#french revolution
This barely surviving plane tree was probably planted in the tiny village of Tamniès, north of Sarlat [in Dordogne], to mark the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. It grows in front of the parish church, from where it was photographed. It is now probably the only living ‘liberty tree’ from that point of the Revolution.
Liberty or Death: The French Revolution (Peter McPhee)
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Song of the Sans-culottes (circa 1794)
By Aristide Valcour.
Tune:C’est ce qui nous console.
Amis, assez et trop long-tems, / Friends, long enough and for too long,
Sous le règne affreux des tyrans, / Under the awful reign of tyrants,
On chanta les despotes: (bis) / One sang the praises of the despots:
Sous celui de l’Egalité, / Under the one of Equality,
Des Lois et de la Liberté, / Of the Laws and of Liberty,
Chantons les Sans-culottes. (bis) / Let us sing about the Sans-culottes.
Si l’on ne voit plus à Paris / If, in Paris, one no longer sees
Des insolens petits marquis, / Insolent small marquises,
Ni tyrans à calottes, (bis) / Nor tyrants wearing zucchettos,
En brisant ce joug infernal, / If, in breaking this infernal yoke,
Si le pauvre au riche est égal, / The poor is equal to the rich,
C’est grâce aux Sans-culottes. (bis) / It is thanks to the Sans-culottes.
Leurs fronts à la terre attachés, / Their heads, attached to the ground,
Dans la poussière étoient cachés, / Were hidden in the dust,
À l’aspect des despotes: (bis) / In the eyes of the despots:
Levons-nous, ont-ils dit un jour; / Let us rise, they said one day,
A bas, messieurs, chacun son tour: / Down, messieurs, wait your turn:
Vivent les Sans-culottes! (bis) / Long live the Sans-culottes!
Malgré le quatorze juillet, / In spite of 14 July,
Nous étions trompés en effet / We were deceived, in fact,
Par de faux patriotes; (bis) / By false patriots;
II nous falloit la Saint-Laurent, / We needed Saint-Laurent,
Et de ce jour l’évènement / And the event of this day
N’est dû qu’aux Sans-culottes. (bis) / Is only due to the Sans-culottes.
Ce jour fit reculer Brunswick, / This day made Brunswick retreat,
Donna la chasse à Frédéric, / [And] gave chase to Frederick,
A tous leurs nulsifrotes; (bis) / To all their nulsifrotes[sic];
Adieu leur voyage à Paris; / Farewell to their journey to Paris;
Mais pourquoi n’avoient-ils pas pris / But why had they not taken
Conseil des Sans-culottes? (bis) / Advice from the Sans-culottes?
La tête de Capet tomba; / The head of Capet fell;
Son sceptre d’airain se courba / His iron sceptre bowed
Devant les Patriotes. (bis) / Before the Patriots.
Au règne désastreux des rois, / The disastrous reign of the kings,
Succéda le règne des Lois / Is succeeded by the reign of the Laws
De par les Sans-culottes. (bis) / By virtue of the Sans-culottes.
Dumouriez voulut à son tour / Dumoriez wanted, in his turn,
À Paris venir faire un tour / To pay a visit to Paris
Contre les Patriotes; (bis) / Against the Patriots;
C’est que Dumouriez n’avoit pas / But Dumoriez had not
Prévu que ses braves soldats / Foreseen that his brave soldiers
Étoient tous Sans-culottes. (bis) / Were all Sans-culottes.
Des traîtres siegéaient au sénat; / Traitors sat in the senate;
On les nommait hommes d’état; / One called them statesmen;
Ils servaient les despotes: (bis) / They served the despots:
Paris en masse se leva; / Paris rose en masse ;
Tout disparut, il ne resta / They all disappeared, there remain
Que les vrais Sans-culottes. (bis) / Only the true Sans-culottes.
De la montagne, sans efforts, / From the Mountain, effortlessly,
Sortit à l’instant ce trésor, / This treasure comes in this moment,
L’espoir des patriotes: / The hope of the patriots:
Car mes amis, à qui doit-on / For, my friends, to whom do we
Enfin la constitution? / At last owe the constitution?
Aux membres Sans-culottes. (bis) / To the Sans-culotte members.
