#journal de stefan

[unsiredtribrid]

“Klaus Mikaelson the Great Evil”

“He wasn’t very popular around here”

[nesiacha]

Excerpts from Letters and Chapters of Historians on the Break Between Babeuf and Fouché

Yes, we all know the story of Babeuf, who was at one point manipulated by Fouché. But contrary to what Stefan Zweig describes, Babeuf is far from being a simpleton (by the way, Fouché manipulated many intelligent people, whether they were aware of it or not). He was an engaged revolutionary, far more humanitarian than others, while still having insightful reflections (I admit, it's my fan-girl side of Babeuf speaking, but the letters, especially those from the storming of the Bastille and the murder of Foulon, where he condemned this murder while offering very just opinions, can be found here: https://www.tumblr.com/nesiacha/766775982269087744/gracchus-babeufs-opinion-on-the-storming-of-the?source=share). Yes, Fouché did manipulate him at one point because he knew Babeuf had humanitarian values, and here is an excerpt:

"Ordered by Fouché, who seeks to make common cause with the Thermidorians, in the context of the trial of Carrier, the man behind the Nantes drownings, it serves as an alibi for the former machine-gunner of Lyon. The method is classic. It consists of denouncing one's former political allies, exaggerating, in order to better save oneself." (Emmanuel de Waresquiel, Vendée and Chouannerie: Two Centuries of Memory, Revue des Deux Mondes, September 1993).

But Babeuf always denounced the double standard of morality (I am deliberately exaggerating here), and here is an excerpt from the historian Claude Mazauric:

"Babeuf is on the side of the Revolution and the Republic, not the opposite; it is precisely on the basis of republican and revolutionary values, which, according to him, are grounded in universal principles, that he protested against the 'decemviral tone,' the 'proconsular exactions,' the unnecessary and arbitrary violence, etc."

Moreover, Babeuf was a man who never abandoned his true friends, even in their time of need. He often wrote, for example, to the widow of Chaumette (even though she was considered the widow of a traitor). I really need to find these letters one day. In lieu of the letters to the widow of Chaumette, here is an excerpt from a letter Babeuf sent to Chaumette when he was still alive:

"Philanthropists! I announce to you my book on Equality, which I will present to the world. Sophists! With it, I will destroy all the false reasoning by which you have misled, chained, and made the Universe suffer; and despite you, men will know the full extent of their rights, nature's vow will no longer be violated, and they will all be happy."

Moreover, we see Babeuf gradually realizing Fouché's true nature. He distances himself from him until their eventual break.

Babeuf wrote on the 19th of Germinal Year III to Fouché after the popular insurrection of the Sans-Culottes due to famine and misery (Babeuf would lose his daughter Sophie because of this, a loss from which he never recovered):

"The catastrophe of the 12th of Germinal makes way for great changes. This does not mean that I renounce it and leave the party. The ideas that occupy me, together with the conclusion I wish to establish in this letter, will lead me, my friend, to speak to you about the great battle we just lost... but must we be crushed by it? No. It is in great dangers that genius and courage unfold."

But here is what he writes to Fouché in his journal The Tribune of the People:

"You have become very rich, Fouché. When I left to be relegated to the North, I believed I could place enough trust in you to recommend my children. They went to see you. You gave them ten francs one day. You took no more interest in the family of an honorable victim of the patriciate. Today, you would sacrifice four to five thousand francs to stifle a few truths. This last object deserves far more than the other to affect your heart. It is exactly a year ago, Fouché, that there was with the then government, another director or syndic of the library, than you: it was Lanthenas. He wrote to me. I still keep his letters, and I can still justify the similar propositions he suggested to me, though with a little more finesse. You don’t write to me; but you speak to me in front of Antonelle and company. I give you the same response I gave to Lanthenas. I don’t want a censor, a corrector, or a whisperer; I still opt for persecution, if necessary; I will not tune in with the Méhée, and I insist on maintaining, against you, that the time has come when every truth must be spoken. You may conspire with the current government: we know how every government conspires. I declare that I am also part of a conspiracy. It is not yours. Send your agents on the campaign as much as you want; you will not destroy it. If this letter were to be read by the patriots, I would tell them: remember that a year ago, I was more right on my own than all the Jacobins together. I loudly demanded the constitution of that time. If they had demanded it at the same time as me, they would have saved the people and themselves. On the contrary, they were long in opposition to me, constantly seeking to delay the implementation of that constitution. In the end, they recognized I saw better than them, and they came to echo me. They demanded, through Barrère and Audouin, the swift establishment of the constitutional regime; but it was too late. A few days later, their society died assassinated. Their demand, therefore, lost all force. The time for delays is over. We are no longer in times when one can wait. They say public opinion must be redone. It is too formed. The people feel too much the extent of their suffering; they can no longer bear it. To help them, there is no quicker remedy than to put them at odds with their enemies, with all those who are the cause of all they suffer. Wanting to make them wait is asking that each day add to the destructive force that is depopulating our country at terrifying speed, sending each of us, in turn, to death, in slow and horrible anguish."

And he adds to Fouché: "It has been said for some time that you were my Mentor [...] I don’t want a censor, a corrector, or a whisperer: I still opt for persecution, if necessary [...] And I insist on maintaining, against you, that the time has come when every truth must be spoken."

Babeuf understood Fouché’s ambitions and wanted nothing to do with him anymore. Personally, I’ve discussed with friends passionate about the French Revolution (some of whom have opinions different from mine, even very different, but that’s fine because otherwise, it would be boring, we wouldn’t learn as well, and everyone must benefit from free judgment) who hypothesized that if Babeuf had followed the tide, like Fouché, and had not denounced him, perhaps Fouché would have allowed him a pension. The same goes for Marie-Anne Babeuf, the wife of Gracchus Babeuf and his right-hand woman (she helped him print, managed subscriptions, was imprisoned under the Directory for her activism, tried to help him escape, walked many miles pregnant with 8-months-old to organize his defense, and kept her married name after her husband's execution), who continued her political activities after her husband's death (some sources describe her as a woman with a strong character who did not back down in the face of adversity and I believe it given the trials she has undergone and how she has reacted), to the point of being arrested twice by the Napoleonic police (more precisely, she was arrested by the police for the first time during the affair of the infernal machine in 1801, actually perpetrated by the royalists, and questioned a second time by the police who took all her papers and those of her son so her property in 1808) . We know that Félix Lepeletier was a close friend to her and her children and always helped them after her widowhood. Turreau adopted one of her sons, Camille (the only good deed I found from him), and maybe Réal. But nothing from Fouché (while one of the few good deeds he did in his life was granting a pension to the widow of Collot d'Herbois). Some of my friends have suggested that it was precisely because she was cut from the same cloth as Gracchus (or maybe she wanted nothing to do with Fouché, which makes sense) and given that she continued her political activism against those whom Fouché served, without abandoning her cause. This is a hypothesis I should look into one day.

