#olympe de stael ;;

[charlicb]

𓂅 ˙ ˖ ⠀ ⠀para @olympestael

não faria mal algum entrar em uma das barracas de blind date. ela poderia acabar encontrando uma selecionada ali, ou até algum amigo (o que renderia boas risadas, definitivamente). além disso, precisava de uma folga de toda aquela breguice de amor e as barracas eram de longe o lugar mais reservado do evento. entrou na única que ainda tinha lugar para mais alguém, acomodando-se no banquinho de madeira e, sem fazer ideia de quem encontraria (ou melhor, ouviria) do outro lado, deu início à conversa. "knock knock, who's there?"

[nigrit]

This might be a bit controversial but I’m just going to leave it here for discussion. Of all the amazing women from the Enlightenment / Frev, the Olympic Committee chose her (wherefore the proto-republican philosopher, Sophie de Grouchy or scientific pedagogue and philosopher, Emilie de Chatelet?! @enlitment). Or perhaps the dashing de Merincourt, industrious de Kéralio, ambitious Roland, activist Etta Palm d’Aelders, or (Romantic) intellectual, de Stael?

Then they bigged her up beyond parody, describing her as a femme politique (non! No known participation in any clubs or salons) and a campaigner for women’s rights (non again; here de Grouchy would be closer to the mark with her joint pamphlet with Condorcet, Cité des femmes etc.) De Gouges’ main output was plays rather than politics.

Yes, she wrote the witty rejoinder to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, but it was one of many pamphlets she self-published, and sandwiched between a dedication to the Queen and a complaint about being ripped off by a cabby driver.

she promoted the right to divorce (as did some men), rights for bastard children, a maternity hospital and novel proposals for raising public funds. other pamphlets were complaints about being ignored, suggestions for improving public morals (society women as culpable as ‘public’ women (ie prostitutes)), and attacks on the radicalism represented by Marat, the Jacobins and/or Robespierre.

As far as I know, she did not protest against the active/passive citizen distinction.

When the Amis des Noirs pressure group started to gain traction and social acceptance (Condorcet, Brissot and Lafayette were leading members), she rewrote her play on the Esclavage des Negres in 1788 to make it more political, with a preface urging recognition for the rights of ‘hommes Negres’, suggesting they would be happy to continue working the fields as free men. The main reason it wasn’t performed was not its subject matter but because she had previously tried to pull (social) rank on the Comédie-francaise to get her plays to the front of the queue, and had a massive bust-up with its director.

Don’t get me wrong, she was often a delightful and witty writer but also markedly eccentric and very much her own woman in a world of her own. Other women played far more prominent roles in trying to secure real change and better opportunities.

Probably the single greatest manifesto for improvements in women’s condition (but not the vote, or at least not yet), imho was Mary Wollstonecraft’s powerful appeal for equality in education (and to stop treating women like vain, simpering idiots defined by nature’s gifts - I’m looking at you JJ!). Talleyrand and the NA had proposed universal education only up to nine for girls.

PS she was also made a poster ‘girl’ for the Front Populaire with the slogan, ‘Gouges-toi’ (Bouge-toi), Which is actually pretty good!

PPS as for those headless Marie-Antoinettes in red, singing about Liberté along the Conciergerie, wow, just wow!

[princesasapatona]

“I’m leaving…”