La première offerte à nous yeux / The first one presented to our eyes,
Était faite pour ces messieurs, / Was made for these messieurs,
Bas valets des despotes; (bis) / Base servants of the despots;
Celle-ci veut l’égalité, / This one wants equality,
Consolide la liberté / Consolidates liberty
Et tout est Sans-culottes. (bis) / And all are Sans-culottes.
Nous l’acceptons avec transport, / We joyfully accept it,
La maintiendrons jusqu’à la mort, / We will preserve it until death,
En dépit des despotes; (bis) / In spite of the despots;
Amis, leur règne va cesser, / Friends, their reign will cease
Et le nôtre va commencer: / And ours will begin
Vivent les Sans-culottes. (bis) Long live the Sans-culottes.
Source: Hymnes adoptées par la section du Panthéon Français […].
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Land of Slaves – Land of Liberty(1794)
Having arrived there, we do not retreat.
Commemoration of the Abolition of Slavery of 4 February 1794.
Attributed to François Bonneville, Bibliothèque nationale de France.
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Foussedoire, Representative of the People in the Departments of Haut- and Bas-Rhin(1794)
André Foussedoire, a Montagnard deputy en mission, published this address on 19 August 1794. He had been sent on a mission to Alsace in the spring of 1794, in the course of which he implemented a number of (seemingly, rather unpopular) measures. In this address, he attacks the violent prejudice against Jews among citizens of Haut- and Bas-Rhin.
Citizens,
It is with the emphasis of profound indignation that I have to complain about the humiliations that one exercises in these Departments against men that malevolence or ineptitude always endeavour to classify under the denomination Jews. One renews, every day, every moment, these reproaches of agiotage, of usury, of superstition against them, which most of them have ceased to deserve, since the national will, based on natural equity, has returned them to the dignity of their being, & has granted them the glorious title French Citizens.
It has equally been assured to me, that one has gone as far as to say, in the sessions of Popular Societies, that these individuals were all scoundrels [and] crooks; that, within a few days, [and] by decree of the National Convention, they had to be chased from the Republic, & that their debtors were exempted from keeping any commitment towards them; that, in accordance with an order of the Department, contrary to all principles, they have, for a long time, constantly endured a miscarriage of justice; that, in a public auction, an Administrative Commissioner, trampling under foot both the law & his duties, opposed himself to a supposed Jew having a possession, which had fallen to him in the course of bids.
That a tribunal has a tribunal has passed against one of them, who, in truth, was convicted of the offence that he had been warned of, an almost barbarous judgement, whose utterance contains expressions [that are] as hateful as [they are] impolitic, assertions [that are] equally false & counter-revolutionary, & in order to place the last stroke on this rapidly sketched picture, that one has taken indecency as far as to exhume the corpse of one of these men, who, desiring the law, had been deposed in a cemetery.
No doubt, Citizens, these outrageous injustices & these reprehensible excesses sully only a few thoughtless functionaries, [who are] unworthy of your confidence, and a few individuals [who are] blinded by their prejudice or their ignorance; but it is no less urgent to publish them & to take the repressive measures that humanity and justice require under these circumstances.
Citizens, may public censorship be exerted over all those who, irrespective of principles, offend their brothers through hatred or through prejudice; & as for me, when using the authority that I have been entrusted with, I will not forget [to do] anything in order to enforce the law which equally protects all Frenchmen.
Signed,FOUSSEDOIRE.
Source: IMPRIMÉ QUI DÉNONCE TRAITEMENT DES JUIFS EN ALSACE
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The Republican Months (circa 1794)
Cheveux blancs, le front chauve et le corps tout voûté,
White hair, his forehead bare and his body completely stooped,
Nivôse tout transi par la glace arrêté,
Nivôse, completely numbed by the ice, stops,
Appelle pluviôse; il l'appelle et le prie
Calls for Pluviôse; he calls him and prays him
De fondre les glaçons en répandant la pluie.
To melt the icicles by spreading the rain.
Elle tombe, et bientôt dissipant les frimats,
It falls, and soon, dispersing the freezing fogs,
Ventôse invite Flore à revoir nos climats.
Ventôse invites Flora to see our climates again.
