Barnave: The Revolutionary Who Lost His Head for Marie-Antoinette by John Hardman (review)

Reviewed by: Barnave: The Revolutionary Who Lost His Head for Marie-Antoinette by John Hardman Celina Vargas Hardman, John. Barnave: The Revolutionary Who Lost His Head for Marie-Antoinette. Yale UP, 2023. ISBN 978-0-300-27084-6. Pp. 416. Hardman's task of laying out the life and ideas of Antoine Barnave, a prolific writer and orator who was heavily involved in pre-revolutionary politics, is complicated. In the first several pages of the work, Hardman lists the principal characters, allies and enemies alike, who impacted Barnave's life trajectory. The members of groups such as the Estates-General, the National Assembly, the Jacobins, the Girondins, the Feuillants, the Ministry, other factions, and interested parties, are numerous. As a result, perhaps few names are immediately recognized in context without reference such as Calonne, Lameth, Duport, and Madame de Staël, in addition to more well-known players of the French Revolution, as are Lafayette, Necker, Brissot, Danton, and Robespierre. Oftentimes, the linearity of Barnave's timeline is lost amidst the multitude of figures. Hardman outlines his interests in Barnave's roles as speaker, historian, and secretive director of the French government through Marie-Antoinette. Indeed, Barnave seems to narrate the book himself, with direct quotations punctuating practically every other sentence, making it difficult to separate Hardman's prose from his source material. As much as we read Barnave's voice, including his infamous words after the storming of the Bastille—"And in any case is the blood which has just flowed all that pure?" (111)—, his personal relationships are more elusive. One singular chapter centers on Barnave's personal life; Barnave is described as a misogynist who acquiesced to his mother's requests for money and nepotistic favors, conducting a lavish lifestyle without regard for financial stability. Hardman also chooses to highlight that Barnave was a hypochondriac who fell prey to quack remedies. Barnave's political correspondence is prioritized with brief glimpses into "the charm with which he captivated his friends and which he withheld from the world" (178). Political reformation is the focal part of Barnave's life, and he documents it well in letters, living through and often impacting events, such as the May Edicts, the Tennis Court Oath, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, the Fall of the Bastille, the August 4th Decrees, the Fatal Decree of November 7th, Massacre of the Champs de Mars, the Royal Family's Flight, and the execution of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Ultimately his work toward establishing a constitutional monarchy failed, the people having lost trust in their king. In regard to the queen, the role that Barnave played in running the government was counterproductive. The secret correspondence with Marie-Antionette included selecting the National Guard and their uniform colors, appointing ministers, and helping Louis XVI manage his veto. Barnave would warn Marie-Antoinette in his last letter to work on her public image, which proved fruitless in the end. A letter bearing his name found at Tuileries decided the fate of Barnave, spelling his demise by guillotine blade. End Page 118 Celina Vargas University of California, Davis Copyright © 2024 American Association of Teachers of French