Não poderia culpá-la por não responder da maneira que havia desejado, cedendo ao convite para passar o resto da noite em seu quarto. Uma hora ou outra, a bomba iria estourar, e estava certa de que merecia a explosão. De fato, não tinha o direito de fazer aquilo com Olympe. O sangue azul que corria em suas veias não lhe dava escolhas e tornava a vida injusta para Antoinette, mas não precisava ser desse jeito com a Stael. Não queria que fosse. Ainda assim, doía como uma facada perceber que tiveram um fim antes de terem um começo decente. Doía porque Tony deveria estar grata por ter uma ilusão de escolha, o que era mais do que os pais e muitos outros reis e rainhas antes dela tiveram, mas o espetáculo acerca da Seleção era cruel. Sequer haviam lhe dado tempo para sentir o pesar de suas perdas, afinal, tanto quanto o pai, Olympe fizera parte da história dela. A primeira vez que a princesa quisera realmente dançar com alguém em um baile fora com a garota dos estábulos. O seu primeiro flerte desastroso e o seu primeiro fora também, entre tantas outras primeiras vezes que acumulavam desde a infância compartilhada pelos corredores e jardins de Versailles. Empurrou-se para fora do sofá com a mesma determinação que ela tivera de sair, alcançando-a à porta. "Você poderia ficar. Você poderia me convencer a largar tudo isso e encontrar uma solução. Nós poderíamos pensar em uma solução, Ollie." A mão apertava o braço feminino, embora Tony não impusesse força no enlaço. O toque simplesmente traduzia o que ela era incapaz de expressar com palavras. Quero que fique. Quero que me convença. No fundo, Antoinette sabia que não haveria uma solução. Não haveria nada que pudessem fazer para evitar a ordem das coisas. Foi com base nesse pensamento que ela deu um passo para mais perto de Olympe, escorregando a mão que segurava no antebraço dela até os seus dedos delicados. "Ou pelo menos só por hoje... Fica. Por favor." Os olhos dela brilhavam, percorrendo o rosto bonito da garota e procurando por qualquer sinal de que ela queria ficar. "Depois a gente pensa no que fazer. Ainda temos tempo." Mas não tinham. E quanto mais brincassem de faz-de-conta, mais difícil seria aceitar que, eventualmente, o coração de Antoinette deveria ser entregue a uma das selecionadas.

[astoryinred]

Director's Commentary + WAMP

Hello!

When I set out to rewrite ATR, I wanted to make a more "plausible" romance. This meant at the bare minimum a story wherein Eponine wouldn't be desperately throwing herself at an impassive/clueless Enjolras (which was a massive flaw of ATR). I figured out that the best way to do it would be to give Eponine much more of a life of her own outside of Enjolras and even her brothers. I also decided it was about time to throw out the trope of Enjolras being raised by conservative parents who'd disown him for being a revolutionary. With these in mind, I set out to write.

Eponine's story, and those of the other women in WAMP drew heavily from accounts in Lucy Moore's book "Liberty: The Lives and Times of Six Women in Revolutionary France". This book is a great read about the different roles, controversies, and fates of politically active women from 1789 to well into Napoleon's reign. I didn't pattern Eponine's arc specifically after one woman, but one can recognize elements of the stories of Manon Roland, Olympe de Gouges, Theorigne de Mericourt, and Germaine de Stael --- but set in a time a little more favorable to women's rights. I figured that the women of Paris would know better this time than to let men control the narrative, and would be more vocal in fighting for their rights. After all, this was a time before the Victorian "ideal" of a woman as angel of the house. As a result, Eponine's role in WAMP surpasses anything that her real life predecessors ever had, owing to a combination of her own wits and courage as well as an excellent support system in the form of her friends.

Enjolras' own story is more personal. I drew on my own upbringing for this, having grown up in a very political household. I took a hint especially from the fact that some young activists where I am were born to activist parents or raised by activists---so I used that to create a very different backstory for Antoine Enjolras and the rest of his kindred. I had him grow up in a family where political dissent was okay, with parents who had their own stories to tell and cousins who tolerated or even supported taking a stand. Now that I think about it, Louis and Monique are a loving tribute to my grandparents, who ended up raising three activists in a colorful brood of ten kids of different temperaments and inclinations.

My grandfather has long been gone, and never knew that his grandkids would also become rather controversial in their own rights. I never let my grandmother (who passed on after I finished this story) read WAMP. That would have been a bit much for her eyes and her nerves!