translated to English as The Gilded Youth of Thermidor (1993). However, the English translation follows Pierre Chaunu’s version – which didn’t alter the content per se, but removed the footnotes and has a terribly reactionary foreword – so be careful with that. If anything, that’s a very good example of all the problems in historiography and translations.
Much like Godineau’s book on women, no book can compare. In the case of women’s history during the French Revolution, it’s because most of it is abysmally terrible; in the case of the Thermidorian reaction, it’s because no one talks about it. And it’s not surprising once you start reading about it.
(You might notice that Gendron’s translated book, much like many others, are prohibitively expensive. I do own some of these so if you ever want to read any, send me a message and we’ll work it out!)
Antoine de Baecque’s The Body Politic. Corporeal Metaphor in Revolutionary France, 1770-1800 (1997), which is a translation of Le Corps de l’histoire : Métaphores et politique (1770-1800) (1993). (Here’s the table of contents.) It’s a peculiar book belonging to a peculiar field, and it can be a bit complicated/advanced in the same way most of Sophie Wahnich’s books are, but I still recommend them. See also: La gloire et l’effroi, Sept morts sous la Terreur (1997) and Les éclats du rire : la culture des rieurs aux 18e siècle (2000), but I don’t think either have been translated. Le Corps de l’histoire and La gloire et l’effroi also are nice complements to Marie-Hélène Huet’s book.
If you can read French, I really recommend the five essays reunited in Pour quoi faire la Révolution ? (2012), especially Guillaume Mazeau’s on the Terror (La Terreur, laboratoire de la modernité) – which I might try to eventually translate or at least summarize in English coz it’s really worth it.
The following books are extremely important to understand the historiographical feud and the controversies that surrounded the Bicentennial of the French Revolution in 1989 (and both have been translated to French so that’s cool too):
First, Steven L. Kaplan’s two volumes called Farewell, Revolution: Disputed Legacies (1995) and The Historians’ Feud (1996).
Then, Eric Hobsbawm’s Echoes of the Marseillaise: Two Centuries Look Back on the French Revolution (1990) which gives you the Marxist perspective on the debate. If you want to look for the non-Marxist perspective: look at literally any other book written on the French Revolution and its historiography (I’m not kidding). For example, you can read the introduction by Gwynne Lewis (1999 book edition; 2012 online edition) to Alfred Cobban’s The Social Interpretation of the French Revolution (1964), the founding “revisionist” book.
Again, if you can read French, I recommend Michel Vovelle’s Combats pour la Révolution française (1993) and 1789: L’héritage et la mémoire (2007). I have not read La bataille du Bicentenaire de la Révolution française (2017) but it might recycle parts of the previous two books, so I’d look that up first.
Marxist historiography is near inexistant in Anglophonia, because of reasons best explained in this short historiographical recap on Anglophone historiography and specifically Alfred Cobban (link opens as pdf), but there was Eric Hobsbawm, who wrote a series of very important books on “The Ages of…”:
The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848
The Age of Capital: 1848-1875
The Age of Empire: 1875-1914
The Age of Extremes: 1914-1991
Some of Albert Soboul’s works have been translated as well:
A Short History of the French Revolution, 1789-1799 (1977)
The Sans-Culottes: The Popular Movement and Revolutionary Government, 1793-1794 (1981)
Understanding the French Revolution (1988), which is a collection of various essays translated to English (here’s the table of contents)
While we’re on the subject of classics: I do need to re-read R. R. Palmer’s The Twelve Who Ruled (1941) to see if I still like it, but I believe it’s still positively received? I’ve never actually read C. L. R. James’ The Black Jacobins. Toussaint Louverture and the San Domingo Revolution (1963) but I’m going to rectify that this summer.
That’s a good way to segue into a final part.
