#les chouans

[thebookwormbeth]

: ̗̀➛ Book Review

╰┈➤Sum-up:

This Story take place at the end of the Directoire in 1799, France. Napoleon is ruling as the only one consulat and this time will mark the end of the french revolution. In the department of Brittany and Vendée, in the west of France, many christian royalist are still refusing the new governement, staying loyal to the monarchy and the King. The governement send the police to exterminate these people, that we call "Chouans". In this book we follow the love story between two characters, the Marquis de Montauran, a royalist and Mademoiselle de Verneuil a republican sent to help kill him.

╰┈➤ Review: [Warning; Spoiler]

This book was given to me by my brother, and i have to admit i wasn't shure i would like it. Despite the very long descriptions of, well, everything (which i was expecting), this was actually...good? The story was interesting, i don't think i was ever bored while reading it, and most of the characters were very well-writen, especially Marie de Verneuil, which was my favorite character.

Knowing it was written in the 19th century, i wasn't expecting such a good femal characters, she's strong, funny and smart and quite modern for her time. What makes her an even better character is that she's not perfect, she commit a lots of mistakes but learn from them and grow as a person along the story. Her love affair with the marquis was the most entertaining thing i have read in a while, the number of times they betray and try to kill each other is almost funny, i lost it when she tried to stab him.

But talking about the marquis, i must say that i didn't really like his character. I thought he was kind of empty if that make sense. We know very little of him in comparaison to the other characters. We can guess the personality of the other characters with what is given to us in the book, but it's really hard with the Marquis, i had the impression that he was a little useless to his cause, to be honest, which he is not since he's someone important, but it's what the book shows us. The lady accompagning him, Madame du Gua, was much more interesting in my opinion and i wish we knew more about her too.

There is a second love story in this book, between Francine, the lady in waiting of Marie, and Marche-à-terre, or Pierre. I wanted to know more, so much more. We learn in the second part of the book that they used to be lovers (we don't know if they were married, i'm guessing they were) but Pierre left her to become a "hunter of the king", which are royalist fighting for a monarchy. I think they were together for 8 years before he decided to leave. It honeslty broke my heart, because they still loved each other but were from different world which kept them apart. Something that stuck with me was when they meet again for the first time and she tells him that no matter what, for him, the king will always be more important than her. I wish i could have hug her.

The ending did left me hanging, everything happend very fast. But i thought it was good, not exeptional, but not bad. Marie sacrificing herself in order to save her lover, whom she tried to kill a glorious number of times was very beautiful and well executed, showing her courage and bravery.

I wish we knew what happend after to Francine and Pierre and to other characters like Corentin (which i despised) and Capitaine Hulot. Balzac actually hated this book, and even critisized it in the preface in the first published copy, but i though it was a very good story which is easy to understand.

>Trigger warning for domestic abuse, it's not perpetrated by a recurrent character and it happens one time.

[esteliel]

When the commandant gave vent to this military oath (an object it must be      said of Republican atheistical remonstrance) it gave warning of a storm;      the diverse intonations of the words were degrees of a thermometer by      which the brigade could judge of the patience of its commander; the old      soldier’s frankness of nature had made this knowledge so easy that the      veriest little drummer-boy knew his Hulot by heart, simply by observing      the variations of the grimace with which the commander screwed up his      cheek and snapped his eyes and vented his oath. On this occasion the tone  of smothered rage with which he uttered the words made his two friends      silent and circumspect. Even the pits of the small-pox which dented that      veteran face seemed deeper, and the skin itself browner than usual. His      broad queue, braided at the edges, had fallen upon one of his epaulettes      as he replaced his three-cornered hat, and he flung it back with such fury      that the ends became untied. However, as he stood stock-still, his hands      clenched, his arms crossed tightly over his breast, his mustache bristling, Gerard ventured to ask him presently: “Are we to start at once?”    

Honoré de Balzac, Les Chouans

Uniform references for Hulot, chief of a half-brigade (a rank used instead of the aristocratic “colonel” in the years 1793-1803) in 1799, including sabers and pistols used by officers of the line infantry. During the events of Les Chouans, Hulot is 33 years old (despite being referred to as a veteran and “old soldier”).

He wears his long hair in a queue and has a very soldierly mustache, both of which he loses when he later has to go undercover as a Chouan.

[kainosite]

Chouan Noms de Guerre

Most Chouans took a nom de guerre, mainly to hide their identities and spare their families from retaliation, but also because it was creepier for the Blues to have to fight a guy calling himself “Stab-Everyone” than some peasant named Jan Valjan.