Le riant germinal féconde les semences,
Germinal, laughing, fertilises the seeds,
Promet, fait concevoir de douces espérances;
Promises, [and] makes [them] conceive sweet hopes;
Et Flore, et Floréal , son époux fortuné,
And Flora, and Floréal, her fortunate spouse,
L’un et l'autre le front de roses couronné,
Both of their foreheads crowned with roses,
Couvrent de mille fleurs la terre rajeunie.
Cover the rejuvenated earth with a thousand flowers,
Voyez-vous prairial reverdir la prairie?
Can you see Prairial making the meadow green again?
Messidor a donne le signal aux faneurs,
Messidor gave the signal to the haymakers,
Il a remis la faux aux mains des moissonneurs.
He put the scythe into the hands of the harvesters again.
Cependant thermidor quand on remplit nos granges,
Nonetheless, Thermidor, when one fills our barns,
Colore les raisins et murit les vendanges.
Colours the grapes and ripens the harvest.
O mortels! fructidor, vous comblant de ses dons,
Oh mortals! Fructidor, showering you with his gifts,
Regne sur les côteaux, brille dans les vallons:
Reigns over the hills, shines in the vales:
Faites dans vos celliers, amis de la bouteille,
Friends of the bottle, make, in your cellars,
Couler les flots ambres du nectar de la treille;
The amber floods of the nectar of the vine flow:
Vendémiaire est là du matin jusqu'au soir,
Vendémiaire is there, from morning to night,
Qui préside lui-même aux travaux du pressoir:
Who presides over the works of the press himself:
Lui seul peut eclairer la vapeur de brumaire,
He alone can illuminate the vapour of Brumaire,
Et peut rendre plus court le règne de frimaire.
And can render the reign of Frimaire shorter.
Source: Poésies révolutionnaires et contre-révolutionnaires, t. 1, p. 164f.
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Several engravings of Robespierre(1851)
Festival to the Supreme Being, p. 297.
Journéeof 9 Thermidor, p. 311.
Robespierre, p. 314.
Robespierre is taken to the Committee of Public Safety, p. 316.
Illustrations from Nicolas Villiaumé’s Histoire de la Révolution française: 1789-1796, third edition, 1851.
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Festival in honour of the republicans who died on 10 August during the siege of the Château des Tuileries(Anonymous)
Memorial service held in the Tuileries Garden on 26 August 1792 for the patriots that were killed in the attack on the Tuileries.
Musée du Louvre, circa 1792.
Source:Fête à l'honneur des républicains morts le 10 août pendant le siège du château des Tuileries
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Speech of CitoyenneLucidor Corbin, delivered at the Temple of Reason (30 Pluviôse, Year II)
This speech was delivered by Lucidor Corbin, a Creole citoyenne, during the Festival of the Abolition of Slavery, which the Paris Commune celebrated at the Temple of Reason (formerly Notre-Dame de Paris) on 30 Pluviôse, Year II. The festival celebrated the decree of 16 Pluviôse, by which the National Convention had abolished slavery in the colonies.
French peoples [sic], the great day has arrived, the talisman of feudality is finally broken, Liberty, Equality, reigns over our Hemisphere, all our pains are over, the precious Decree [that has been] passed by our legislators makes us equal to all other people, we are reunited through the bonds of fraternity, our chains are broken, in order to never take them back. Yes, this we swear before our Goddess of Liberty, we will never follow other principles than those of Marat, who was sacrificed by a monster of despotism. Oh Marat, even if you are not present on this day, what joy would shine in your Heart and in your eyes.
But [you], man [who is] cherished in life as well as after your death, be assured that our Hearts equal Altars that we will protect for your virtues. It was you who, through your writings, inspired the sacred love of Liberty in us, for which we will forever preserve an eternal gratitude towards you.
And you, Ogée, free man of Colour, our brother and friend who carried the Decree of 15 May 1790 and who died as the first victim, assassinated by the aristocracy on our Islands, receive the weak homage of our gratitude.
French people, is there a more beautiful day for us to unfold this Symbol of the reunion of the three peoples [i.e. the “tricolour flag” presented by the deputies of Saint-Domingue on 16 Pluviôse], between which the insolent aristocracy had traced a dividing line ; but it is finally shattered, just as the chains that we trample under our feet, and we swear again to defend Liberty [and] Equality, and to support the Republic one and indivisible.
