The French Revolution Thomas Carlyle 9781496183767 Books
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“Citizens, did you want a revolution without a revolution?” – Maximilien Robespierre
As one of the seminal social revolutions in human history, the French Revolution holds a unique legacy, especially in the West. The early years of the Revolution were fueled by Enlightenment ideals, seeking the social overthrow of the caste system that gave the royalty and aristocracy decisive advantages over the lower classes. But history remembers the French Revolution in a starkly different way, as the same leaders who sought a more democratic system while out of power devolved into establishing an incredibly repressive tyranny of their own once they acquired it.
The height of Republican France’s tyranny came during a 10 month period forever known as the Reign of Terror, the most notorious and arguably most memorable part of the French Revolution. One of the first victims of the Reign of Terror was its most famous former French Queen Marie Antoinette. But Antoinette was followed by thousands more, including everyone from aristocrats to clergy to prostitutes and even instrumental revolutionaries like Danton, Desmoulins, and, most notably, Robespierre. It was Robespierre whose position on the Committee of Public Safety made him the Reign of Terror’s instrumental figure until he himself became a victim of it in July 1794. Robespierre’s date with the guillotine is often considered the official end of the Reign of Terror, but by then it is estimated that at least 16,000 people were guillotined in that time and possibly 25,000 more were summarily executed across the country.
Carlyle's The French Revolution is an expansive history of the revolution, covering three volumes.
The French Revolution Thomas Carlyle 9781496183767 Books
I avoided this book for a long time because of its length and difficult language, but needed a comprehensive overview of the revolution to fit together all the bits and pieces of knowledge I had about it. It takes effort to read this book but it's well worth it! It is a classic, for good reason. It gives you an "insider's" view of the whole thing. It's not intended for casual reading entertainment but neither is it boring like reading an encyclopedia. I have a much better understanding now of the people, politics, events, causes and consequences of this violent episode of history. It is interesting, interpretive, factual and action packed! Such cruel, unjust,brutal and violent turmoil makes one thank God that we didn't have to live through it!Product details
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The French Revolution Thomas Carlyle 9781496183767 Books Reviews
Bob-Blair.org has an amazing annotated copy of THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. Working through its first chapters, I find that the first chapter requires a fairly good knowledge of Louis XV's reign, which Wikipedia or Bob Blair's site can give you.
The next chapters are absolutely lucid, and state clearly and repeatedly that the great causes of the French Revolution are the decline of the nobility, the exploitation of the poor, and a general atmosphere of skepticism. Loss of belief, Carlyle says, leads to an outbreak of the diabolical in human beings.
Dickens got almost all his feeling for the French Revolution from Carlyle's history. In their time the revolution was no farther away than World War Two is from us, which means they had a good general feel for it. Even at our present distance, it's not that tough to read Carlyle -- and his main points, rather than being hidden as some reviewers have said, are virtually screamed at the reader over and over again.
Those who call his writing stilted don't know what "stilted" means. It means pompous and over-formal. Carlyle coined words and wrote the kind of wild poetry that influenced Melville in his MOBY DICK. That's not stilted. Calling it stilted is like calling a rock star soft.
It is a poetic style, for sure. The Modern Library introducer compares it with Milton's. He also calls the book a kind of epic. If you don't like epic poetry, don't read Carlyle. He won't miss you; I won't miss you; and you'll be so much happier wherever you end up.
I don’t consider myself equal to the task of writing a review of Carlyle’s works simply because I consider him to be one of the greatest writers of his Age; second perhaps only to Edmund Burke. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that plumbing these depths is a challenge. However I will scribble a few notes here for anyone wishing to brave these waters and start off by admitting that for the layman and others such as myself, finishing the book from cover to cover can be a daunting task. However, if you set your sails aright, despite the obstacles, it can prove a most rewarding venture. Strenuous.. maybe- Arduous.. a little.. But well worth the effort. To be sure, the reader will encounter a vast array of names and places that will sound foreign to his ear; players and actors who have long since left the world stage. Despite time and history having buried many of these names beneath her proud waves these waters are still navigable
Alex de Tocqueville wrote that “The American Revolution was caused by a mature and thoughtful taste for freedom. No disorderly passions drove it. On the contrary, it proceeded hand in hand with a love of order and legality”. Not so the French Revolution. It was sudden, violent and unforgiving. Tens of thousands of people lost their lives. And the way they were murdered (there is no other name for it) was particularly cruel, brutal and vicious. The bodies of victims were often mutilated and dismembered; heads stuck on the end of pikes and paraded through towns and cities. Hundreds of priests were tied up and put on boats; the boats then deliberately and purposely sunk; all drowned- there were no survivors (Pg. 691). The Tannery in Meudon where the flaying, butchering and skinning of human corpses (both men and woman) took place (Pg. 712) for making breeches, pants, and clothing. Gruesome and horrifically evil, but true. Apparently, the Nazis weren’t first to find new uses for human skin. And (if you have the stomach for it) you can do an internet search on Princess de Lamballe. The actual details of her murder were so unspeakable that Carlyle refused to commit them to writing.
Like Arjuna who looked with unshielded eyes into the mouth of Krishna before the battle of Kurukshetra and saw worlds and universes unfold before him; so too Carlyle looks into the maw of the French Revolution. Carlyle takes up the challenge by asking what exactly the French Revolution was all about? What did it all mean? What did it signify? How is it to be interpreted? Do we even have (he asks) the tools to dare attempt an interpretation? In the end, Carlyle neither accuses or excuses the French Revolution; he attempts to write about an event and phenomena that even today historians are still debating.
When we look back over all the carnage and the tragic divulsions.. When the dead are all buried and time has bound and healed at least some of the injustices which took place.. When we add it all up and ask ourselves almost 200 years later what it all meant we are still no closer to a final answer than when Thomas Carlyle first took pen in hand, sat down, and began to write..the story of..The French Revolution.
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I avoided this book for a long time because of its length and difficult language, but needed a comprehensive overview of the revolution to fit together all the bits and pieces of knowledge I had about it. It takes effort to read this book but it's well worth it! It is a classic, for good reason. It gives you an "insider's" view of the whole thing. It's not intended for casual reading entertainment but neither is it boring like reading an encyclopedia. I have a much better understanding now of the people, politics, events, causes and consequences of this violent episode of history. It is interesting, interpretive, factual and action packed! Such cruel, unjust,brutal and violent turmoil makes one thank God that we didn't have to live through it!
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