Because the French Revolution is such an important subject, there are many, many books on it. (Although, unfortunately, most libraries don't have a lot possibly because this is the United States) Below is just a brief overview of some of the books and movies that have either kindled by curiousity or that I have wanted to kindle a fire to burn.
Non-Fiction
Simon Schama Citizens Although I personally I am not too hot on revisionism even though I accept that its historians are right on in disliking the Revolution, Schama's colossal best-seller is a very good and very detailed intro. If that people are willing to read a 1000 history page book, it must be worthwhile! While this is by far the most complete introduction, other worthies include Christopher Herbert's The Days of the French Revolution and George Rude's The French Revolution(although he has a rather annoying tendency to always defend Robespierre)
Marie-Helen Huet Mourning Glory Absolutely brilliant essays on the French Revolution meant to combat Francois Furet's "La revolution est finie" and revisionism in general. Basically analyzes the way that the Revolution, and the Reign of Terror especially, have been viewed. Probably the best essay is The Legacy of History which discusses the mythological links behind popular perception of Danton and Robespierre. This is in the same vein as Lynn Hunt's brilliant The Family Romance of the French RevolutionJules Michelet History of the French Revolution Before the communist school (i.e. Mathiez, Lefevbre etc.) came along, Michelet's History of the French Revolution was the standard Romantic version. It's absolutely beautiful and contains all the wonderful myths that make this epoch so fascinating. President Mitterand used to sleep with a copy of it under his pillow. Volume 1 (until 1791) can actually be found, good luck trying to find the interesting part! (1791-1794) Other Romantic historians include Thiers, Taine, Aulard and Mignet.
Thomas Carlyle History of the French Revolution For some reason this version is more popular than Michelet's. I really don't see why seeing that's its accuracy is even more...uhhh...picturesque and its capitalization is extremely eccentric. E-mail me if you agree that Carlyle was a sick, sick man.
Edmund Burke Reflections on the Revolution in France British politician who foresaw, in 1790, the Revolution's consequences with 20/20 vision. Very conservative and good reading not only for the frightening prophesy ("All eyes will turn to the first military commander..." "This Tribunal, if left unchecked, will unleash a greater tyranny than has been seen before...") but as a landmark in political philosophy. Burke's charming description of Marie Antionette and rose-colored view of the ancien regime will grate on your nerves. Read Tom Paine's retrospectively heart-wrenching The Rights of Man to balance this out. Another very good relatively contemporary account of the Revolution is Alexis de Toqueville's The Old Regime and the French Revolution by the same astute mind that wrote Democracy in America.Olivier Bernier Words of Fire, Deeds of Blood A very good and quiet entertaining guide to the early years of the Revolution from about 1788 to 1792 which tries to explain the underlying loss of order and emergent violence that would lead to Reign of Terror. Directly succeeding this book would be David Jourdan's The King's Trialwhich focuses completely on Louis XVI's trial as a testing ground for revolutionary ideas.
Stanley Loomis Paris in the Terror The first book I read on the Revolution. Ecrasez l'infame! It will seep into your mind and overtake it! The history is recycled Taine--meaning very Dantonist. Only individuals and their lives and conflicts are mentioned---the war, the sans-cullote, etc. are given only a passing reference! Yeh, if you detach Robespierre and the Terror from events they are going to look even worse than normal. What is particularly annoying about this "history", and I have so much to choose from here, is that since the author doesn't like idealists like Corday, Roland and Robespierre, he glorifies anyone who happens to be the opposite. Fouche becomes the unlikely hero of Part III merely because he is an unscrupulous and intelligent opportunist...even though he was personally responsible for far more deaths than the ever-accursed Robespierre!
Claude Manceron The French Revolution series There are four books in this series so far, all dealing with the ancien regime leading up to the last book Blood of the Bastille, which deals with the fall of the Bastille. I think Manceron is dead, unfortunately, or else he has become tired of the Revolution. The four existing books of the series are very good though in that they examine, anecedotely the lives of all the major French Revolutionary figures. Too bad he never really got to write about the Revolution. Someone should finish the series for him. I'd volunteer!
Crane Brinton The Jacobins By the author of The Anatomy of Revolution, Crane Brinton reveals the bourgeouis mysticism and violence of the Jacobins that make them seem at times prototypes for the Third Reich. Another profoundly terrifying look at the connection between democracy, totalitarianism and the Terror is Arthur Salmon's The Origins of Totatiltarian DemocracyChronicle of the French Revolution The publisher is out of business so finding it might be hard. Meaning, I bought it in England. It goes through 1788-1799 like a running newspaper of the times and is an indispensable guide for the hardcore history buff. Incidently, it is the same size as my Chronicle of America which covers 200 years.