Chouan noms de guerre fell into eight main categories:

Physical Descriptions: Le Blond, Belle-Jambe, Frisé, La Gaieté, Jambe-d'Argent, Brûle-Moustache

Geography: Flaire-Andouille, Montfort-la-Canne, La France, l'Empire

Military Vocabulary: La Giberne, Carabine, Mousqueton, Le Canonnier, Mitraille, Housard, Le Chasseur, Rochambeau

Useful Qualities: Rapide, Vif-Argent, Fend-l'Air, Vol-au-Vent, Frappe-d'Abord, Sans-Peur, Le-Petit-Sans-Peur, Va-Sans-Peur, Cœur-de-Lion, Carpar, l'Intrépide, Vaillant, Bon-Conseil, Franc-Coeur, La Volonté, La Victoire, l'Invincible, Sans-Pareil

Committed: Cœur-de-Roi, Sans-Regret, Sans-Chagrin, Bénédicité, Chambort

Tryhard: Danse-à-l'Ombre, Tranche-Montagne, Frappe-à-Mort, Placenette, Sabre-Tout, Brise-Bleu, Court-Bleu, Le Vengeu, Sans-Quartier, Sans-Pitié, Sans-Rémission

WTF:  Bas-d'Argent, Petit-Profit, Brin-d'Amour, Blanc-d'Amour, La Musette, Chante-en-Hiver, Cadet-Roussel, Beau-Séjour, Beau-Soleil, Gobe-Soleil, Gueule-d'Empeigne

Vegetation: La Violette, La Giroflée, La Rose, Fleur-de-Rose, Branche-d'Or, Pomme-d'Or, L’Épine, Fleur-d'épine, Belle-Vigne, La Ramée

Sources: 

Lettres sur l'origine de la Chouannerie et sur les Chouans die Bas-Maine, Jacques Duchemin Descepeaux, Paris, 1825:  Volume 1  Volume 2

“Histoire de la Ville de Saint-James-de-Beuvron”, Mémoires de la Société Académique du Contentin, Volume 10, Victor-Jacques-François Ménard, Avranches,1894

Notes from the 1924 edition of Quatrevingt-Treize, edited by Gustave Simon

[esteliel]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

An Idea of Fouché’s (11615 words) Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Les Chouans - Honoré de Balzac, La Comédie Humaine - Honoré de Balzac Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Corentin/Hulot Characters: Hulot, Corentin Additional Tags: Mutual Dubious Consent, Fouché Made Them Do It, Bad Practice in Government Summary:

The Ministry of War really needs to stop sending Hulot awful letters.

2020 has been such a good year for Balzac fandom, but getting 11k of absolutely in character Corentin/Hulot full of historically accurate details and so much delicious tension, plus an amazing assortment of Corentin insults, has to be the crowning achievement of Balzac fandom his year. This is genuinely all I’ve ever wanted from Corentin/Hulot fic and I just want to roll around in it forever and ever. ❤

[esteliel]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

The Ball at Saint-James (18032 words) by Esteliel Chapters: 3/3 Fandom: Les Chouans - Honoré de Balzac, La Comédie Humaine - Honoré de Balzac Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Corentin/Hulot Characters: Corentin (Comédie Humaine), Hulot (Comédie Humaine), Chevalier de Vissard Additional Tags: Duelling, Strip Duel, Huddling For Warmth, First Time, Captivity, Undercover Missions, There Is Only One (1) Goatskin Summary:

Corentin decides to attend the ball of Saint-James undercover. It is not long until his cover is blown and he finds himself fighting a duel to the death...

And my main Yuletide assignment for @kainosite  who gave me an opportunity to write stripping duels, because surely that’s what any good royalist with a saber would do when faced with an obnoxious muscadin spy?

I am so so happy that the number of Balzac fic has doubled last year after I spent the beginning of 2019 being lured into Balzac hell and despairing at the sight of zero Corentin content. This really has been such a good Balzac year, and Balzac discord has made me so happy! ❤ ❤ ❤

[esteliel]

My favorite find of the day. Congrats to whichever artist decided to color in that old Corentin illustration in yellow-orange-red-green.

[esteliel]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Les peaux de chèvres de chagrin (16296 words) by Anonymous Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: Les Chouans - Honoré de Balzac, La Comédie Humaine - Honoré de Balzac Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con Relationships: Corentin/OMCs Characters: Corentin, OMCs - Original Male Chouans Additional Tags: Kidnapping, Captivity, Weregoats, Randy Weregoats, Inhumanly deep anal penetration, Inhumanly Brief Refractory Period, Ravaged by Livestock, Class Differences, Chouannerie, Forced to Huddle for Warmth with Rapist Summary:

When Corentin is captured by the Chouans, he quickly discovers that the enigmatic Breton peasants have been guarding deeper secrets than royalism.

Being held for a doomed hostage exchange may turn out to be the least of his problems.

Nonconathon had reveals and I got the Balzac fic of my wildest dreams by some mysterious author who knows me far too well. 😍 This is incredible and has everything I could have possibly wanted - it’s beautifully in character, rich with historical detail, has amazing character voice and all the delicious kidnapping/captivity/huddling tropeyness, plus amazing Chouan OCs and, ahem, the weregoat noncon Balzac forgot to tell us about.

And while I realize that Chouans fandom is basically a fandom of two you should absolutely give this a try if you like bratty spies out of their depth, 19th century Brittany, goatskins or, well... weregoat noncon. 🐐❤ I still cannot believe that there’s truly 16k of incredible fic for my poor underappreciated fave now!

[esteliel]

All I want is one (1) sexy pic of my OTP, instead what I get is undead!Hulot who looks as if he’s sailing through Brittany on a ghost ship. ;__;