P.S.: It is interesting to see the quote from Barère, as well as Xavier François Audouin, who played an important role in the period of the French Revolution, both in the 1792 years, and was a well-known neo-Jacobin opponent of the Directory, especially according to historian Bernard Gainot (he was a Hébertist who escaped deportation under Bonaparte, either through the intervention of Monge, or because Bonaparte hoped to win over his father-in-law Pache to his side, but this didn’t work out; indeed, Xavier Audouin had married Sylvie, who according to Mathilde Larrère, though young, was known for her Hébertist activism; in 1816, Xavier Audouin, under pressure from the Bourbon laws, became a royalist). As for Antonelle, I’ve already spoken about him here: https://www.tumblr.com/nesiacha/761515728971202560/the-political-career-of-the-revolutionary?source=share

About Pache and the Audouin couple: https://www.tumblr.com/nesiacha/767044131014033408/very-mediocre-and-horrible-quote-from-buzot?source=share https://www.tumblr.com/nesiacha/767308509546266624/this-is-the-principle-of-a-friendship-triangle?source=share

(I warn you, it’s not much, but I plan to do a post about Pache one day unless someone else does it for me).

And Barère, well… Let’s just say that many people better informed than I am have already said everything there is to say in my place. I couldn’t have said or done better.

Sources:

Eric Walter

Claude Mazauric

Mathilde Larrère

Bernard Gainot

[thefudge]

Drfudge, I remember you have some book recs posts but I can't find any, so I'd like to ask you what are your all time fave books, if it's okay. Thank you <3

you should check out my "books", and "book rec" tags on my blogs, but here is an updated list of some of my favorites (including essays and short stories):

what a carve up, by jonathan coe

excellent women, by barbara pym

restoration, by rose tremain

invitation to the waltz, by rosamond lehmann

journal d'hirondelle, by amelie nothomb

oblomov, by ivan goncharov

kiss me first, by lottie moggach

the idiot & demons, by dostoevsky

the idiot, by elif batuman

revolutionary road, by richard yates

the girl in the flammable skirt, by aimee bender

out of the woods, by chris offutt

hygiene de l'assassin, by amelie nothomb

memoirs of a dutiful daughter, by simone de beauvoir

chevengur, by andrei platonov

the master and margarita, by bulgakov

the corrections, by jonathan franzen

hamlet & king lear by shakespeare

richard iii & henry vi, part 1, by shakespeare

a midsummer night's dream, the taming of the shrew & as you like it by shakespeare

i capture the castle, by dodie smith

point counter point, by aldous huxley

arcadia, by tom stoppard

stoner, by john williams

eugene onegin, by pushkin

paradise lost & samson agonistes, by john milton

the age of innocence, by edith wharton

katherine mansfield's diaries & short stories

axel's castle, by edmund wilson

the dead, by james joyce

the heat of the day, by elizabeth bowen

pride and prejudice, by jane austen

franny and zooey, by salinger

the stranger, by albert camus

seduction and betrayal, by elizabeth hardwick

the beguiled, by cullinan thomas

girl with a pearl earring, by tracy chevalier

the wine of solitude, by irene nemirovsky

dark entries, by robert aickman

capitalist realism, by mark fisher

the blizzard, by vladimir sorokin

karate chop, dorothe nors

go, went, gone, by jenny erpenbeck

the blind firman, by ismail kadare

actress, by anne enright

genius and ink, by virginia woolf

real life, by brandon taylor

the world of yesterday, by stefan zweig

doce cuentos peregrinos, by gabriel garcia marquez

selected stories by anton chekhov

stories of your life, by ted chiang

ornament and silence, by kennedy fraser

the accompanist, by nina berberova

there are many others, including some romanian faves that i won't mention in this list, but this should give you a good overview!

[linguistlist-blog]

TOC: Journal of Historical Linguistics Vol. 14, No. 2 (2024)

2024. iii, 206 pp. Table of Contents ARTICLES The tonal morphology of the potential in Coatec Zapotec (Di′zhke′): Implications for early Zapotecan tone, *ʔ, and verb classes through internal and comparative reconstruction Rosemary G. Beam de Azcona pp. 179–241 Vowel shifts in Middle Wichi (Mataguayan family, South America) Verónica Nercesian & Nicolás Arellano pp. 242–303 Construct types in language change Stefan Schneider pp. 304–334 Polarity reversal constructions and counterfactuals in http://dlvr.it/T856cG

[qualityavenuejellyfish]

Stefan Anton George (German; July 12, 1868 – December 4, 1933) was a German symbolist poet and a translator of Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, Hesiod, and Charles Baudelaire. He is also known for his role as leader of the highly influential literary circle called the George-Kreis and for founding the literary magazine Blätter für die Kunst [de] ('Journal for the Arts').

Stefan George and his Heidelberg "novices", Pentecost 1919.

From left to right, standing: Ernst Morwitz, Erich Boehringer, Percy Gothein, and Woldemar von Uxkull.

[edisonblog]

Stefan Zweig was a prolific Austrian writer, born on 28 November 1881 in Vienna, who achieved international fame during the first decades of the 20th century. He wrote in a variety of genres, including fiction, poetry, biography, and journalism. Zweig was particularly known for his short stories and biographies.

He traveled throughout Europe during his lifetime and witnessed many political and social transformations. However, due to the rise of Nazism in Germany, Zweig, of Jewish origin, emigrated first to England and then to Brazil, where he settled in Petrópolis.

Zweig's work has been widely translated and continues to be read and studied today. Some of his most famous works include "Amok", "The Confusion of Feelings", "The Chess Player" and "The World of Yesterday", an autobiography in which he explores the major changes in the world during his lifetime.

by Viri Lordache #edisonmariotti

edison mariotti @edisonblog

.br

Stefan Zweig foi um prolífico escritor austríaco, nascido em 28 de novembro de 1881 em Viena, que alcançou fama internacional durante as primeiras décadas do século XX. Ele escreveu em vários gêneros, incluindo ficção, poesia, biografia e jornalismo. Zweig era particularmente conhecido por seus contos e biografias.

Viajou por toda a Europa durante a sua vida e testemunhou muitas transformações políticas e sociais. Porém, devido à ascensão do nazismo na Alemanha, Zweig, de origem judaica, emigrou primeiro para a Inglaterra e depois para o Brasil, onde se estabeleceu em Petrópolis.

A obra de Zweig foi amplamente traduzida e continua a ser lida e estudada até hoje. Algumas de suas obras mais famosas incluem "Amok", "A Confusão de Sentimentos", "O Jogador de Xadrez" e "O Mundo de Ontem", uma autobiografia na qual explora as principais mudanças no mundo durante sua vida.

