The Anxiety of Origin

Indeed, such mythical and fanciful images could not have taken hold had they not responded to a deep anxiety regarding both the inevitability of the Revolution and its dramatic unfolding as origin of the modern state. And this is why the figure of Robespierre as Sphinx takes on a special urgency. In his analysis of ( Read more... )

Carrying the Burden

Louis XVI, André argues, was created in order to explain, and atone for, the unchecked violence that had already marred the revolutionary process in September 1792: “The tyrant is a construct of the Revolution, a figure that it elaborates at a turning point in its own history” (p. 122). By killing the tyrant, the ( Read more... )

In my Very Humble Opinion, I think this section is better than the last. By which I mean it seems like much less of digression and (mostly) keeps off of psychoanalysis.

The Terror

André’s appraisal further emphasizes what has been clear from two centuries of agonized accounts of the troubled creation of the Republic. That, central to its ( Read more... )

This next part of "The Legacy of History" gets more into the psychoanalytic side of things, which I tend to accept a lot less readily. But it's interesting, nonetheless, even if I do think the first parts of the chapter stand on firmer foundations. (Though I might add that this is mostly due to my distrust of historians' undertaking the ( Read more... )

Sexual Politics

Although twentieth-century historiography slowly abandoned the practice of historical narratives organized around dominating figures, Danton and, above all, Robespierre continued to haunt the historical imagination.[1] More revealing still are the popularized images of the revolutionary drama that were staged again a few ( Read more... )

Well, all good things must come to an end, and thus it's time to move on from monster!Maxime to another monstrous construction... (Maxime will remain important though, especially in later parts of the article, never fear.)

The Minotaur

Every monster needs an antidote. Robespierre’s deadly sphinx was contrasted with a being who, through ( Read more... )

*sigh*

The Sphinx

Like monsters of Antiquity, Robespierre was the thus constructed as a composite, mythical beast. For Nodier, he was a predator, a hyena with the tawny eyes of a bird of prey; for Taine, a rabid tiger; but for all, indeed (and Michelet would use the word freely) a sphinx. A feline body with a human face, Robespierre was ( Read more... )

Last time, in the "Legacy of History" we explored the profound attractiveness of Maximilien Robespierre. ^__^ Again, I'm really not kidding. I couldn't say why, but it amuses me for some reason. Anyway, in the second part, we learn how this image became so disfigured as to no longer be recognizable.

Revolutionary Monsters

In a footnote ( Read more... )

I already did this a few years ago, but for the benefit of those of you who were not yet on my f-list at that point (and because I just finished typing it up in French), I'm going to repeat my earlier offer to translate any and all chapters from the index of Autour de Robespierre : Le Conventionnel Le Bas, posted here. Also, anyone who wants the ( Read more... )