Furet, Francois and Marie Ozouf A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution As much as I dislike Revisionist history on principal, this is a beautiful, comprehensive (except for leaving out Saint-Just an oversight that was only compensated for in the French version) analysis of the key facets and personalities of the Revolution.
R. R. Palmer Twelve Who Ruled Anyone who want to learn about European History should read this book. It is the classic work of the Reign of Terror and describes the turbulent An II when the Committee of Public Safety ruled France. Rather too liberal at times (it breezes over the entire Great Terror!!) but a solid explanation of events. If you like Palmer (and I do) you will also probably enjoy Thomson and Hampson.
David Gerould Guillotine: The Life and Lore A whimsical and fun little guide to the guillotine in history and pop culture.
Fiction
Victor Hugo Ninety Three Mostly about the conflict in the Vendee, although it does include some very beautiful/anecdotal reflections on "The Three Gods"--Robespierre, Marat and Danton and the National Convention in general.
Alexander Dumas The Blue and the White Based on the early life of writer Charles Nodier, it covers the uprisings in the provinces.
Baroness Orczy The Scarlet Pimpernel and sequels You've got to love the dashing Pimpernel even if historical accuracy in Orczy is purely a matter of chance. Great swashbuckling though. The difficult to find and apparently never-ending sequels, including Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel, The Elusive Pimpernel, Tales of the Scarlet Pimpernel, The Scarlet Pimpernel and the Creature from Mars (Just kidding!) are more closely tied to pseudo-history. Historical guest appearances include Robespierre (who literally fantasizes beheading all of France), Saint-Just (cousin and ex-suitor of Marguerite who, now isn't this funny, is "one of the most romantic figures of the entire Revolution") and Therezia Carrabus.
Rafael Sabatini Scaramouche Once again, great swashbuckling and laughable history. Yet another Wicked and Debauched Marquis
Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities The great novel of the French Revolution where historical accuracy is pretty much limited to the fact that France is indeed across the English Channel from England and that a revolution did take place in France. The Parisian populace go from long-suffering martyrs to bloodthirsty knaves in a record 25 pages. And of course there is the Wicked and Debauched Marquis de Mt. St. Evremond. Most of the characters are drips, Lucie and Charles have the collective intelligence of a species of lower mollusks. Sydney and Madame deFarge are the only characters with any backbone at all. And Dickens kills them off!
Susanne AlleynA Far Better Rest In this recent reimagining of Dickens' A Tale of Two CitiesAlleyn does much to make the original story more reasonable from both a historical and personal point of view. While still sticking very much to Dickens' lexicon, Alleyn weaves a compelling story of why Sydney Carton gave his life in place of Darnay as well as Carton's doings in France during his mysterious disappearance. The history is also very accurate, which certainly makes up for Dickens' most blatant stereotypes.
Hilary Mantel A Place of Greater Safety In my all-important view, the best novel of the French Revolution. In fact, it is currently my favorite novel overall. Although very long (700 pages) it is well worth the read and vividly evokes the lives of Danton, Desmoulins and Robespierre. The book not only perfectly grasps the feeling of the era, but also provides sensible insight into the actions of the main characters. Although just about everyone is sympathetically portrayed (OK, not Saint-Just or Hebert) your heart will be with Camille. Furthermore, it's beautifully written. The only thing that really annoys me about the work is that I didn't write it. :)
Marge Piercy City of Darkness, City of Light Another recent novel of the Revolution, Piercy's account is very liberal and very feminist. It tells the story of the lives of not only such well known characters as Robespierre, Danton, the Marquis de Condorcet and Manon Roland, but also the fascinating duo of Pauline Leon and Claire Lacombe. The latter two arranged the amazingly forward RRW--Revolutionary Republican Women. The feminism is refreshing, but the newcomer to revolutionary Paris will be lost with the quick juxtapostion of viewpoints and the writing is not up to my standard of what fiction should be. Other good books about women in the Revolution (non-fiction) include Mary Yalom's Blood Sisters and Twilight of the Goddesses Tanith Lee The Gods are Thirsty
Yet another contemporary account of the Revolution, Lee's version pales beside Mantel's but remains an amusing read mainly for the symbolic evocation of the main characters and the eternally endearing fact that it is narrated by dear Camille. The characterization is none too subtle---or too accurate---relying on mythological archetypes and Lee's writing style is un peu trop in its similes and metaphors.