[jcmicr]

Publications trends in major anesthesiology journals: A 20-year analysis of five top-ranked journals in the field by Stefan Koppert in Journal of Clinical and Medical Images, Case Reports  

Abstract

Background: With the intention to quantify the importance of a medical journal, the impact factor (IF) was introduced. It has become a de facto fictive rating instrument of the importance of medical journals. Also, it is often used to assess the value of the individual publications within the specific journal. The aim of the present study was to analyze publication trends over 20 years in five high-ranked anesthesiology journals.

Methods: The Medline (NCBI) database PubMed was used for analysis which was restricted to the following journals: 1. Anesthesiology; 2. British Journal of Anaesthesia; 3. Journal of Neurosurgical Anesthesiology; 4. Anesthesia & Analgesia; and 5. Anaesthesia. Specific publication parameters (IFs, number of pages and authors, etc.) were retrieved using the PubMed download function and imported into Microsoft Excel for further analysis.

Results: The mean IF of the five journals analyzed increased significantly within the study period (1991 vs. 2010; +61.81%). However, the absolute number of case reports decreased significantly by 54.7% since 1991. The journals Br J Anaesth (12.2%), J Neurosurg Anesthesiol (51.9%), and Anesth Analg (57.2%) showed significant increases in the number of publications per year. The mean number of authors increased significantly in all the journals from 1991 to 2010 (3.0 vs. 4.3; +43.3%).

 Conclusions: The IF, as well as the number of articles per year and the number of authors per article, increased significantly. In contrast, the number of pages per article remained comparable during the period analyzed.

Keywords: Impact factor; scientific publication; scientific journal; publication trend.

Introduction

The scientific productivity of a institution or person in medical research is reflected by the number of published articles [1]. However, both medical science and publication options have changed dramatically over the last several years. Publishing medical data in the new open access journals (OAJs) and via the World Wide Web (WWW) has gained significant importance recently. Although the classic printed journal was the standard for any years, it is now easily possible to publish peer-reviewed medical work without printing on paper. Publishing scientific medical papers remains the standard in medicine with regard to scientific reputation.

 To quantify the importance of a medical paper, the impact factor (IF) was introduced by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI, Thomson Scientific/Thomson Corporation, New York, NY, USA) in the 1960s [2]. The IF is a citation index calculated for a specific journal by dividing the number of citations within the last two years by the number of articles published [3, 4]. Therefore, it is a fictive instrument to rate the quality of a journal and the importance of an article because it is published within a specific journal [5]. The IF is relevant in medical research because it significantly impacts publication practice [6] and it has also gained enormous significance for research department funding [3]. The aim of the present study was to analyze the publication trends over 20 years in five high-ranked anesthesiology journals in Medline/PubMed [7]. We focused primarily on delineating trends in the IFs of each journal, as well as the numbers, types, and characteristics of each publication.

Material and Methods

Journals

The Medline (National Center for Biotechnology Information, NCBI, Rockville Pike, MD, USA) database PubMed (http://www.pubmed.com) was used for analysis [7]. Five high-ranked anesthesiology journals (excluding pain medicine), according to the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI, Thomson Scientific, Rockville Pike, MD, USA), were identified using InCites™ [2]. These top-ranked journals were selected by the highest IF in 2010. The IFs of these journals were gathered to analyze the trend in IF for each journal during the period from 1991 to 2010 [2]. Further analysis was restricted to the following journals: 1. Anesthesiology; 2. British Journal of Anaesthesia (Br J Anaesth); 3. Journal of Neurosurgical Anesthesiology (J Neurosurg Anesthesiol); 4. Anesthesia & Analgesia (Anesth Analg); and 5. Anaesthesia.

Data acquisition

For specific data analysis, the following publication information was recorded in the following data sets:

country of origin;

article type (i.e., randomized, controlled trial [RCT], clinical trial, comparative study, or case report);

number of articles per year and journal [n];

number of pages per article [n]; and

number of authors per article [n].

Letters to the editor, editorials, and comments were excluded from the analysis because they are not necessarily based on scientific, peer-reviewed data. All published articles from these journals were gathered by direct data import from PubMed via Microsoft Excel® 2003 (Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA) for each year (1991-2010) and for each of the five journals (search string; e.g., "Anesthesiology"[Journal] AND ("2006/01/01"[PDAT]: "2006/12/31"[PDAT]). Data were retrieved using the PubMed download function (XML data format; “Extensible Markup Language“) and were imported into Microsoft Excel for further analysis.

Statistical analysis

Descriptive statistics were performed by using Microsoft Excel® 2003. The t-test and the Chi²-test were used for the statistical analysis. A value of p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

Impact factor analysis

Trends in the IF for each journal and year over the 20-year time frame (1991-2010) were gathered (Figure 1). During this period, the IFs of all journals increased (2.249 in 1991 vs. 3.639 in 2010; i.e., +61.81%). The IF of J Neurosurg Anesthesiol increased from 0.638 in 1992 to 2.205 in 2010, i.e., +245%. The smallest increase was +46.03% for Anesth Analg (from 1991 to 2010)

Figure 1: The trend in impact factors (IF) among the top five anesthesiology journals [2]. x-axis shows the years analyzed and the y-axis shows the impact factor (IF) during that time.

Country of origin

A total of 42,549 articles, containing 183,763 pages written by 154,437 authors, were found between January 1, 1991, and December 31, 2010, in the five journals. Among these articles, the greatest numbers of publications were submitted from the US (31.05%; Table 1), followed by the UK (13.64%), Japan (9.24%), Germany (7.68%), and France (6.22%).

Table 1: Country of origin, number of publications, and resulting rank (1991 to 2010).

Article type

The absolute number of comparative studies and randomized, controlled trials (RCT) was comparable between 1991 and 2010 (Figure 2) with minor changes during that time-frame. The number of case reports also varied from year to year; however, the absolute number of case reports decreased significantly by 45.8% between 2003 and 2010 and by 54.7% between 1991 and 2010 (p<0.0001; Figure 2).

Figure 2: Publication types (case reports, comparative studies, and randomized controlled trials [RCTs]).

Articles per year

During the time frame analyzed, the mean number of articles per year in each journal [n] was 425±226. Altogether, 42,549 articles were published in the five journals. Anesth Analg (n=14,085 of 42,549; 33.1%) published the most articles, followed by Anesthesiology (23.4%), Anaesthesia (22.5%), Br J Anaesth (18.6%), and J Neurosurg Anesthesiol (2.4%). In Anesthesiology, the mean number of articles published per year was 498.8±67.6 (maximum n=628 in 1999; Figure 3). Compared to 1991, the number of articles per year decreased by 5.0% in this journal until 2010 (p=0.009). In Anaesthesia, a decrease of 45.1% (p<0.0001) in the mean number of articles published was also observed between 1991 and 2010. In contrast, the journals Br J Anaesth (+12.2%; p=0.816), J Neurosurg Anesthesiol (+51.9%; p<0.0001), and Anesth Analg (+57.2%; p<0.0001) all showed increases in the numbers of publications per year.