Here is a list of books I technically have not read yet (I skimmed through them), but would still recommend because I trust the authors:
Michel Biard and Marisa Linton’s The French Revolution and Its Demons (2021) which was originally published in French as Terreur ! La Révolution française face à ses demons (2020). It looks like an excellent summary of all the controversies surrounding the Terror: Robespierre’s black legend, how the Terror was “invented”, the conflicts between different political factions and clubs, the Vendée, and stats on who actually died by the guillotine (no, there was no “noble purge”). (Here’s the table of contents.)
Peter McPhee wrote several good syntheses, the most recent being Liberty or Death: The French Revolution (2017). Others he wrote: Living the French Revolution, 1789-99 (2006) and A Social History of France, 1789-1914 (1992, reedited in 2004). Why 1914? The 19th century was defined by Hobsbawm (see above) as “the long 19th century” (by contrast with “the short 20th century”), or “the cultural and political 19th century”, which is regarded as lasting from the fall of Napoléon Bonaparte to the First World war.
Eric Hazan’s A People’s History of the French Revolution (2014) and A History of the Barricade (2015), which are translations (Une histoire de la Révolution française, 2012, and La barricade: Histoire d’un objet révolutionnaire, 2013). If you can read French, check out his essay published by La Fabrique: La dynamique de la révolte. Sur des insurrections passes et d’autres à venir (2015).
Just as a final note: this post is the equivalent of four half single-spaced pages in Times New Roman 12 pts. It also took two hours to write and format (and make the side-posts with table of contents) even though most of it is already written in several drafts – i.e. the long post series of in-depth recommendations, so that gives you an idea of why that other series of posts is taking so long to write.
I’m going to go lie down now. -_-
ETA: Corrected some typos and a link that didn't quite go to the right place.
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15 nominations pour LA DÉESSE DES MOUCHES À FEU au Gala Québec Cinéma 2021
Une autre année pas comme les autres pour le Gala Québec Cinéma, alors que les salles ont longtemps été fermées, ce qui n’a pas empêché une vingtaine de longs métrages de fiction de prendre l’affiche.
Dans la catégorie Meilleur film, on retrouve quatre des films qui ont été le plus vus et appréciés, soit Le club Vinland, La déesse des mouches à feu, My Salinger Year et Nadia Butterly, ainsi que Souterrain, dont la sortie a été maintes fois reportée, mais qui sera le film d’ouverture des Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma cette semaine.
Alignement semblable dans la catégorie Meilleure réalisation, avec Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette (La déesse des mouches à feu), Sophie Dupuis (Souterrain), Philippe Falardeau (My Salinger Year) et Benoit Pilon (Le club Vinland), mais l’industrie a préféré Daniel Roby (Target Number One) à Pascal Plante (Nadia Butterly).
Dans la catégorie Meilleur scénario, encore là, les gros joueurs sont tous là: Normand Bergeron, Benoit Pilon, Marc Robitaille – Le club Vinland, Sophie Dupuis – Souterrain, Philippe Falardeau – My Salinger Year, Catherine Léger – La déesse des mouches à feu, Daniel Roby – Target Number One.
Du côté des actrices, on retrouve Émilie Bierre pour Les nôtres, Marie-Evelyne Lessard pour Jusqu’au déclin, l’actrice américaine Margaret Qualley pour My Salinger Year, Karelle Tremblay pour la coproduction Death of a Ladies’ Man, ainsi que Sarah Sutherland pour Like a House on Fire.
Les acteurs en lice pour l’Iris sont Réal Bossé pour Jusqu’au déclin, Paul Doucet pour Les nôtres, Patrick Hivon pour Mont Foster, Antoine Olivier Pilon pour Target Number One, et Sébastien Ricard pour Le club Vinland.
Dans les catégories « rôle de soutien », on retrouve Sophie Desmarais pour Vacarme, Marianne Farley pour Les nôtres, Éléonore Loiselle et Caroline Néron pour La déesse des mouches à feu, et la mythique Sigourney Weaver pour My Salinger Year chez les dames.
Chez ces messieurs, les finalistes sont Normand D’Amour et Robin L’Houmeau pour La déesse des mouches à feu, Rémy Girard pour Le club Vinland, ainsi que James Hyndman et Théodore Pellerin pour Souterrain.
