Sunday, July 14, 2013

Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite!

Today is Bastille Day, the day that the people of France celebrate the moment they overthrew a tyrannical king and created a democratic society (for a while, anyway).  The French Revolution is perhaps one of history's most confusing, dichotomous, and riveting moments.  And it makes for some great literature.  Jonathan Grimwood over at The Guardian has created a list of his choices for the top 10 novels about this epic moment in western civilization.  They are:

#1: Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
#2: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
#3: The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
#4: The Duel by Joseph Conrad
#5: Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini
#6: The Glassblowers by Daphne du Maurier
#7: Napoleon Sympathy by Anthony Burgess
#8: A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
#9: Our Lady of the Potatoes by Duncan Sprott
#10: Pure by Andrew Miller

Are any of your favorites on this list?  Do you have another favorite novel set during this period?  Let us know, and take a moment to celebrate the good things the French have given us.  Vive la France!
   
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1 comment:

  1. HannahJuly 15, 2013 at 10:28 AM

    Of those books I've only read "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and "A Tale of Two Cities" and the latter is by far the better of the two. Admittedly I do find its first 60 pages or so a bit boring and draggy but once Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton show up it's a wonderful book. I haven't read "Les Liasons Dangerueses" yet but I'm planning to - a friend of mine read it and loved it.

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