Figure 3: Number of articles per year [n] in the top five anesthesia journals.

Pages per article

Although the mean number of pages per article (4.3±1.4) did not change between 1991 and 2010 (Figure 4; p>0.05), there were variations among the years. In the Br J Anaesth only, the pages per article remained stable during the time frame analyzed (p>0.05). In the other journals, the pages per article increased (Anesthesiology, Anesth Analg, Anaesthesia) or decreased (J Neurosurg Anesthesiol).

Figure 4: Pages per article [n] in the top five anesthesia journals.

Number of authors per article

The mean number of authors per article [n] was 3.6±0.7, which increased significantly in all journals from 1991 to 2010 (3.0 vs. 4.3, a relative increase of 43.3%; p<0.0001; Figure 5). Anesthesiology showed the smallest increase (1991 vs. 2010, 3.43 vs. 4.28 authors; relative increase of 24.8%), followed by Anaesthesia (2.3 vs. 3.2; +39.1%), Anesth Analg (3.35 vs. 4.67; +39.4%), and Br J Anaesth (3.08 vs. 4.62; +50%); the greatest increase was observed in the J Neurosurg Anesthesiol (3.0 vs. 4.8; +62.5%).

Discussion

The aim of the present study was to analyze publication parameters in five top-ranked anesthesia journals over a 20-year time frame. The following journals were analyzed: 1. Anesthesiology; 2. Br J Anaesth; 3. J Neurosurg Anesthesiol; 4. Anesth Analg; and 5. Anaesthesia. The absolute number of scientific publications has been rising since the 18th century [8]. Since then, the number of publications has doubled every 10 to 15 years [8]. This trend has been especially true in Anesthesiology, which has gained relevance recently, thereby resulting in a concomitant increase in scientific publications [9-11]

Figure 5: Number of authors per article [n] in the top five anesthesia journals (1991 to 2010).

Country of origin

In the present study, the vast majority of publications were submitted from the US, followed by Western Europe and Japan (Table 1). These data are in concordance with Li et al.’s study, analyzing journals between 2000 and 2009 [12]. The top five countries in the present investigation were among the top seven countries in the study by Li et al. [12]. Figueredo and colleagues also found that the USA, the UK, Japan, Germany, Canada, and France published the most articles in anesthesia journals between 1997 and 2001 [13]. In their study, the largest increase in scientific production in anesthesiology was observed in Germany [13]. However, they concluded that the geographical distribution of scientific production must not only be analyzed in absolute terms but should also be evaluated relative to other variables, such as financial spending on research and development, as well as population growth [13].

Articles per year

Altogether, 42,549 articles were published in the five journals within the time frame analyzed. In Anesthesiology, the mean number of articles published per year was 498.8±67.6. Compared to 1991, the number of articles per year decreased by 5.0% until 2010. In Anaesthesia, a decrease of 45.1% in the mean number of articles published was observed in the same period. In order to attain higher quality in journal articles and consequently a higher IF, several prerequisites for article acceptance have been developed in recent years. Currently, clinical trial registration, as well as plagiarism checks and ethical committee approvals, is a standard practice. Although this practice ensures higher-quality articles, it also could result in a decrease in the number of accepted publications.

Li et al. [14] confirmed these results in 18 different anesthesiology journals. The authors postulated that this decrease might be associated with an increasing IF. Feneck and colleagues also found a decrease in research publications from the UK in anesthesia journals from 1997 to 2006 [15]. In our study, the journals Br J Anaesth, J Neurosurg Anesthesiol, and Anesth Analg showed significant increases in the numbers of publications per year (1991 to 2010). Another study published by Li et al. [14] showed that these journals have decreasing numbers of articles while analyzing the period of 2000-2009 only. However, it is accepted that the absolute number of scientific publications is less important due to the difficulties that can occur in quality assessments of studies [16].

Impact factor analysis

Among the many surrogate parameters, the IF from the Institute for Scientific Information [2] has achieved the greatest popularity, especially in government research and medical schools [3, 4]. It is a common, but fictive, instrument for quantifying the importance of a medical paper based on citations [17] and it is used to rate the quality of a (medical) journal [4, 5]. Today, the IF also has enormous significance for research department funding [3, 18]. The IF was originally designed and sold as a product for advertisers, i.e., it was sold to advertisers, at very high costs for the purpose of helping them target their advertisements to the most widely read journals within the set of journals that were read by potential buyers of their products [19]. Although the IF is not an absolute measurement of the quality of a journal [3], it can quantify the influence of a journal in the medical field [4]. Because the IF influences medical research and funding [18], changes in the IF can significantly affect publication practice [6]. During the time frame analyzed, the IF of all journals in the present study increased (2.249 in 1991 vs. 3.639 in 2010; i.e., +61.81%). This phenomenon is not new and has been observed for several years also by other authors [20]. The median and highest IF in the present study have increased since 2005 [3]. This increase in IF has been observed for years [3, 20]. One main reason for the IF boom is the growth of research production [4, 20, 21]. More researchers are writing more contributions in more journals [22, 23] with more references [3]. In contrast, several journals have decreasing IFs, especially those in non-English languages and those that are difficult to access.

However, IFs can be manipulated by many strategies: self-citation; increasing editorials and reviews (more likely to be cited); and a reduction of the number of case reports (less likely to be cited) [4, 16, 18]. Therefore, the importance of the IF remains controversial [24] and there is no established current alternative available to rate the quality of scientific publications [4].

As the main factor that could lead to overestimate the IF is the amount of self-citations within a journal, in 2010 Landoni et al. [25] have suggested to apply a new metric called “new IF 20%”. This instrument, accounting the weight of self-citation with the aim of limiting their influence on the final result, is employed when the self-citation percentage is more than 20% of the total. Other authors present innovative journal metrics as IF substitute, e.g. the CAPCI factor (Citation Average per Citable Item) by E.P. Diamandis [26]. In addition, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) has outlined guidelines for the authorship of scientific papers [27], but it remains unclear whether authors comply with these prerequisites when submitting manuscripts. Therefore, the contributions of each author should not only be judged by the authors themselves but also by the editors to prevent misconduct by researchers and inadequate authorship.

Article type

Although the absolute numbers of comparative studies and RCTs were comparable between 1991 and 2010, there were significant variations per year. In contrast, the absolute number of case reports decreased significantly by 45.8% between 2003 and 2010 and by 54.7% between 1991 and 2010. Li et al. [14] also found a decreasing number of articles per year (both clinical studies and RCTs) when analyzing several different journals. Because case reports are cited less frequently in the years after their publication, publishing them can be counterproductive for a journal striving to obtain a higher IF. Therefore, publishing fewer case reports to enhance the IF might have motivated the major anesthesiology journals that were analyzed in the present study.

