Book or film about life in France at the time of the Revolution

[Diana]

I would love to read up on life in France at the time of the Revolution. My French is not good enough to be able to study any of the texts in French. Can anyone recommend a book be it a good novel or non fiction or a film that is available on DVD. The best I have come up with is A Tale of Two Cities.

Thanks

Diana

[Vraititi<P>PSG till I die -fluctuat nec mergitur.<P>]

Giving myself a respite from my roasting outside, scorchio here in the UK ! I don't think there are many novels/films on the Revolution that have been translated or subtitled. There is, however, a brilliant film on the Revolution made by R. Enrico in the 80's but I'm not sure if it's been released on DVD (called 'La Révolution Française'), for a list of all French films released in the UK in DVD, VHS, etc. check out lovefilm.com, also allociné.fr should help you, very comprehensive and there's a forum. It's got to be said that there weren't many writers who survived the Revolution ! A lot of the more famous ones of the time (Chateaubriand, Condorcet, Sade, Constant, Madame de Stael, etc.) soon became heavily involved in the politics of the day and were consequently either 'zigouilled' or had to flee the country. The most famous writer of the day was arguably Madame De Stael, she wrote a few post-revolution novels ('Delphine' and 'Corinne' noticeably) about issues that sprang from the Revolution, very feminist and avant-gardiste for the time, she got into a lot of bother ! If I remember well, both novels are superb, 'Corinne' is set in England and Italy, they are bound to have been translated. There aren't so much about the revolution but the life in the aftermath of it, the disenchantment (for poor people and women !), the emigration, etc. Chateaubriand, of course, wrote a lot about the Revolution as well, analysis, essays and letters for the most part, I've never read any of his work on the Revolution, just his other work ('Mémoires d'outre-tombe' which I love -but that is the gloomy romantic in me-, and 'Atala', which is set in America where he fled to as the revolution broke out -he was an aristo, a penniless one though). But I remember reading (for my then English sweetheart, it was part of her studies, she could not be bothered, muggins had to do it), a very long time ago, a brilliant and short novel that took place during the Revolution in the 'Chouan' badlands ('La Chouannerie' was a royalist counter-insurrectional movement originating from Vendée, but also Brittany, Normandy), it was written by an unfairly underrated writer (Barbey D'Aurevilly, still quite well-known in France anyway) called 'Le Chevalier des Touches', not sure if it's been translated though but it's the sort of book that FNAC would have for a few euros.

[Diana]

Vraititi

Thank you for your reply, I will look up your suggestions. I have just had a quick look on Amazon and found ISBN 0679642986 The Knight of Maison-Rouge by Alexandre Dumas. Do you know anything about this novel? I imagine it is biased towards the aristrocrats.

We have all the old papers from the Revolution relating to our French house and it would seem that the family were 'middle class', they where able to buy the property and they seemed to have a small private income and did not need to work. It is the type of life they would have lead that realy interests me. Later in the 1860's a Medical Doctor lived there and ran his practice from the house.

Thanks

Diana

[Tony F Dordogne]

Hi

You might try a film called 'Danton' starring Gerard Depardieu, well worth the searching.

[Richard-R]

The is a serieis of fictional novels by dennis wheatly(?) about a british spy in revolutionary france and onwards. There was also a novel out in penguin classics by a French author about the revolution but it slips my mind.

oh and lets not forget Dumas.

[Vraititi<P>PSG till I die -fluctuat nec mergitur.<P>]

Neither Danton (great film, I agree) nor La Revolution Francaise are available on DVD, maybe in VHS but it wouldn't have the subtitles. While searching Amazon.fr, I came across Marat/Sade with P. Mc Gee, in English, about the Revolution, could well be worth a look. I also noticed that France3 released a DVD called 'La révolution Francaise' last year, part of their 'history' series, I have seen a few of these and they are just fantastic, but again it will be in French (sorry, didn't check the languages). Sorry, do not know the Dumas novel you've mentioned.

[Tony F Dordogne]

I thought that the Dumas novels - 3 Musketeers and Twenty Years After - predated the French Revolution by about 40 years.

If you're interested in the period before the Revolution, time of Henry IV, try La reine Margot, which is again based on Dumas I think.

[Tony F Dordogne]

Sorry, not that they were the only novels that Dumas wroite of course, just the best known outside of France I would think.

There is a Penguin History of France, Volume 1 covers the revolution/pre revolution period, now out of print, by Alfred Cobbam, which is academic but pretty good.

[Clarkkent]

The is a serieis of fictional novels by dennis wheatly(?) about a british spy in revolutionary france and onwards.

I suspect you mean The Scarlet Pimpernel series by Baroness Orczy. A few of these were dramatised by the BBC a few years ago, with Richard E Grant as Sir Percy Blakeney/The Scarlet Pimpernel. There was a VHS version - it might be available on DVD.

There was a Broadway musical version and a production will be staged in Dereham during October.

 

 

[Tresco]

'The best I have come up with is A Tale of Two Cities'. (Diana)

Diana, i have been racking my brains all day, and a Tale of Two Cities is one of the very best books, not only about the era you are you are interested in, but ever.

I don't doubt that some of the other books mentioned are good, and I will note them down and hopefully read them, but that book is my second favourite Dickens, and it is one of a handful of books that I can read again every year or so.

Every time get something new/different from it.

[Coco]

A factual  book is that by Simon Schama (he of History of Britain fame) called Revolution.  It's a pretty hefty tome and although I bought it some time ago I haven't had a chance to sit down and read it, so can't give you a verdict on it but it's another option if you want to learn about France at the time of the Revolution, in English.

[Loiseau]

Simon Schama's excellent book "Citizens" is about the revolution.  Is that the one you were thinking of, Coco, or has he done a second one on the subject?

To go back to the exceedingly bloody post-Revolutionary uprising in the Vendée and surrounding area, Anthony Trollope wrote a historical novel called "La Vendée" (in English), based on the diaries of Madame de la Rochejacquelein - who was married to two Vendean leaders (though not at the same time).

In French, there is "Les Mouchoirs Rouges de Cholet" by present-day writer Michel Ragon, who touches on the Vendee Wars in some of his other novels too.

Angela

www.the-vendee.co.uk