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A Republican Tradition: Calf’s Head on 21 January
This day marks the anniversary of the death of Louis Capet (formerly called Louis XVI), who was executed on 21 January 1793. Traditionally, this event is commemorated in republican circles by holding a calf’s head dinner.
The tradition traces back to a pamphlet titled La tête ou l'oreille de cochon, which was published by a certain Romeau in 1794: therein, he proposes, among other things, to celebrate the death of the tyrant by eating the ear or head of a pig every year on 21 January. The equation of Louis Capet with a pig was a common trope in the revolutionary press, and the image of the roi-cochon can be found in numerous contemporary caricatures.
It is not entirely clear when the pig’s head was replaced by the one of a calf in the tradition. According to Flaubert’s L'Éducation sentimentale (1869), the calf’s head dinner is based on a tradition invented by English republicans, who thereby commemorated the execution of Charles I (30 January 1649).
In France, this ritual gained popularity on the eve of the Revolution of 1848 ; as the July Monarchy became increasingly reactionary and repressive under Guizot’s cabinet, the opposition organised a campaign of calf’s head dinners. This mobilised the republican circles and, ultimately, contributed to the outbreak of the February Revolution and the end of the July Monarchy.
While this tradition has lost much of its popularity over time – there is even an anecdote about Michelle Vovelle’s vain attempt to organise a dîner de la tête de veau at the Sorbonne in 1986 –, it is still celebrated today in certain republican circles, particularly in France.
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Food for thought for the crowned charlatans(1793)
… let an impure blood soak our fields.
On Monday, 21 January 1793, at quarter past ten o’clock in the morning on the Place de la Révolution, the tyrant, formerly called Louis XVI, fell under the blade of the Laws. This great act of justice has distressed the Aristocracy, annihilated the Royal superstition, and the created the republic. It confers a great character on the National Convention and renders it worthy of the trust of the French… it was in vain that an audacious faction and insidious orators exhausted all resources of calumny, of charlatanism and of delaying tactics ; the courage of the republicans triumphed: the majority of the Convention remained unwavering in its principles, and the genius of intrigue ceded to the genius of Liberty and to the Ascendancy of virtue.
Extract from the 3rd [issue of] Lettres de Maximilien Robespierre à ses commetans.
Source: Matière à reflection pour les jongleurs couronnées
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Today, the month Pluviôseof the French Republican Calendar starts. You can find the full calendar here.
Under a light fabric the Nymph moves towards to the Bocage,
Bringing her trousseau to the sweet Nectar,
Braving Rain and Winter, burning in this beautiful age
Of the fires who will unite it with her dear Shepherd.
Revolutionary dates:
- 21 January 1763: Augustin Robespierre’s birthday
- 21 January 1793: Louis XVI’s execution
- 16 Pluviôse, Year II: Abolition of Slavery
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Song of a Liberated Slave (Coupigny, circa 1794)
Song of a slave, liberated by the decree of the National Convention, at the cradle of her son.
Tune: Ce mouchoir, belle Raymonde.
Au jour plus pur qui t'éclaire, / On the pure day that illuminates you,
Ouvre les yeux, ô mon fils! / Open your eyes, oh my son!
Toi seul consolais ta mère / Only you consoled your mother
Dans ses pénibles ennuis. / In her painful worries.
Si du sommeil qui te presse / If she interrupts the comfort
Elle interrompt la douceur, / Of the sleep that embraces you,
C'est qu'il tarde à sa tendresse / It is that, in its tenderness,
De t'éveiller au bonheur. / It is slow to wake you to your joy.
Quoi! libre dès ton aurore, / What! to be free from birth,
Mon fils quel destin plus beau! / My son, what lovelier destiny is there!
De l'étendard tricolore, / With the tricolour flag,
Je veux parer ton berceau: / I want to adorn your cradle:
Que cet astre tutélaire / May this tutelary star
Brille à les regards naissans! / Shine in your nascent eyes!
Qu'il échauffe ta carrière, / May it your warm up career,
Même au déclin de tes ans! / Even in the decline of your years!