Anatole France The Gods are Athirst Mark Logan Tricolor, Guillotine, Brumaire More Anglophile swashbuckling
Daphne DuMaurier The Glass Blowers Dominique Jamet Antoine et Maximilien ou La Terreur sans la Vertu The author of this book has a mind so incredibly perverted that he makes my friends (who can...and do...find sexual allusions in just about everything including fast food) look comparatively angelic. This is historical fiction with a big emphasis on the second part and, as you could probably guess, is about Robespierre and Saint-Just. Saint-Just is a nice guy, incredibly hormonally driven and not exactly up there with Einstein, but nice. Robespierre's good side, on the other hand, consists of being a a power-hungry, self-serving tyrant who plans to restore a monarchial government. On the bad side, he's a pedophile, a child-murderer, and is jealously possessive of Saint-Just whose girlfriend he has beheaded, whose engagement he breaks up by telling Henriette that SJ is gay and and whose furniture he rather voyeuristically harps on all the time. This is the kind of book where there is so much sexual irregularity that you wonder if the author is going to mention anything about the dog. Anyways, this book is in French and for some inexplicable reason has never been translated. Read at your own risk of laughing to death.
Movies
Danton (1987) Brilliant, taut, contemporary and nervy, Danton is the French/Polish opus of director Andrzej Wajda. It is based on my dear Polish soulmate's The Danton Case, but if she could see Wajda's version she would roll over in her very cold and miserable grave. Danton fully exonerates its namesake, making him a symbol of capitalist democracy against Robespierre's cold communism. The movie is more about Poland in the 80s than France in the 1790s (several blatantly Stalin/Jarulezswi-like traits are added to Robespierre) but it captures the ambiance of 1794 very well. Even better, you will not have to call the 72 non-adult-only video stores in the greater Sacramento vicinity to find this work, since it has been rereleased from the silent abyss of moratorium. I know this made your day.
Napoleon(1927) The finest pre-1989 French Revolution film, and among the finest general films, ever made. It is the enormously innovative silent classic by the rather megalomanical and extremely flamboyant director Abel Gance (who plays a compelling Saint-Just in the movie) and features a wonderful score by Carmine Copola, triptych, the famous snowball fight an Napoleon's childhood school, and a great section on the Terror. It is, inevitably, very fond of Napoleon who has this unnerving tendency to develop a glowing mandorla at pivotal scenes. An absolutely beautiful film which actually has fleeting moments of historical accuracy!
Orphans of the Storm (1921) I have this very old silent film on tape and love laughing at it. It's its own satirical commentary--I mean come on... an aristo baby and a peasant baby left on a church step on a winter's day picked up by a commoner and raised as twins (the Gish sisters) until one of them becomes blind and the other has to go to Paris to find a surgical remedy..give me a break! The non-visually impaired sister is always misplacing the other girl, and they inevitably become the toys of the local Wicked and Debauched Marquis. This Marquis also runs over a sans-cullote kid with his carriage and worries about his horses. What a surprise! Furthermore, made during the 20s Red Scare, Robespierre becomes an "Agent of Bolshevism" and "Pussyfooting Tyrant" who tiptoes around Danton's apartment seeing who his newest girlfriend is. Danton, the "Abraham Lincoln of France," saves the non-blind sister from the guillotine where she was condemned by the nefarious, throat-slashing Tribunal. If nothing else, the movie is a load of laughs!
The Scarlet Pimpernel Personally, I like the Jane Seymour version though the Merle Oberon one is very fine as well. The recent A & E remake was completely unnecessary and pretty bad.
A Tale of Two Cities See book comments above. The 1934 version remains the best, but the 1980s version isn't bad. Rent the 1958 one at your own risk.
Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette, with only a TAD of historical tweaking, is made to look "just like you and me"--provided that "you and me" are married to the French Dauphin and regularly bet 10,000 livre in casual poker games. The whole French Revolution is a dreadful little misunderstanding. The subtlety of historical understanding is about as black and white as the film. A lot of great, though totally unintentional, humor. At least the villain, the reptilian Duke de Orleans, is a duke, not a marquis.
The Reign of Terror (1949) This movie is absolutely *hilarious*! Of course, that really wasn't its intention, but still....It's a film noir reimagining (and we stress that) of the Terror. Any guesses on who the villain is? Yeah, we know...original. I always wonder if Mystery Science Theater 3000 did a take on this one, it seems to me it would be perfect. It's about Charles d'Aubingy the brave but non-too-bright friend of the All-Good Lafayette who kills and impersonates some bloodthirsty prosecutor that Robespierre has hired to find his Black Book which includes the names of everybody he plans to have executed. (one wonders why he doesn't write down those he doesn't mean to have killed at the rate he's going) and has unfortunately misplaced (oops!). What follows includes an interesting pastiche of the Noble Barras (yes, bring towels when you watch), Robespierre's torture chamber, the kitten-kicking Saint-Just, Madeleine the Love Interest whose sense of fashion a century and a half ahead of her time, the realization that the Black Book was never really lost in the first place (Robespierre's idea of fun---besides killing people---obviously consists of deadly practical jokes) and a hilarious recounting of Thermidor.
Jefferson in Paris The early part of the Revolution is covered and it is pretty good accuracy wise. The rest of the movie is slow, but then I never really liked Jefferson.
