#i will get into the relationship with sj and eleonore soon

[edgysaintjust]

The relationship of Camille Desmoulins and Robespierre in literary works of Przybyszewska

I was finally motivated to translate you some extracts from Przybyszewska’s letters, obviously getting right into the most interesting ones - her analysis of character relationships in her works in a letter to Helena Barlińska.

Przybyszewska was strongly influenced by Freud, and herself admits that she believes “all tenderness must be of erotic nature”, but in some cases can be more, as she calls, “sublime”, and reaching beyond one’s sexuality. As an example, she provides us the relationship of Camille and Robespierre in the Danton Case:

The feeling is unconditionally homoerotic (non-sexual, because sublime) on both sides; but with Camille it is only seemingly sublime. Hence the vagueness of this feeling, his anxiety, the imbalance: hesitations around a hidden goal, of which Camille feels terrified (of course, he only feels it, because he never let himself realise), disgust, increased strabismus, the inaccessibility of Robespierre - a goal which, however, draws his personal life along a carefully unknown line, not a shameful secret.

The emotion suppressed by force, forced into a different form, makes him feel bad in hatred, but in friendship he feels even worse, because here the distance to the proper form [an erotic one] is already irritatingly short - and yet remains insurmountable. The form comes closer, and as long as it is in motion, so long his emotions are fine. [...] Closeness, in the face of the apparent possibility of fulfilment (a passionate kiss or embrace would be enough, of course) makes the irritation shift into passion. 

Camille is therefore constantly nervous and driven by feelings he doesn’t control; we can observe his sudden mood swings in both the play and the novel, aware of his “love”, but never letting himself decode it. During the conversations with R, he will try to leave, angrily shut the door, and turn around to fall on his knees, all in the span of a few seconds. On Robespierre’s side, the approach to the same feeling is quite opposite:

To R., on the other hand, it is sublimated at full, completely extrasexual, therefore calm and conscious. (More clarification: in my opinion all tenderness is erotic, therefore of sexual origin; and traces of this origin must remain in shape, even as a new center has formed and has moved completely beyond the sexuality of allism.) He knows exactly the bitter intensity of his attachment; he knows his caring tenderness for Camille, a tenderness that no longer demands even the touch of his hands, that has become so inorganically pure that he can admit it - not only to himself, but even to his Camarade de chaîne, Lucille*.

We observe Robespierre as a person who fully realises his feelings, and has control over them. From his side, the relationship is more “pure”, but it is still not fully “mental”, as Przybyszewska will describe bonds deprived of the erotic tension. He is the person to look after Camille and try to help and enlighten him, being at times more harsh due to the irritation caused by other one's expressiveness. These emotions are often repressed, even though the character openly admits to them; he will not allow Camille to get too close, and rejects his acts of tenderness and devotion (read: the feet part) as well as the need of physical touch, which is almost non-existent to him.

*R and Lucille meet in the Danton Case, to discuss the case of Camille just adding this little fact if it causes confusion. Obviously, they both have feelings for Camille, which Przynyszewska highlights in the letter.