Too Positive a Character. Review of: Leuwers, H. (2018). Camille et Lucile Desmoulins. Un rêve de république. Paris: Fayard. 437 p.

Abstract

The author reviews a monograph by Hervé Leuwers devoted to Camille and Lucile Desmoulins. Camille Desmoulins is the one of the brightest figures of the French Revolution of the eighteenth century. This article shows the difference between H. Leuwers’ idea of Desmoulins and those present in Russian publications. Leuwers states that Desmoulins was not an innocent victim of terror at all and demonstrates that, on the contrary, he was also a creator of the system though he criticised it very moderately at the end of his days. Additionally, Leuwers’ research shows that the Dantonists were inexistent as a closely-knit group. The reviewer pays special attention to some original notes and findings of the researcher, e.g. why Desmoulins is called by his first name only. The reviewer points out some drawbacks of Leuwers’ book, such as the author’s not entirely successful attempt to write a collective biography of the politician and his wife. Also, the reviewer points out the fact that Leuwers refuses to express his own vision of Desmoulins’ personality and explain the reasons for his ideological evolution from lenience to violence and back.