La catégorie Révélation de l’année est l’une des plus intéressantes selon moi, car c’est un aperçu des visages marquants du cinéma des prochaines années. D’ailleurs, Émilie Bierre et Théodore Pellerin, en nomination cette année respectivement pour un premier rôle féminin et un rôle de soutien masculin, font partie des lauréats passés du prix Révélation. Donc, en 2021, les finalistes sont : Kelly Depeault – La déesse des mouches à feu, Jasmine Lemée – Mon cirque à moi, Rosalie Pépin – Vacarme, Joakim Robillard – Souterrain et Arnaud Vachon – Le club Vinland.
Voici le reste des catégories :
MEILLEURE DISTRIBUTION DES RÔLES
Iris de la Meilleure distribution des rôles
Deirdre Bowen (Deirdre Bowen Casting) | Heidi Levitt (Heidi Levitt Casting) | Bruno Rosato (Rosato Casting) | Supattra « Pum » Punyadee – Target Number One
Marjolaine Lachance (Balustrade casting) – Les Nôtres
Marjolaine Lachance (Balustrade casting) – Souterrain
Murielle La Ferrière, Marie-Claude Robitaille (Casting Murielle La Ferrière et Marie-Claude Robitaille) – La déesse des mouches à feu
Pierre Pageau, Daniel Poisson (Gros Plan) – Le Club Vinland
MEILLEURE DIRECTION ARTISTIQUE
Iris de la Meilleure direction artistique
Patrice Bengle, Louise Tremblay – Le Club Vinland
Elise de Blois, Claude Tremblay – My Salinger Year
Sylvain Lemaitre, Louisa Schabas – Blood Quantum
David Pelletier – Mon cirque à moi
David Pelletier – Target Number One
MEILLEURE DIRECTION DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE
Iris de la Meilleure direction de la photographie
Jonathan Decoste – La déesse des mouches à feu
François Gamache – Le Club Vinland
Mathieu Laverdière – Souterrain
Tobie Marier Robitaille – La nuit des rois
Sara Mishara – My Salinger Year
MEILLEUR SON
Iris du Meilleur son
Pierre-Jules Audet, Emmanuel Croset, Michel Tsagli – La nuit des rois
Sylvain Bellemare, Paul Col, Bernard Gariépy Strobl, Martyne Morin – La déesse des mouches à feu
Sylvain Bellemare, Bernard Gariépy Strobl, François Grenon – Jusqu’au déclin
Stéphane Bergeron, Olivier Calvert, Martyne Morin – Nadia, Butterfly
Luc Boudrias, Frédéric Cloutier, Patrice LeBlanc – Souterrain
MEILLEUR MONTAGE
Iris du Meilleur montage
Aube Foglia – La nuit des rois
Michel Grou – Souterrain
Stéphane Lafleur – La déesse des mouches à feu
Arthur Tarnowski – Jusqu’au déclin
Yvann Thibaudeau – Target Number One
MEILLEURS EFFETS VISUELS
Iris des Meilleurs effets visuels
Alchimie 24 – Sébastien Chartier, Jean-François « Jafaz » Ferland, Marie-Claude Lafontaine – Jusqu’au déclin
Real by Fake – Michael Beaulac, Marie-Hélène Panisset – Target Number One
The Workshop – Barbara Rosenstein, Josh Sherrett – Blood Quantum
MEILLEURE MUSIQUE ORIGINALE
Iris de la Meilleure musique originale
Olivier Alary – La nuit des rois
Patrice Dubuc, Gaëtan Gravel – Souterrain
Guido Del Fabbro, Pierre Lapointe – Le Club Vinland
Jean-Phi Goncalves, Éloi Painchaud, Jorane Pelletier – Target Number One
Martin Léon – My Salinger Year
MEILLEURS COSTUMES
Iris des Meilleurs costumes
Caroline Bodson – Souterrain
Francesca Chamberland – Le Club Vinland