En ton nom à la patrie, / In your name, I swear allegiance
Je jure fidélité: / To the patrie:
Tu ne me dois que la vie, / You owe me only your life,
Tu lui dois la liberté. / You owe her your liberty.
Sous le ciel qui t'a vu naitre, / Under the sky that witnessed your birth,
Rétabli dans tous tes droits, / Restored in all of your rights,
Tu ne connaîtras de maître / You will not know any master
Que la nature et les lois. / But nature and the laws.
Dieu puissant, à l'Amérique / Mighty God, to America
Ta main donna des vengeurs; / Your hand will give avengers;
Répands sur la république / Spread, on the republic,
Tes immortelles faveurs! / Your immortal favours!
Fais dans les deux hémisphères / See to it, in the two hemispheres,
Que ses appuis triomphans, / That her triumphant supporters,
Forment un peuple de frères! / Form a people of brothers!
Puisqu'ils sont tous ses enfans. / Since all of them are her children.
Source: Poésies révolutionnaires et contre-révolutionnaires, t. 1, p. 270.
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Robespierre encounters a bagel guillotine
Some rather morbid copperplate engravings depicting the death of Louis XVI of France (1793) were folded up in this contemporary German book about the monarch.
The book (actually three works bound together) covers the life and death of the French king, and the loose plates show his execution by guillotine in grisly detail.
http://catalog.lib.msu.edu/record=b8540495~S39a
http://catalog.lib.msu.edu/record=b8540502~S39a
http://catalog.lib.msu.edu/record=b8540508~S39a
~Andrew
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Grantaire, gazing lovingly at Enjolras: He could kill me and I’d thank him.
Eponine, who’d heard this for the millionth time: I’d thank him too
Priest: Repeat after me.
Grantaire: After me.
Priest, turning to Enjolras: Are you sure you want this one?
Combeferre: What’s the first thing you notice when a person approaches you?
Enjolras: The audacity.
Courfeyrac: I know you think my judgement’s clouded because I like Combeferre a little bit.
Enjolras: You doodled your wedding invitation.
Courfeyrac: No, that’s our joint tombstone.
Enjolras: My mistake.
Enjolras: I think I’m in love with you.
Grantaire: But you hate me…?
Enjolras: That… is my love language.
Combeferre: Enjolras is at that age where there’s only one thing on his mind.
Courfeyrac:Revolution?
Combeferre: That’s what he wants people to believe. But, actually…
*Both look at enjolras staring at grantaire*
Combeferre, whispering: it’s the cat boy.
so i said there were 3 orwell references in this diorama that i cld spot
the first & namesake is on the two tins of tea :
pls note that i cannot make out the first name of the tea importers firm & have not yet been able to determine if its a real historic brand or not , google turning up no matches for an “and appleby” line from the 19th c on the steampunk / reenactment / collectibles fronts (x)
however the look of them is very authentic , the art style and colors are exactly in line w actual historic advertising & marketing materials from circa 1890 - 1910
& the symbolism of the adapted heraldry of great britain is quite in keeping w a brand aspiring to be awarded the honor of a royal appointment – or tryin to make casual shoppers think they already had one , hah !
