Currently reading (#22):
L’écriture d'une expérience: Révolution, histoire et Mémoires de Conventionnels (M. Biard, P. Bourdin, H. Leuwers, Y. Ômi et al.)
This book was published by the Société des études robespierristes in 2016, as the 16th book in the Études révolutionnaires collection. It is based on two conferences that were held at Senshu University in Tokyo (November 2013) and in Ivry-sur-Seine (November 2014) ; hence, the book includes a great diversity of perspectives, which allows French and Japanese historiographies on the Revolution to encounter, confront and enrich each other.
The authors set out to explore the conventionnels’ active consciousness of making history, as well as the memorialisation of the republican era in the memoirs of certain deputies of the Convention. In writing these accounts, the revolutionaries not only confronted their own past as well as the adverse political circumstances of the present under the Bourbon Restoration, but also interacted with the first historians of the Revolution and contributed its early historiography. Following an introduction written by Michel Biard, Philippe Bourdin and Hervé Leuwers, the book is composed of 15 chapters (each between 7 and 31 pages long) which deal with a great variety of topics.
The majority of chapters explore how certain events and phenomena are memorialised and reflected in the memoirs of contemporaries or in other documents. Hervé Leuwers, for instance, examines the tradition connecting Robespierre’s traits to elements of his biography, and demonstrates that this tradition is not only based on the works of the first mémorialistes of the Revolution (Proyart and Charlotte Robespierre, notably), but also on the image which Robespierre himself cultivated through his speeches, writings and public appearances. Yoshihiro Matsuura, on the other hand, studies how Robespierre’s political ascension is reflected in contemporary speeches, writings and memoirs, whereas Takashi Koï examines the representation of “federalism” in the Girondins’ trial and in the memoirs of the deputies of the National Convention. In his chapter, Michel Biard deals with the question if the activities of the representatives of the people en mission have been misportrayed in the memoirs of the Convention’s deputies. Yoshiaki Ômi explores the depiction of “the Terror” in the letters, writings and memoirs of the deputies of Haute-Loire, while Philippe Bourdin examines the reflection of Carnot’s ideology and character in the inventory of his personal library. Natalie Petiteau studies how the memory of the National Convention is represented in the écrits héleniens, which are based on the conversations between Bonaparte and O’Méara, Las Cases, Gourgaud, Antommarchi, Montholon and Bertrand, respectively ; it is interesting to see how certain elements (e.g. his judgement of the Convention’s “errors” and “divisions”, the rehabilitation of Robespierre) shape Bonaparte’s ideology and self-perception. Finally, Koichi Yamazaki studies the account of the creation of the department Hautes-Pyrénées in the memoirs of Bertrand Barère.
Other chapters focus on the memoirs of individual conventionnels and the transmission of the militant legacy of the Revolution from one generation to the next, as well as on the interaction between the former deputies and the historians of the Revolution. Thus, Karine Rance studies the conservation and inheritance of the revolutionary memory in the early 19th century, whereas Maki Sato explores how the aspects of commemoration and self-justification define Adrien Duquesnoy’s memoirs. In a similar vein, Laurent Brassart’s chapter deals with Jean Debry’s struggle for authenticity in his memoirs, and Cyril Triolaire analyses Choudieu’s endeavour to rehabilitate the National Convention through his writings. The case of Joseph Fouché is particularly interesting, as Emmanuel de Waresquiel explores how Fouché’s public and private discours on the Revolution evolved and radically changed throughout the years. Céline Pauvros studies Charles-François Dupuis’ disillusions with the revolutionary project, as reflected in the annotations that he made to his personal copy of Abrégé de l'origine de tous les cultes between 1804 and 1809. Finally, in the last chapter, Mette Harder examines how the former conventionnels interacted with the first historians of the French Revolution – sometimes amicably, other times not so much.
Thematically, this book is at times a bit incoherent, and some of the chapters are so specialised that they are barely accessible for readers that are not particularly versed in the field (e.g. in the case of Philippe Bourdin’s chapter on the fonds Carnot). In spite of these weaknesses, this is a solid book on the French Revolution and can offer valuable insights into the minds of the conventionnels, as well as into the complex processes of conservation and transmission surrounding the militant legacy of the Revolution.
What do you think, citizens?