Patricia McNeil, Ann Roth – My Salinger Year
Noémi Poulin – Blood Quantum
Sharon Scott – Mon cirque à moi
MEILLEUR MAQUILLAGE
Iris du Meilleur maquillage
Kathryn Casault – La déesse des mouches à feu
Dominique T. Hasbani – Jusqu’au déclin
Audray Adam, Sandra Ruel – Souterrain
Joan-Patricia Parris, Nancy Ferlatte, Erik Gosselin – Blood Quantum
Larysa Chernienko, Natalie Trépanier – Target Number One
MEILLEURE COIFFURE
Iris de la Meilleure coiffure
Michelle Côté – My Salinger Year
Stéphanie DeFlandre – Mon cirque à moi
André Duval – Le Club Vinland
Marcelo Padovani – Blood Quantum
Johanne Paiement – La déesse des mouches à feu
MEILLEUR FILM DOCUMENTAIRE
Iris du Meilleur film documentaire
Errance sans retour – Mélanie Carrier, Olivier Higgins | Mö Films – Mélanie Carrier, Olivier Higgins
The Forbidden Reel – Ariel Nasr | Office national du film du Canada – Kat Baulu | Loaded Pictures – Sergeo Kirby | Ariel Nasr
Je m’appelle humain – Kim O’Bomsawin | Terre Innue – Andrée-Anne Frenette
Tant que j’ai du respir dans le corps – Steve Patry | Les Films de l’Autre – Steve Patry
Wintopia – Mira Burt-Wintonick | Office national du film du Canada – Annette Clarke | EyeSteelFilm – Bob Moore
MEILLEURE DIRECTION DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE | FILM DOCUMENTAIRE
Iris de la Meilleure direction de la photographie | Film documentaire
Sarah Baril Gaudet – Passage
Hugo Gendron, Michel Valiquette – Je m’appelle humain
Olivier Higgins, Renaud Philippe – Errance sans retour
Mathieu Perrault Lapierre – The 108 Journey
Marianne Ploska – Prière pour une mitaine perdue
MEILLEUR SON | FILM DOCUMENTAIRE
Iris du Meilleur son | Film documentaire
Pierre-Jules Audet, Luc Boudrias, Olivier Higgins, Kala Miya – Errance sans retour
Stéphane Barsalou, Claude Beaugrand, Julie Innes – Le château
Marie-Andrée Cormier, Olivier Germain, Marie-Pierre Grenier – Prière pour une mitaine perdue
Benoît Dame, Catherine Van Der Donckt – Jongué, carnet nomade
Olivier Germain, Marie-Pierre Grenier – Wintopia
MEILLEUR MONTAGE | FILM DOCUMENTAIRE
Iris du Meilleur montage | Film documentaire
Anouk Deschênes – Wintopia
Olivier Higgins, Amélie Labrèche – Errance sans retour
Annie Jean – Le château
Annie Jean – The Forbidden Reel
Alexandre Lachance – Je m’appelle humain
MEILLEURE MUSIQUE ORIGINALE | FILM DOCUMENTAIRE
Iris de la Meilleure musique originale | Film documentaire
Tom Brunt – Prière pour une mitaine perdue
Martin Dumais – Errance sans retour
Justin Guzzwell, Tyr Jami, Eric Shaw – Sisters: Dream & Variations
Mathieu Perrault Lapierre – The 108 Journey
Claude Rivest – Jongué, carnet nomade
MEILLEUR COURT MÉTRAGE | FICTION
Iris du Meilleur court métrage | Fiction
Aniksha – Vincent Toi | Vincent Toi, Guillaume Collin
Comme une comète – Ariane Louis-Seize | Colonelle films – Fanny Drew, Sarah Mannering
Écume – Omar Elhamy | Les Films Rôdeurs – Jonathan Beaulieu-Cyr, Paul Chotel
Goodbye Golovin – Mathieu Grimard | Golovin Films – Simon Corriveau-Gagné, Mathieu Grimard
Lune – Zoé Pelchat | MéMO Films – Mélanie S. Dubois