La Revolution Francaise/The French Revolution (1989) I went through hell to find this movie and I would do it again. This is the film that I would have made had I been in charge of making a French Revolution film. It is 6-hours long and divided into two parts; Les Annees Lumieres (1789-August 10, 1792) and Les Annees Terribles (1792-1794) , of course you can probably guess which one I watch on an almost daily basis ;). The historical accuracy is amazing...after seeing all the rest of the films mentioned on this list you get so used to huge historical blunders that when something resembles reality you're shocked. The acting is wonderful too---especially Seweryn as Robespierre. And the film is pretty even-handed which is all the more incredible..the main characters are Robespierre, Danton and Desmoulins and though several characters are tweaked (Desmoulins comes to mind) the depiction makes you sympathetic for characters even as they send other sympathetic characters to death. Absolutely marvelous. If you're as fanatical as I am about the Rev and have not been able to find this, e-mail Susanna Betzel of Tricolor Books and she can get you a French non-subtitled copy and possibly even an English version. No French Rev fan should deal with living without seeing this work.
Rose of Versailles (1978) The Japanese anime series adapted from the manga of the same name,Rose of Versailles covers the life of Colonel Oscar Jarjuyes---a female head of the French Guard. It's mainly about the Old Regime--with prominent historical personages such as Marie Antionette, Count Axel Fersen, Louis XVI, Jeanne la Motte, Cardinal Rohan, Madame de Polignac, Robespierre and Saint-Just. Of course, the history is altered so that the peerless Oscar can be in charge of every source of light in the entire ancien regime but it's a good story . And it's nice to see men following women around like pathetic puppies instead of vice versa for a change.
Plays/Musicals
Jean AnouilhPoor Bitos Anouilh is always very good, but if you depend on him for history then I've got some oceanfront property to sell you in Minnesota. The title character is a petty, vindictive DA during post-Vichy France who is invited to a costume party by some local aristos. He plays Robespierre. The play switches from 1950s to 1790s based on the parallel characters of Robespierre and Bitos. Impossible to not hate every single character involved in the Revolution except Lucile and perhaps Camille if you're on a particularly forgiving day. Everyone is hypocritical, vicious and unbelievably petty. All the Revolution's grandeur is stripped. Post-Vichy France really was a depressing place to be.
Stanislawa Przybyszewska The Danton Case and Thermidor Since Stanislawa is my Polish soulmate and possible previous incarnation, my view is slightly biased but nevertheless I feel justified in saying that her two plays are overlooked masterpieces. They are highly indiosyncratic and if you don't know the Reign of Terror and its characters fairly well, you will be completely clueless. Her reading of history is insightful, brilliant and highly personal. She is extremely Robespierrist--the novelty of which wears off after a while. Nevertheless, her plays don't describe 1794, they bring you there. Personally, I think the tragically unfinished Thermidor is superior to the much longer Danton Case. But I'm weird.
George Buchner Danton's Death Written by another highly gifted, short-lived (23) obsessive radical, Danton's Death is a German classic where everyone speaks in unbelievably eloquent and polysyallbic terms even in casual greetings. I think the play suffers by translation. At least I hope it does. It is Dantonist and focuses mainly on Danton's fatalism in dealing with his own imminent execution as well as having some brilliant insights into Robespierre's psychology. Crowded with blood-drenched imagery, Biblical allusions and emotional tension, it, like Stanislawa's equally charged accounts, will probably give you a headache if read in one sitting.
Peter Weiss Marat/Sade Insane in every sense of the word. Mind-blowingly thought-provoking though. It is a play within a play put on in 1808 mental institution under the direction of Marquis de Sade. All of the actors (principally Marat and Corday though with appearances by the Red Priest Roux) are mental patients, bringing home the point that the revolution wasn't exactly the work of the Poster Children for Mental Health. The insights this production offers are downright frightening and the juxtaposition of Marat (here replacing Camus' Saint-Just as the "Anti-Sade") and Sade's prefered forms of violence is fascinating. This play should scare and scar you.
Coleridge and Southey The Fall of Robespierre A short contemporary play by the two English poets blatantly based on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar with some beautiful parts but not among the best of either of their works. Of course, another poetic work about the Revolution is Wordsworth's autobiographical The Prelude which includes such memorable lines as the "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive--" one and the "Heads, heads, heads, but never heads enough."
Boublil and Schonberg La Revolution Francaise This was the first rock opera from the creators of Les Miz and Miss Saigon. I think the music is beautiful, though of course it is in French, a language I have only minimal knowledge of. It is about the tragic romance of a commoner (based on poet Andre Chenier) and aristocrat which ends, of course, at the scaffold. As a 1977 French production, it is fairly difficult to obtain.
The Scarlet Pimpernel See comments on books and movies above. The musical is very funny and there are a few good songs but overall it's more silly than anything else. But really what more can you ask for when discussing The Scarlet Pimpernel?
