#french philosopher

[his-heart-hymns]

I see life in nothing but the certainty of your love convince me of it,my sweetest.If I am not somehow convinced I shall die of agony.

-John Keats,Letter To Fanny Brawne

My greatest revolt against this meaningless world is the happiness I feel because of you.

-Albert Camus,Letter to Maria Casarès

Hisab-ae-umr ka etna sa goshwara hai,tumhe nikal ke dekha toh sab khasara hai.

Translation:Such is the accounting statement of life, excluding you; everything else is just loss.

-Amjad Islam Amjad

[oceancentury]

“History never repeats itself. Man always does.” - Voltaire

[rose222blood]

Yeah my boyfriends (albert camus) pretty cool, but he’s not as cool as me (he is)

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[tobreatheinthismirage]

[proverbiumseniorum]

"The onset and the waning of love make themselves felt in the uneasiness experienced at being alone together."---Jean de la Bruyére, French philosopher, 1645-1696

[his-heart-hymns]

The literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself.

-Albert Camus

𝚂𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟿, 𝟷𝟿𝟹𝟶 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝙰𝚗𝚊𝚒̈𝚜 𝙽𝚒𝚗, 𝟷𝟿𝟶𝟹-𝟷𝟿𝟽𝟽

[philosophors]

“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.”

— Albert Camus

[fortunatelychaoticphantom]

I just saw a post with like eighteen thousand notes on it saying: "I became a murder trolley driver to help fix the trolley system from the inside," and I'm just... you people truly understand nothing about the trolley problem, do you? You people understand nothing about actual life, do you?

And of course OP is an "anarchist" and of course OP is an antisemite and of course the post was about the US elections. Of fucking course.

You all fantasize about an impossible horrendous revolution not because you care, because you don't fucking care about anything or anyone. You just want the burden of the pretense of morality off your shoulders so you can be as awful a human being as you truly want, and most of all you just really really really don't want to do the actual fucking work that it takes to make the world a better place, because god forbid you might have to make a decision that isn't morally pure and perfect like oh in the fucking trolley problem.

Though we both know you didn't and wouldn't even think twice before you threw Jews under said trolley. No. You did that gleefully. Because anarchy is such a wonderful ideal, but why start at home when you can call for murdering Jews first? Much easier.

[macrolit]

Voltaire: A Laurel Reader Voltaire This is 1 of 12 vintage paperback classics that comprise our current giveaw@y.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Get scared. It will do you good. Smoke a bit, stare blankly at some ceilings, beat your head against some walls, refuse to see some people, paint and write. Allow your little mind to do nothing but function. Please, do poetical justice to your soul.

Albert Camus gets existential about writing, 1959.

[without-ado]

"The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor."

— Voltaire

[enlitment]

Camille Desmoulins and Maximilien Robespierre – doomed by the Revolution?

a second part of the answer to the ask kindly sent by @iron--and--blood - first part can be found here

Okay, so I tried to follow the sources and I ended up missing what is arguably the key question. I think that there is enough evidence that warrants seeing Camille and Maximilien’s relationship as a ‘friendship torn apart but the revolution’, but could it in fact be something more that the chain of events of the mid-1790s ended up destroying?

(aka the good old “were they gay?” question)

It’s probably not surprising to anyone that there is no conclusive evidence that would suggest that either of them was definitely queer or that they were involved in some kind of a relationship. For context, the French Constitutional Assembly did decriminalise homosexuality, since there was simply no mention of private same-sex relationships it in the penal code of 1791.

Of course, there would still be a stigma surrounding queerness, seeing how France was a Catholic country – well, up to that point. On the other hand, it is also important to remember that anyone who received a higher education at that time would be well versed in classical authors (Greek and Roman that is), so they would have a framework for a positively viewed queer attraction/relationship (I'm mostly thinking of a kind of Alcibiades/Socrates vibes here. I think it sort of fits? Well it does in my headcanon anyway...). Camille especially seemed to be really into classics, making references to classical authors, history or mythology in approximately every other sentence.

CAMILLE – VICES HONTEUX AND A POSSIBILE BICON

If we consider Camille, I think it is clear that he was attracted to women. I think that the historical sources show that he genuinely did love his wife - Lucile - although it may also be true he was bit of a cad. There is a whole deal with him and Lucile’s mother with whom he apparently exchanged some flirty letters? I honestly need to look into it more at some point.

That said, attraction to women of course doesn’t exclude attraction to men. The one thing that would suggest Camille might have pursued a same-sex relationships is the reference to “vices honteux“ (shameful vices), which Saint-Just claims were attributed to Camille by Danton. We also learn from Robespierre’s note that this refered to something that was ‘totally unrelated to the revolution’.

So we know it’s something that would be seen as ‘shameful’ behaviour, but nonetheless a private matter. Could it be interest in same-sex relationships? It’s of course hard to say, but the theory is not completely implausible. For a discussion about this, I recommend this article.

