#cambronne

[les-mis-daily-doodles]

guys he said shit guys that’s crazy

[francepittoresque]

ANECDOTE | Le mot de Cambronne devant l’Académie française ➽ http://bit.ly/Mot-Cambronne-Academie Lors de la séance du 18 novembre 1926, les Immortels débattirent notamment au sujet de l’éventuelle entrée, dans la huitième édition du Dictionnaire, du juron « Merde ! » prêté — de façon erronée — au général Cambronne à l’issue de la bataille de Waterloo le 18 juin 1815 : la célèbre interjection fut alors recalée

[lesmisscraper]

For the hero of today's chapter, General Pierre Cambronne, who made the finest reply that a Frenchman ever made.

[pilferingapples]

He grants its overwhelming immensity, but he establishes its triviality; and he does more than spit upon it. Borne down by numbers, by superior force, by brute matter, he finds in his soul an expression: “Excrément!”

...Hapgood.

I am judging the shit out of you.

[lesmisrarepairdaily]

The Les Mis Rarepair of the day is …

❤️Cambronne/Enjolras❤️

Thematic parallels and all that

Do you ship it?

Yes (ironically)

Yes (unironically)

Yes (unrequited)

No

Just because they care about their causes doesn’t mean I have to care about them

Voting ended onMay 17

Portrait of Cambronne by Antoine Fulcrand Carrière

Bradley Jaden as Enjolras

[the-wraxall-illustrations]

[dolphin1812]

“This entire chapter is conceptually hilarious, but some of the moments in it are so bizarre. Take this, for instance:

“ To make that reply and then perish, what could be grander? For being willing to die is the same as to die; and it was not this man’s fault if he survived after he was shot.”

Hugo what

Anyway, the themes of this chapter are fascinating as well. This paragraph encapsulates most of them:

“Cambronne’s reply produces the effect of a violent break. ’Tis like the breaking of a heart under a weight of scorn. ’Tis the overflow of agony bursting forth. Who conquered? Wellington? No! Had it not been for Blücher, he was lost. Was it Blücher? No! If Wellington had not begun, Blücher could not have finished. This Cambronne, this man spending his last hour, this unknown soldier, this infinitesimal of war, realizes that here is a falsehood, a falsehood in a catastrophe, and so doubly agonizing; and at the moment when his rage is bursting forth because of it, he is offered this mockery,—life! How could he restrain himself? Yonder are all the kings of Europe, the general’s flushed with victory, the Jupiter’s darting thunderbolts; they have a hundred thousand victorious soldiers, and back of the hundred thousand a million; their cannon stand with yawning mouths, the match is lighted; they grind down under their heels the Imperial guards, and the grand army; they have just crushed Napoleon, and only Cambronne remains,—only this earthworm is left to protest. He will protest. Then he seeks for the appropriate word as one seeks for a sword. His mouth froths, and the froth is the word. In face of this mean and mighty victory, in face of this victory which counts none victorious, this desperate soldier stands erect. He grants its overwhelming immensity, but he establishes its triviality; and he does more than spit upon it. Borne down by numbers, by superior force, by brute matter, he finds in his soul an expression: “Excrément!” We repeat it,—to use that word, to do thus, to invent such an expression, is to be the conqueror!”

Hugo aims to focus on the people over the famed generals, and here, he does so by asserting that even if there was no victor at Waterloo (”this victory which counts none victorious”), Cambronne was the “conqueror” for recognizing the horrible situation he’d been put in by these men, then expressing his frustration and mocking the whole thing in one word. “Life,” for him, is a “mockery;” while his life is in danger, kings sit in safety, generals command and have honors bestowed upon them, and the man he’s been told is “great” - Napoleon - has been defeated while he remains standing. Hugo compares the curse to a “sword,” underscoring its force, but it’s also notable that it isn’t automatically accompanied by violence on Cambronne’s part. Through its humor and anger, this swear rejects the system that has put Cambronne in this place; by not fighting at that moment (and thus participating in the system of battle) and instead expressing himself, Cambronne (at least in this instance) rejects these harmful systems. The “conqueror” at Waterloo, then, is the common man who spurns the systems oppressing him.

Hugo furthers this comparison by saying that this swear was not only divinely inspired, but channeled the French Revolution (”he hurls it at the past in the name of the Revolution. It is heard, and Cambronne is recognized as possessed by the ancient spirit of the Titans. Danton seems to be speaking! Kléber seems to be bellowing!”). The curse contains within it, then, a spirit of rebellion.

I also think Hugo’s thoughts on what this swear mean speak to why this book, even with a title like Les Misérables, isn’t actually sad overall? There are definitely moments of great sadness (Fantine’s death still hurts), but the booj contains two other key emotions: rage (at the systems that caused this suffering, leading to a desire for change) and, most importantly here, humor. Cambronne’s frustration led to the swear, but it’s also funny to read a full chapter justifying the use of this word. Similarly, many of the characters hold themselves together in the face of the cruelty and despair they witness through humor. We see this with the bishop, who, after losing many friends and relatives to the Revolution and then witnessing the poverty of those he aims to help, constantly mocks himself and the expectations for someone of his status. Even when the characters themselves are less prone to joking (like Valjean and Javert), Hugo either includes jokes in his narration or makes them comical through their absurdities (Valjean’s reverse robberies as mayor, Javert basically all the time). The events the book describes are tragic, but this humor offers hope.

This is a minor addition, but it’s also hilarious that Hugo has somehow made a Frenchman the conqueror of Waterloo. I can really see how someone would come out of reading this and think, “wow, this is great for the French government, one of France’s most notorious losses is now a victory!” without seeing all of the criticism of the political system woven into it.

[microcosme11]

Disembarking at Cannes

le 5 mars 1815 Napoleon débarque sur la rade de Cannes, les hommes de sa garde qui l'avaient accompagné dans son éxil de l'ile Elbe établirent sur la rive leur bivouac et y arborent le drapeau tricolore: Napoleon se promène sur la rive avec le général Cambrone que lui désigne en mer les vaisseaux anglais à travers lesquels ils ont passés sans être decouverts. Si nous avons été obligés de nous cacher aujourd'hui dit l'Empereur, dans 15 jours nous serons a Paris et nous ne craindrons pas de nous y faire voir.

On March 5, 1815 Napoleon landed in the harbor of Cannes. The men of his guard who had accompanied him in his exile from Elba set up their bivouac on the shore and displayed the tricolor flag.

Napoleon walks on the shore with General Cambronne who points out at sea the English vessels through which they passed without being discovered. “If we have been forced to hide today,” said the Emperor, “in fifteen days we will be in Paris and we will not fear being seen there.”

bnf gallica. Vinck's collection. A century of French history through prints, 1770-1870. Flight. 72 (parts 9377-9502), Restoration and Hundred Days