MEILLEUR COURT MÉTRAGE | ANIMATION
Iris du Meilleur court métrage | Animation
Barcelona de Foc – Theodore Ushev | Theodore Ushev
The Fourfold – Alisi Telengut | Alisi Telengut
In the Shadow of the Pines – Anne Koizumi | Nava Projects – Sahar Yousefi
Moi, Barnabé – Jean-François Lévesque | Office national du film du Canada – Julie Roy
La saison des hibiscus – Éléonore Goldberg | Embuscade films – Nicolas Dufour-Laperrière
MEILLEUR COURT MÉTRAGE | DOCUMENTAIRE
Iris du Meilleur court métrage | Documentaire
Clebs – Halima Ouardiri | Halima Ouardiri
Le frère – Jérémie Battaglia | Les Films Extérieur Jour – Amélie Lambert Bouchard
Life of a Dog – Danae Elon, Rosana Matecki | Entre deux mondes Productions – Paul Cadieux, Danae Elon
Nitrate – Yousra Benziane | Yousra Benziane
Port d’attache – Laurence Lévesque | Elise Bois
PRIX DU PUBLIC
Le Club Vinland – Benoit Pilon | Normand Bergeron, Benoit Pilon, Marc Robitaille | Les Films Opale | Productions Avenida – Chantal Lafleur
La déesse des mouches à feu – Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette | Catherine Léger | Entract Films | Coop Vidéo de Montréal – Luc Vandal
Félix et le trésor de Morgäa – Nicola Lemay | Marc Robitaille | Maison 4:3 | 10e Ave Productions – Nancy Florence Savard
Flashwood – Jean-Carl Boucher | Jean-Carl Boucher | Entract Films | Go Films – Jean-Carl Boucher, Nicole Robert
Jusqu’au déclin – Patrice Laliberté | Charles Dionne, Nicolas Krief, Patrice Laliberté | Netflix | Couronne Nord – Julie Groleau
Like a House on Fire – Jesse Noah Klein | Jesse Noah Klein | Entract Films | Colonelle films – Fanny Drew, Sarah Mannering | Woods Entertainment – William Woods
Mon cirque à moi – Miryam Bouchard | Miryam Bouchard, Martin Forget | Les Films Séville | Attraction Images – Antonello Cozzolino
Mont Foster – Louis Godbout | Louis Godbout | K-Films Amérique | Les Films Primatice – Sébastien Poussard
My Salinger Year – Philippe Falardeau | Philippe Falardeau | Métropole Films | micro_scope – Luc Déry, Kim McCraw | Parallel Films – Ruth Coady, Susan Mullen
Nadia, Butterfly – Pascal Plante | Pascal Plante | Maison 4:3 | Némésis Films – Dominique Dussault
Les Nôtres – Jeanne Leblanc | Judith Baribeau, Jeanne Leblanc, | Maison 4:3 | Slykid & Skykid – Benoit Beaulieu, Marianne Farley
Rustic Oracle – Sonia Bonspille Boileau | Sonia Bonspille Boileau | 7th Screen | Nish Media – Jason Brennan
Le sang du pélican – Denis Boivin | Denis Boivin | Les Distributions Netima | Productions Dionysos – Denis Boivin
Slaxx – Elza Kephart | Patricia Gomez Zlatar, Elza Kephart | Filmoption International | EMAfilms – Anne-Marie Gélinas | Head on the Door Productions – Patricia Gomez Zlatar
Target Number One – Daniel Roby | Daniel Roby | Les Films Séville | Caramel Films – Valérie d’Auteuil, André Rouleau
We Had It Coming – Paul Barbeau | Paul Barbeau | MK2 Mile End | Reprise Films – Melissa A. Smith, Paul Barbeau
IRIS HOMMAGE
Association coopérative de productions audiovisuelles (ACPAV)
Représentée par Marc Daigle et Bernadette Payeur
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