Pages per article

The mean number of pages per article was 4.3±1.4 and did not change between 1991 and 2010 (Figure 4; p>0.05). However, only in the Br J Anaesth the pages per article remained stable during the time frame analyzed (p>0.05). For Anesthesiology, Anesth Analg, and Anaesthesia the pages per article increased but decreased significantly for J Neurosurg Anesthesiol. However, due to lower publications costs and the availability of electronic publication [28], restrictions on the length of articles might not have been as relevant as such restrictions previously were.

Number of authors per article

The mean number of authors per article was 3.6±0.7 in the present study, and it increased significantly in all journals analyzed between 1991 and 2010 (3.0 vs. 4.3; relative increase of 43.3%). This increase was the lowest in Anesthesiology (+24.8%) and was significantly higher in the other journals (+62.5%). The increase in the number of authors per articles has also been a commonly observed phenomenon in other medical journals and in different countries [29, 30]. This phenomenon has been observed even in the most highly ranked journals (N Engl J Med, J Am Med Assoc, and The Lancet) [29, 30]. Kumar et al. [30] reported a gradual increase in the average number of authors over the past three decades [30]. Drenth et al. also found an increasing number of authors in the Br Med J [31]. These findings are congruent with the results of the present study, although different medical fields were analyzed. A number of reasons could be responsible for this phenomenon [30]. There has been an increasing trend toward cooperation among researchers in multiple disciplines and an increase in multi-center studies, as well as an increase in the complexity of research projects, which could facilitate collaboration and result in an increase in the number of authors per article [30, 32]. Additionally, it has been shown that studies with many authors are cited more often than studies with fewer authors, thereby contributing to the IF of the journal [23].

Limitations

The analysis in the present study was restricted to only five high-ranked anesthesiology journals listed in the Medline and PubMed database. All these journals are published in English. Due to the descriptive character of this study, it was possible to delineate variations in the specific publications measured, but it was not possible to provide definitive answers why these changes occurred. However, we used a 20-year time frame to compensate for variations in specific years. Although the journals were selected from the anesthesiology category of JCR, a few of the selected journals cover disciplines beyond anesthesia research.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not Applicable.

Consent for publication

Granted by all authors.

Availability of data and material

On request.

Funding

None of the authors received financial or other support for the data analysis or for the writing of this manuscript. This study was not funded and did not require outside writing assistance.

Authors' information (optional)

All authors contributed significantly to the data analysis and to the writing of the manuscript.

Acknowledgements

None

Conclusions

The present study could provide some interesting insight into the trends in several specific publication measurements. When interpreted in the global context of biomedical publishing, the present study identified the potential publication strategies used to enhance the prominence of anesthesia journals. The IF (mean: +61.81%), as well the number of articles per year (+57.2%) and the numbers of authors per article (+43.3%) increased significantly between 1991 and 2010. In contrast, only the number of pages per article remained comparable during the period analyzed. It is impossible to offer definitive answers explaining why these measures changed, but these changes could partially be due to the authors (e.g., number of authors per article). In our opinion, the publication process would have greater transparency if journals would provide such data at the end of each year.

For more details : https://jcmimagescasereports.org/author-guidelines/ 

[difunttichronicles]

Le Retour

Journal d’un Vampire, tome 3, L. J. Smith PrésentationLE MAL RÔDE.LA PASSION S’EMBRASE.Elena est revenue d’entre les morts. Mais ce n’est plus une simple humaine. Esprit pur doté de pouvoirs, elle attire inexorablement toutes les créatures démoniaques qui gravitent autour de la ville. Alors que Stefan ne pense qu’à la protéger, Damon désire plus que jamais en faire sa princesse des ténèbres.…

[ghost-bison]

Here Goes Nothing

After two people ( @bonniebutwithoutclyde & @starved-kitten <3) seemed to show interest in seeing the letter, I have decided that I would translate it and share it with you guys. So here goes, the OG French version, and the one I have just spent 10 minutes translating (so, yes, there will be mistakes). I hope you enjoy it, because I don't, I'll probably post a little update on how it went wednesday *crying noises*

French version

"Je n’aurais jamais cru en être réduit à coucher ces mots sur le papier un jour ; ou quelque mot que ce soit, d’ailleurs. C’est plus le truc de Stefan, mon frère. Il commence toujours comme ça : « Cher journal, », et puis ça s’étend, sur un minimum de cinq pages larmoyantes par jour, sur ses pertes de contrôle et l’amour vertueux et dégoulinant qu’il porte à Elena ; ou Valérie, ou Katherine, ou Rebekah, selon la décennie. Il écrit, et il se souvient, et il se lamente. C’est un cercle vicieux. Moi, je préfère oublier. Alors jusqu’ici, je n’avais rien écrit.

Ce soir, j’ai tout essayé de ce qui, d’habitude, fonctionne : le bourbon, les femmes, les hommes, le meurtre ; rien n’a fonctionné. J’ai, encore une fois, fait soupirer tout le monde. Mon prénom n’est désormais plus que l’allégorie de la déception des gens qui m’entourent.

J’imagine que ça ne me dérangerait pas, si je n’essayais pas constamment de m’améliorer. Et ça fonctionne… temporairement. Je prends sur moi, je bois une poche de sang réfrigérée en substitut d’un couple de campeurs, j’essaie tant bien que mal d’éviter les blagues douteuses qui collent des rides entre les sourcils broussailleux de Stefan, mais quoi qu’il arrive, je finis toujours par faire une erreur.

Alors, voici ma demande : j’ai conscience de l’excitation que le mauvais garçon que je n’interprète que trop bien suscite au sein des groupies, mais la seule attention dont j’aurais réellement besoin, si vous cessiez de me faire disjoncter dès que vous en trouvez l’occasion, c’est celle d’Elena. Je veux être digne de son amour ; je veux mériter le pardon et la loyauté de Bonnie et Enzo, mes meilleurs amis ; je veux pouvoir m’asseoir à un café sans me demander quelle serveuse sera mon prochain déjeuner.

Avec tout le respect que je vous dois, c’est-à-dire aucun, vous me le devez. Et vous me l’accorderez, car dans le cas contraire, je vous traquerai, et lorsque je vous aurai retrouvés, je vous ferai déguster vos globes oculaires à la petite cuillère."

Amicalement,

Damon Salvatore

English Version

"I never would have thought I’d one day be reduced to writing those words on paper; or any words, really. That’s more Stefan’s thing. My brother. It always starts like this “Dear diary,”, and he just goes on and on, on a minimum of five weepy pages a day, complaining about how he keeps losing control, or professing his undying, dripping love for Elena; or Valerie, or Katherine, or Rebekah, depending on the decade. He writes it all down, and he remembers, and laments. It’s a downward spiral. Me? I’d rather forget. So until then, I hadn’t written a thing.