MAXIMILIEN – A CONFIRMED BACHELOR?

With Maximilien Robespierre, it gets a little more complicated. He was essentially a confirmed bachelor, living with a family that adored him but that was not his own (and also a dog. He had a dog.) Talk about a found family trope!

Some sources claim that he was engaged to Éléonore Duplay, but Robespierre’s sister for one vehemently denies this. It’s true that he could probably easily have married her – I can’t imagine her family being opposed to it, far from it probably – but the fact is that for one reason or another, he did not.

He also didn’t really seem to capitalise on his massive popularity among the Parisian women. (Though, to be fair, neither did Rousseau and he was… well I guess he was his own version of heterosexual.)

Sure, one can interpret that as Robespierre being a workaholic or putting the revolution above everything else, but I personally think it is very possible that he would be considered to be on the asexual spectrum by today’s standards.

That said, although France was moving away from institutionalised religion at that point, Catholic guilt could certainly play a role, especially in someone who prided himself in his moral conduct and was told to be rigid about the rules. So the possibility of him being closeted as an explanation for his lack of interest in women would also not be completely off the table.

As to Camille and Maximilien being together in some way? I think there is certainly a precedence for this type of relationship in adolescence. Seeing that they have studied together (and shared enthusiasm for classics probably), it is not impossible, though of course, it is highly speculative.

I think it is also fair to say that Robespierre went above and beyond for Camille until the last few months. That is something he probably would have not done for many other people. He actually said as much himself:

“Learn, Camille, that if you were not Camille, one could not have so much indulgence for you.“

Was it because Camille was universally liked by the revolutionaries for all the good he has done? Possibly, but I think one can also read more into it. It certainly suggests that Camille was special in some way, and the fact that Robespierre uses ‚one‘ instead of ‚I‘ does not necessarily mean he is not speaking about himself here.

CAMILLE AND MAXIMILIEN IN THE MEDIA

When it comes to media portrayal, the relationship often comes across as queer-coded - to an extent.

In La Révolution française, this aspect is more prominent between Robespierre and Saint-Just, but with some well-timed smiles and glances, it almost reads as a tragic love triangle between the three. There are some unfortunate implications however, mainly that the hints of Robespierre's queerness in the movie are implicitly associated with his descent to tyrany. Ugh. (And let's face it, a kind of effeminacy linked to villainy as well. Honestly, who thought that kind of portrayal would be a good idea? Kudos for making a historical movie about the French Revolution come across as homophobic I guess.)

Hilary Mantel straight-up makes Camille Desmoulins bisexual (ish?) in A Place of Greater Safety, though there are <a lot of> issues with that portrayal, as discussed here (watch me linking another mutual's great post! Frevblr is truly the best). Not sure how the relationship with Robespierre is presented here since it’s one of the books I’ve been in the middle of for months.

And then there’s Stanisława Przybyszewska of course. She would honestly warrant a separate post, but long story short: in her works, there is no doubt about the fact that she portrays the relationship between them as queer. She invokes the Erastes/eromenos dynamic between them (quite explicitly, referring to Camille as an ephebe at one point) and makes the attraction between the two seem palpable. There is plenty of queer (under)tones to be found in The Danton Case, but in Last Nights of Ventôse , she straight up interprets the fall of the Dantonists as Camille running into Danton’s arms to spite Robespierre for snubbing him and rejecting his devotion (romantic advances?). And it gets quite physical – not in a way that would warrant an E rating, but it would certainly deserve one for the sheer emotional intensity.

[lecineaste]

The 400 Blows by François Truffaut

[sictransitgloriamvndi]

“Civilization is a social plague on the planet, and vices are just as necessary to it as is a virus to disease...We must, then, apply the principle of Doubt to Civilization; we must doubt its necessity, its excellence, and its permanence.” - Charles Fourier

[amateurvoltaire]

When I'm having a crappy day at work, I sometimes visit "L'Ami du Peuple" during my lunch break. It tends to put all the petty day-to-day stuff into perspective…

During the quieter moments, like today, when room 55 is nearly empty, I can't help but notice a pattern. Every single visitor, upon entering, pauses before the painting.

They do a double-take at the painting's name and give him another look. Some snap a photo they'll probably never look at again.

Then they move on.

Most of them likely have no clue who he is. They don't know he's holding a note from his assassin. If they even notice "L'An Deux" written at the bottom, they're probably confused by it.

But still, for those 30 seconds, David's brushstrokes exquisitely forming the face of this stricken man make them pause. What makes them linger? Is it the vaguely familiar name? The face they've seen on numerous posters and leaflets? The unsettling quiet brutality of the piece?

It doesn’t really matter why. Because, for that half-minute, through their eyes, he exists. He is present. He is contemporary.

[outstanding-quotes]

Albert Camus, “The Myth of Sisyphus”