Juliette Drouet "reporting" on the Second Republic
Juliette Drouet letters to Victor Hugo
Juliette Drouet and Les Misérables
Juliette Drouet "reporting" on the Second Republic
Juiliette Drouet's Illustrations in her letters to Victor Hugo
Slang and neologisms in the letters of Juliette Drouet
Medicine and disease in the letters of Juliette Drouet
As most of the letters from Juliette Drouet to Victor Hugo held at Leeds were written in Paris during the Second Republic, they often address the violent political climate of the time.
Parisian craftsmen demanded “the right to work” to tackle soaring unemployment but the French National Assembly was dominated by conservative politicians who opposed the Parisian working class.
Violent riots occurred regularly and in June 1848 an uprising was savagely suppressed by the army, leaving 4,000 dead.
Drouet was keen to describe the events and often said that she “will go and see by herself what’s happening”. From her “reports” (as she called these letters, written in the style of war reports), we can follow her on the streets of Paris.
In this letter dated 30 January 1849 (4th page shown here) she recounts that she went to the Place Bourgogne (now Place du Palais Bourbon, behind the National Assembly) and spoke to workers about a ‘horse accident’ suffered by the aide-de-camp of Jérôme Bonaparte.
She facetiously concludes by saying “la suite à l’autre numéro” (“more about this in the next issue”).