Tonight, though, I tried everything: bourbon, women, men, murder; nothing works. Once again, I made everyone sigh. My name is now just an allegory for the disappointment I bring to the people around me.

I guess I wouldn’t mind, if I wasn’t constantly trying to change. And it works… for a while. I try, I drink out of a blood bag instead of a couple of campers, I refrain from making those dubious jokes which always stick Stefan’s bushy eyebrows with nasty little wrinkles, but whatever I do I always end up making a mistake.

So, here is my request: I am aware of all the excitement the bad boy within me provides the fangirls with, but the only attention I am trying to get is that of Elena. I want to be worthy of her love; I want to deserve the forgiveness of Bonnie and Enzo, my two best friends. And I want to be able to sit at the local bar without wondering which waitress will be my next meal.

With all due respect, which is none, you owe me. And I will get what I want, because if I don’t, then I will track you down, and when I find you, I will take out your eyeballs, with a spoon, and make you eat them."

All the best,

Damon Salvatore

Ok so in my French class we had to write a letter from a character's pov adressed go its author and I might have chosen Damon Salvatore and I might have actually done it and I might just have to read it in front of my entire class of fellow 20 y/o students idk

[heroslitteraires]

Une histoire aidée par les auteurs de la série télévisée.

D’après les romans de L.J. Smith développée par Kevin Williamson et Julie Plec.

Le journal de Stefan, tome 4, 259 pages. Tome 5, 255 pages. Tome 6, 259 pages.

Éditions de Noyelles.

Angleterre, 1888. Cherchant à échapper à son passé sanglant, Stefan s’installe dans la paisible campagne anglaise. Il commence peu à peu une nouvelle vie, mais reste hanté par le souvenir de Katherine, qu’il continue de haïr autant qu’il l’a aimée. Bientôt, à Londres, une rumeur court sur un certain Jack l’Éventreur. Stefan, lui, est convaincu qu’un vampire se cache derrière ce mystérieux meurtrier. Un vampire cruel et sournois : son frère Damon. Stefan se met en devoir de l’arrêter. Quand il découvre le message « Salvatore : je me vengerai » laissé à son attention, Stefan perd pied. Et si Damon était en fait en danger?

Traqués par Samuel, un monstre sanguinaire et enragé, Stefan et Damon sont obligés de se terrer dans les tunnels de Londres pour survivre. La haine de Samuel est insatiable. Rien ne l’arrêtera tant qu’il n’aura pas vengé la mort de Katherine… Vampire impitoyable, Katherine n’hésitait jamais à boire le sang de ses propres amants. Ni à les trahir. Pourquoi donc Damon et Stephen sont-ils obsédés par l’idée qu’elle ait pu aimer Samuel? Pourquoi continuent-ils de sentir la caresse de ses lèvres sur les leurs? Et surtout, lequel des deux frères devra mourir pour que la malédiction se dissipe enfin?

Samuel a enlevé Damon. Craignant le pire, Stefan se lance à la recherche de son frère. Et si Katherine n’était pas le seul motif qui pousse Samuel à la haine? S’il poursuivait un but plus funeste encore? Stefan acquiert bientôt la certitude que la puissance de Samuel a une origine magique. Qu’il dispose d’alliés dotés de pouvoirs et dévoués à sa cause. Stefan choisit de leur opposer des moyens identiques et de s’unir avec un autre groupe de sorciers. C’est sa seule chance de stopper Samuel dans ses desseins redoutables : car c’est une armée de vampires que ce dernier s’apprête à lever…

Mon avis :

Je me suis replongée dans cet univers, car ils étaient dans ma PAL depuis un bon moment. Et quoi de mieux qu’octobre pour se replonger dans une série qui se rapproche de la peur! J’avais fait l’acquisition de ces romans durant la période où la série était populaire à la télévision. C’est un complément à la série, des histoires différentes des émissions. On suit la jeunesse de Stefan en tant que vampire durant ses vingt premières années. La lecture se fait rapidement, car les tomes sont petits. Le style est plutôt young adult, c’est parfait pour les débutants qui veulent se lancer dans la lecture. C’est trois livres se suivent, on doit absolument les lire à la suite, car il y a souvent des références dans les livres précédents. J’ai bien aimé les aimés les lires comme cela et ne pas avoir attendu trop longtemps entre chacun, j’aurais probablement oublié des bouts des romans précédents. Stefan devra se lier d’amitié avec des sorcières et son frère pour pouvoir battre un vampire plus fort que lui avec un siècle d’expérience. L’action et le romantisme est présent.

Avez-vous déjà suivi la série télévisé ou lu les livres?

[worldchampionpeccobagnaia]

this story is a circle

1. mabel (episode eighteen: unusual hungers) - becca de la rosa & mabel martin // remy gardner to crash.net // (1) // 2. kenan sofuoğlu to motorsport.tr // excerpt - clarice lispector // climbing - lucille clifton // ktm ceo stefan pierer to speedweek.com // oresteia - robert icke // the unabridged journals of sylvia plath - sylvia plath // (2) // a slip of the keyboard - terry pratchett // working for the knife - mitski //

[thatsadorbsyo]

Alexander - 3

FROM THE JOURNAL OF ALEXANDER CORDULA.

24 Thunsheer

Simon--

It has been a day of black tidings. This time, I write to you from the safety of a tavern in a smiling town, but I fought an endless road for the privilege of slumbering in a real bed. The people in Vallaki are livelier than those in Barovia, but this is not a difficult measure to exceed, and the town does have certain charms. There is a wall around it to keep out the wolves, and a bard with tolerable songs to play and stories to tell downstairs in the tavern -- which, by the way, gives all of its wine away for free. For free, Simon. There’s something of a surplus wine economy here. Not even the nicest pillowhouses back home offer gratis champagne! The strangeness of this land expands ever on, finding no boundary to shape it.

Before sleep, I can only think of the last time I slept. Theodore has found me, I’m happy to report. Even here, he came to me after I laid down to rest, leading me to a grove with a great tree full of ravens, and a winged statue buried deep in the sucking mud. It was as inscrutable as all of Theodore’s little field trips, but something he said to me was more curious than usual. When I asked how he found me, he turned the question back on me and asked if I believed I could hide from him by coming to Barovia. This releases no small tide of riddles. Why would a raven who only visits me in my dreams need to travel, perhaps physically, to this place beyond the mist, lest I be unable to hear his call? Is there more to Theodore’s nature that I have not considered? I have long thought him to be a figment of my imagination, a vestigial piece of my childhood that only finds continued life in the quagmire of dreams, but what of it?