but while to the vast majority of viewers this will symbolize at first & likely also 2nd glance ALICE IN WONDERLAND & THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS bc tea –> parties (x) + lion & unicorn “were fighting for the crown” (x) = lewis carroll by default
there is something else , an obscure but super important essay by orwell from 1941
ie in the height of the blitz , during the battle of britain , but before the US had been bombed by the axis
after he & his wife had got back from the debacle of the spanish civil war
& it is called THE LION & THE UNICORN(x)
& begins w bombs falling from airplanes
& is a discussion of britain as a society & a culture & a govt as well as a changing one faced w a choice of directions imposed by war ( agn )
& in it , in the course of talking abt british culture , the “the nice cup of tea” - a subject so dear to his heart he wrote a whole other essay after the war on the right way to make tea (x) called just that -
& also the english love of flowers
all of which we see above in the CRIMSON PEAK display along w a chatelaine , a ring of keys - the key bein a symbol that features significantly in guillermo del toros previous films , both DEVILS BACKBONE & PANS LABYRINTH in literal / traditional fashion , & in more arcane modes in the HELLBOY films & CRONOS –& in BLADE 2 as in PACIFIC RIM more futuristic ones , but a key is a key if it be a puzzle-piece of metal or wood or a carefully guarded number sequence , or the DNA sequence of a member of the royal blood
–the key also oc simultaneously a longtime symbol of christianity , used heraldically esp by the church of rome , being associated w st peter the gatekeeper of heaven & equally of hekate the guardian of the crossroads of life & death , used in one of the most famous rites of that goddess long before christianity–
–one of the keys appears to have a skull finial altho the photo is not as high res as i wld like–
the moss-green doily under the tea service keys & morning paper bein significant @ least for its color as well as its floral symbols
but then there is the paper itself & upon closest examination i see that it does not say that LADY BEATRICE ALEXANDRA SHARPE ( ! ! ! ) was the victim , but that someone connected tp her by an “of” was slain in their bath
so the plot thickens
bc there is a ton of stuffs goin on uncovered via this orwell link
& mainly it hotwires directly to discworld
bc tell me if this does not speak muchly of ankh-morpork as described in those books ??
But here it is worth noting a minor English trait which is extremely well marked though not often commented on, and that is a love of flowers. This is one of the first things that one notices when one reaches England from abroad, especially if one is coming from southern Europe. Does it not contradict the English indifference to the arts? Not really, because it is found in people who have no aesthetic feelings whatever. What it does link up with, however, is another English characteristic which is so much a part of us that we barely notice it, and that is the addiction to hobbies and spare-time occupations, the privateness of English life. We are a nation of flower-lovers, but also a nation of stamp-collectors, pigeon-fanciers, amateur carpenters, coupon-snippers, darts-players, crossword-puzzle fans. All the culture that is most truly native centres round things which even when they are communal are not official - the pub, the football match, the back garden, the fireside and the ‘nice cup of tea’. The liberty of the individual is still believed in, almost as in the nineteenth century. But this has nothing to do with economic liberty, the right to exploit others for profit. It is the liberty to have a home of your own, to do what you like in your spare time, to choose your own amusements instead of having them chosen for you from above. The most hateful of all names in an English ear is Nosey Parker. It is obvious, of course, that even this purely private liberty is a lost cause. Like all other modern people, the English are in process of being numbered, labelled, conscripted, ‘co-ordinated’. But the pull of their impulses is in the other direction, and the kind of regimentation that can be imposed on them will be modified in consequence. No party rallies, no Youth Movements, no coloured shirts, no Jew-baiting or ‘spontaneous’ demonstrations. No Gestapo either, in all probability.
But in all societies the common people must live to some extent against the existing order. The genuinely popular culture of England is something that goes on beneath the surface, unofficially and more or less frowned on by the authorities. One thing one notices if one looks directly at the common people, especially in the big towns, is that they are not puritanical. They are inveterate gamblers, drink as much beer as their wages will permit, are devoted to bawdy jokes, and use probably the foulest language in the world. They have to satisfy these tastes in the face of astonishing, hypocritical laws (licensing laws, lottery acts, etc. etc.) which are designed to interfere with everybody but in practice allow everything to happen. Also, the common people are without definite religious belief, and have been so for centuries. The Anglican Church never had a real hold on them, it was simply a preserve of the landed gentry, and the Nonconformist sects only influenced minorities. And yet they have retained a deep tinge of Christian feeling, while almost forgetting the name of Christ. The power-worship which is the new religion of Europe, and which has infected the English intelligentsia, has never touched the common people.