Theodore also gave me a missive to look for “the sign of the raven”, which could have so many interpretations that I don’t know where to start. For example, the tavern in which I sleep tonight has a raven wing on the sign hanging over the door. Could it be so literal? Would Theodore give me such an easy pitch, just the once? Perhaps it has something to do with the absentee Nightmother, which is what the people of Barovia call the Raven Queen. Most likely, the answer is something I cannot yet see. There is a piece to this that I am missing, and all I can do is keep my eyes and my mind open until something catches and sticks. My mother called this ‘filter-feeding on reality’, which reminds me that she was often about as inscrutable as Theodore in her turns of phrase.

The middle of the day is difficult to think about. The grave dangers on the road feel distant from the comforts of this room, though I still feel the energy that it sapped from me, both through the mundane vampirism inherent to highway travel and through conflict with Strahd’s patrolling riders. These are men in dark cloaks on ominous black destriers, brandishing cruel weapons and harrying innocent travelers the moment they come into view of the castle’s great red eye.

But they are far from a homogenous lot. One such rider, a man named Lars Stefan de Barovia, saved us from an ambush of wolves, and apparently he frequents this very tavern, getting day drunk on free wine while the locals call him cruel epithets (notable: bootlicker) for his compulsory servitude to the Count. Yet another rider was not so polite as to give us his name but did demand the blood that drips in our veins as the Count’s rightful tithe, before running us off the road and chasing us through the woods. Such a variable bouquet of fucking individuals did Strahd’s dark riders turn out to be. If only they were better at telegraphing whether they’re sad drunkards or vicious tax-collectors, the roads might be safer for it.

There is more I could say, but my legs are weary and my mind is racing. I intend to lie down and spiral into a single-minded, free-floating obsession for a little while, with my hands calmly folded over my chest on the bed while my heart believes it’s taking a sprint from the ground floor to the top of the Zauberspire. This is the exact sort of tantrum that you used to disrupt by tossing a cupful of water onto my upturned face. And gods, don’t I need it. I miss you. I do. Whatever else may be true, so too is this. (How many simultaneous truths can a man hold in his heart, even if all of them seemingly contradict?)

Sincerely yours,

Alexander Cordula

[xjoyce66]

Un texte plus que jamais d'actualité, alors qu'on assiste au plus grand mouvement de réfugiés depuis la deuxième guerre mondiale...

« Regarde-les donc bien ces apatrides, toi qui as la chance de savoir où sont ta maison et ton pays, toi qui à ton retour de voyage trouves ta chambre et ton lit prêts, qui as autour de toi les livres que tu aimes et les ustensiles auxquels tu es habitué. Regarde-les bien, ces déracinés, toi qui as la chance de savoir de quoi tu vis et pour qui, afin de comprendre avec humilité à quel point le hasard t'a favorisé par rapport aux autres. Regarde-les bien, ces hommes entassés à l'arrière du bateau et va vers eux, parle-leur, car cette simple démarche, aller vers eux, est déjà une consolation ; et tandis que tu leur adresses la parole dans leur langue, ils aspirent inconsciemment une bouffée de l'air de leur pays natal et leurs yeux s'éclairent et deviennent éloquents.

Telle est bien en effet notre nature : tout le mal qui a lieu ici-bas, nous en sommes informés. Chaque matin, le journal nous lance en pleine figure son lot de guerres, de meurtres et de crimes, la folie de la politique encombre nos pensées, mais le bien qui se fait sans bruit, la plupart du temps nous n'en savons rien. Or cela serait particulièrement nécessaire dans une époque comme la nôtre, car toute œuvre morale éveille en nous par son exemple les énergies véritablement précieuses, et chaque homme devient meilleur quand il est capable d'admirer avec sincérité ce qui est bien.»

Stefan Zweig -Voyages.

[lairreparablefugadeltiempo]

Los mejores libros que he leído en 2021

1.       Ungeduld des Herzens [La impaciencia del corazón] (Stefan Zweig, 1939)

2.       Brennendes Geheimnis [Ardiente secreto] (Stefan Zweig, 1911)

3.       Vierundzwanzig Stunden aus dem Leben einer Frau [Veinticuatro horas en la vida de una mujer] (Stefan Zweig, 1925)

4.       Hiob. Roman eines einfachen Mannes [Job] (Joseph Roth, 1930)

5.       Thérèse Raquin [Thérèse Raquin] (Émile Zola, 1867)

6.       Detstvo [Infancia] (Maksim Gorki, 1914)

7.       Le petit saint [La mirada inocente] (Georges Simenon, 1964)

8.       Lessico famigliare [Léxico familiar] (Natalia Ginzburg, 1963)

9.       Les Trois Mousquetaires [Los tres mosqueteros] (Alexandre Dumas, 1844)

10.   Notre-Dame de Paris [Nuestra Señora de París] (Victor Hugo, 1831)

11.   El 19 de marzo y el 2 de mayo (Benito Pérez Galdós, 1873)

12.   The Black Arrow [La flecha negra] (Robert Louis Stevenson, 1883)

13.   Fräulein Else [La señorita Else] (Arthur Schnitlzer, 1924)

14.   Widerstand der Wirklichkeit | Reise in die Vergangenheit [Viaje al pasado] (Stefan Zweig, 1929)

15.   Waiting for the Barbarians [Esperando a los bárbaros] (J. M. Coetzee, 1980)

16.   È stato così [Y eso fue lo que pasó] (Natalia Ginzburg, 1947)

17.   L'homme qui regardait passer les trains [El hombre que miraba pasar los trenes] (Georges Simenon, 1938)

18.   Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens, 1838)

19.   The Searchers [Centauros del desierto] (Alan Le May, 1954)

20.   Les Fiançailles de M. Hire [La prometida del señor Hire] (Georges Simenon, 1933)

21.   Yama no oto [El rumor de la montaña] (Kawabata Yasunari, 1953)

22.   Le chat [El gato] (Georges Simenon, 1966)

23.   Cécile est morte [Cécile ha muerto] (Georges Simenon, 1940)

24.   Cuentos del Lejano Oeste (Bret Harte, 1860-1900)

25.   Carmilla (Sheridan Le Fanu, 1872)

26.   The Blank Wall [La pared vacía] (Elizabeth Sanxay Holding, 1947)

27.   Gan [El ganso salvaje] (Mori Ōgai, 1911)

28.   The Chrysalids [Las crisálidas] (John Wyndham, 1955)

29.   Trafalgar (Benito Pérez Galdós, 1873)

30.   Bailén (Benito Pérez Galdós, 1873)

31.   Zama (Antonio Di Benedetto, 1956)

32.   Le Fantôme de l'Opéra [El fantasma de la ópera] (Gaston Leroux, 1910)

33.   The Great God Pan [El gran dios Pan] (Arthur Machen, 1891)

34.   La barraca (Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, 1898)

35.   Marianna Sirca [Mariana Sirca] (Grazia Deledda, 1915)

36.   Le voci della será [Las palabras de la noche] (Natalia Ginzburg, 1961)

37.   Los jardines de Beatriz (José María Latorre, 1993)

38.   El hombre de las leyendas (José María Latorre, 1996)

39.   El sombrero de tres picos (Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, 1874)

40.   El amigo de la muerte (Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, 1852)

41.   La sonrisa y la hormiga (María Jesús Echevarría, 1962)

42.   Destino negro (Manuel Mur Oti, 1948)

43.   Vampiros en España (Ed. Alberto López Aroca, 2021)

44.   Jumping Jenny [Baile de máscaras] (Anthony Berkeley, 1933)

45.   Pietr-le-Letton [Pietr el Letón] (Georges Simenon, 1930)

46.   Journal of the Gun Years [Diario de los años del plomo] (Richard Matheson, 1991)

47.   War er es? [¿Fue él?] (Stefan Zweig, c.1940)

48.   El caso del doctor Iturbe (Rafael López de Haro, 1912)

[princessemarieantoinette]

Hi ! Was Axel von Fersen really a lovely man? What opinions did the French have about him? Thanks !

Hm, I'm not sure if I have the best answer to this question, since I actually don't think I've ever read anything that mentioned the French public's perception of him. From what I HAVE read, I do not believe that the French public were particularly interested in him or knew much of his existence.

During Marie Antoinette's trial, he was mentioned when she was questioned about Varennes, as he was named as the person who supplied the Bourbons with a carriage to leave Paris in. I actually have a book in front of me, Marie Antoinette's Darkest Days by Will Bashor, who claims "This answer [Marie Antoinette agreeing that it was Fersen who supplied them with the carriage] would surely have created a commotion in the hall," but I disagree with this statement. During her lifetime, Marie Antoinette was accused of having affairs with the Count of Artois, the Princess of Lamballe, the Duchess of Polignac, the Duke of Dillon, the Duke of Coigny, the Baron de Benseval... there are probably more, but rumors of Marie Antoinette having an affair with the Count Fersen stem more from Count Fersen's journal mentioning sleeping with a woman named Josephine which some people hypothesize to be Marie Antoinette (one of her middle names is Josepha, but when she married into the Bourbon family, she translated Josepha as Josèphe, not Josephine, but they are similar names). Regardless, that wouldn't occur until the 19th century.

I think it's a fair assumption to say that since Marie Antoinette was accused of sleeping with most of her friends, and the fact that Fersen rumors didn't emerge during her lifetime, the French court did not find him to be particularly offensive. There are memoirs left by 18th century courtiers that do mention Fersen, since some people were miffed that the Queen had a Swedish man in her intimate circle while she left so many French nobles out. Contemporaries did describe him as "le beau Fersen" (handsome Fersen), although tbh, I think the physical qualities he had were more attractive to 18th century eyes than 21st century haha. These are some contemporary descriptions of him: he had a "most gentleman-like air", "a burning soul with a shell of ice", "one of the best-looking men I ever saw", "like the hero of a novel", and "like an Apollo". (I found all these quotes in Royal Romances by Leslie Carroll). Character wise though I would say he was a lovely man, just based off of how dedicated he was to saving Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, even though they were not his sovereigns, although in my opinion I do not think the 18th century French court thought that having a good character was all that important. So I guess the conclusion is that the French court saw him as attractive, but several people that had felt snubbed by Marie Antoinette did not like that he took a place in her friend group that they felt should belong to one of them.

My guess is that the contemporary French public would like him for fighting with them in the American Revolution, but would not like that he tried to help the Bourbons escape Paris (since they believe they were actually attempting to leave the country all together). Rumors about him possibly being the father of Louis XVII do not seem to have existed during the time period, but if they had, I'm sure the French public would not have liked the future king being an illegitimate child of the queen. At the same time, they did not seem to like anyone associated with being Marie Antoinette's friend, even before the Revolution, so take that as you will. He definitely wasn't as controversial as the Count of Artois.

If you're interested in reading more about Marie Antoinette's relationship with Fersen I would warn you to take everything with a grain of salt [and honestly everything you read about Marie Antoinette should be taken with a grain of salt, as I've noticed with a lot of books that I have about her tend to ignore primary sources in favor of Stefan Zweig's Freudian analysis of her while also giving way too much credence to 18th century "tabloids"]. Even in the Bashor example I gave before, he wrote his own opinion on how the public would've reacted, yet people of that time period did not link the two together romantically, and there is no recording of the public reacting to his name being mentioned, even though the public's live reaction to the trial is documented. Elena Maria Vidal has a blog, Tea at Trianon, (http://teaattrianon.blogspot.com/) that has several posts discussing the origins of the Fersen rumors and why some people would be interested in starting and perpetuating these rumors. She also discusses it in her book Marie-Antoinette, Daughter of the Caesars (her tumblr blog is @emvidal). If you want to read more about Fersen himself, apparently you can buy a copy of his diary (https://www.amazon.com/Diary-Correspondence-Count-Axel-Fersen/dp/1332008852).

Anyway I hope that helps and sort of answers your question! I personally don't believe he and Marie Antoinette had an affair, but I also don't have any reason to dislike him or think he wasn't worthy of her friendship.

[zalrb]

Anon about Stefan defending Elena// YES TO EVERYTHING!! And I know you’ve talked a lot about it but the constant contact!! He doesn’t just step in front of her (there’s a scene in S5 where I remember Damon doing that and I was like... I mean first off she’s a vampire and second there’s no nuance to DE’s interactions? It all feels blocked, even before they date), Stefan has to be touching her, second nature, after that gif where the guy gets hit with the car Elena is immediately in his arms and then he has her hand as he’s leading her away. And when Damon threatened her for the journal Stefan is REACHING FOR HER and Elena is keeping eye contact, let alone his jaw clench and his EYES, and their physicality together, Stefan is SO hot. They are so infinitely *instinctively* intimately physical, it’s SO SEXY!?!?!

From another post of mine:

Stefan and Elena are always reaching out for each other, they’re like magnets, the way physically connect to each other. Diana Gabaldon has this quote about Jamie and Claire in Outlander and obviously the contexts are different and she’s talking about a particular scene between Jamie and Claire that makes the quote kind of specific but she says something that reminded me of Stelena the moment I read it:

“When Jamie reaches out his hand toward Claire… They just snap together like a clamshell closing, and there’s this moment when they’re both facing him together, Jamie suddenly fierce in spite of the pain and his knowledge that something terrible is about to happen; he has his wife with him. And she then stays with him, holding him tight through the nailing of his hand, holding his head to keep him from having to see it, trying so hard to take his pain. 

and 1x13 aka the journal scene is part of that quote, like that clamshell effect

which also happens in season 4 (though that’s more about comfort)

but yes, after a protection, Elena is immediately right there in his arms