beyond that but also bc that there is a great deal in this essay which is politically & socially relevant despite the changed times – esp the bit abt bein simultaneously exhorted to save for the war effort WHILE simultaneously exhorted to shop shop shop in the name of patriotism
something anyone who was a conscious adult i n 2002 will remember bein revolted by , or even just an alert teen of which there were many
even if there is a good deal i wld disagree w from my distant & hindsighted perspective , like for one i think orwell –yes , old george orwell himself ! ! is far more sentimental abt england & his countrymen than sir terry , esp when it comes to matters of war & empire & militarism
that ankh-morporkians happily ranting against “johnny klatchian” & “the cheese-eaters of quirm” are more true to the spirit of john bull & that eric blair is FAR too soft on the raj harsh on it tho he was in the light of his own experience in burma (x) & i think george monbiot cld have taught him a few things (x) or put them in better perspective @ least (x) –& i do wonder if there isnt also some cryptic connection w luc besson makin his last big movie abt a burmese protestor
bc here is the kicker
i have been goin thru all the watch books now w a close reading & a watchful eye for symbols & references that i might have missed or thought just a joke before
& MONSTROUS REGIMENT is not the first SHARPES RIFLES fanfic pratchett did altho it is more obv
& the earlier SHARPE fanfic / fixfic is also his LES MIS fanfic / fixfic
but also a very grim BATMAN fic –grimmer than anything alan moore or frank miller dared dream up – is NIGHT WATCH indeed
bc carcer is an evil vimes doppelganger & thus the joker to vimes noir batman who operates on the very broken jagged edge of the law in this one , seeking out the dangerous answer WHAT IS THE LAW ?? IS ‘ORDER’ FOUND IN OBEYING ORDERS – OR IN FOLLOWING THE ESSENCE OF THAT LAWFULNESS??
but it was also a dark & prescient take on the current reality of the War on Some Nouns WHICH IS STILL GOING ON
& CARCER IS A VERSION OF SGT OBEDIAH HAKESWILL played w vicious aplomb by the late great pete postlethwaite AKA THE NEMESIS OF SHARPE WHO JOINED UP FOR THE LOOTING
& if there is any doubt that sam vimes is richard sharpe HE EVEN MAKES A NAME JOKE ON IT TO LORD RUST ! ! !
however in the course of all this collision of memes pratchett did something else huge
bc he took the timelords , that most english of inventions in entertainment , & turned them into the MI-5 of the bondverse , that other oh so english of entertainments
& made them both as unenglish as cld be TIMEBENDERS AHEAD OF TIME & also lightly made them part of UNCLE bc entrance thru a clothes shop here in their 3rd outing
its a huge subversion & of both universes , bc the bondverse is all abt “ENGLAND PREVAILS” defending the neoraj of the angloamerican pax thru strength
& the timelords are all abt the status quo in the name of benevolent handsoffery but rly to protect their privilege until it all goes blooey - except for the erratic champion-but-also-tourist the doctor
& in pratchetts hands the order of the history monks is defending reality from exactly the sort of authority figures that orwell criticized in his praise of toads & hares (x)
I think that by retaining one’s childhood love of such things as trees, fishes, butterflies and - to return to my first instance - toads, one makes a peaceful and decent future a little more probable, and that by preaching the doctrine that nothing is to be admired except steel and concrete, one merely makes it a little surer that human beings will have no outlet for their surplus energy except in hatred and leader worship.(…) The atom bombs are piling up in the factories, the police are prowling through the cities, the lies are streaming from the loudspeakers, but the earth is still going round the sun, and neither the dictators nor the bureaucrats, deeply as they disapprove of the process, are able to prevent it.
but it was in FIFTH ELEPHANT that del toro found the key for makin the lost daughter & the unsaved child & the unwanted orphan ALL THE SAME SOLAR WOLF-CHAMPION FIGHTING THE ELDER GODS GENERATION AFTER GENERATION
& it is hella grim in its lead for the alchemy
bc there is a girl & a shoe in that tale as well but her story didnt have a happy ending
& also i know how it too is a bondverse fic by retconnection now
not just bc NIGHT WATCH made sam vimes into james that time round
but bc of yes PACIFIC RIM
oh & there are also evil & unredeemed versions of hermann & newt in NIGHT WATCH
even as discworlds hakeswill is defeated in it
bc this is not the SHARPE fanfic w the folksongs in it – no hagman & harris except on the barricades as the multitude ( see how they rise up … )
& as there are good ( or good-ish ) versions of them in UNSEEN ACADEMICALS
but that will have to go in another post bc rl stuff calls
but yes the great game they are playing has a point , the story isnt idle diversion @ least on the side of team resistance
& THE CAKE WAS ALWAYS A LIE – & orwells essay goes into that in quite some detail for its brevity
