Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution, Selected Letters and Papers, 1776-1790: Volume I, December 7, 1776 - March 30, 1778

by Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette, Stanley J. Idzerda, Roger E. Smith (Editor)

excellent condiction hardback Vol.I. Cornell University Press. Dec. 7,1776-March 30, 1778

Genres: Nonfiction

487 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1977

About the author

Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, often referred to as General Lafayette in America, was a prominent figure in both the American and French Revolutions of the later 18th century.

Reviews

[Jamie Dacyczyn]

I'm not rating this one, since it's not really the kind of book one reads just to read. It's more of an academic resource, so giving it a 1-5 star rating feels a bit silly.

I'll freely admit that I've become a bit enamored of the Marquis de Lafayette, so it only stood to reason that I'd have to read at least ONE of his memoirs. I picked this one, since I hoped his Revolutionary War days would be the most adventurous. I was surprised to see that this was maybe 20% memoir in his own words, 50% letters to/from/about him, and like 30% footnotes. That's not including the chunk at the end that's letters still in French (which I can not read without the cumbersome use of Google Translate). This isn't quite what I wanted, though I guess that's my own fault for not realizing that "selected letters and papers" would be the bulk of the book, not just a supplement. This is what I get for stepping out of my fiction novel comfort zone and into the world of high falutin academic volumes.

Still, I read on. It was initially interesting, once I got the hang of the writing style. I was even delighted to see a few glimpses of humor. For example, at one point he writes to his wife Adrienne:

I was quite distressed, dear heart, not to receive any news from you for two posts. Fortunately, I know that you are not sick, but only lazy...

While talking about the recovery of a gunshot:

The surgeons are astonished by the rate at which it heals; they are in ecstasy every time they dress it, and maintain that it is the most beautiful thing in the world. I myself find it very foul, very tedious, and rather painful; there is no accounting for tastes. But, finally, if a man wished to be wounded just for his own amusement, he should come and see my wound and have one just like it. There, dear heart, you have the story of what I pompously call my wound, to give myself airs and to make myself interesting.

While hinting at the likelihood that mail is intercepted and read by British spies en route to its destination:

...for I never write a word to Europe without pitying in advance the fate that awaits it. I have certainly written more for Lord Howe than for any of my friends.

These little glimpses of wry humor seemed to diminish as the months went on, which was probably from a number of factors. Obviously, the bleakness of the war (especially Valley Forge) dims humor a bit. There was also a shift from more of the earlier letters being Lafayette writing to his wife in his native language of French (translated for this book), to more of the letters being purely informative communication to other officers AND written in English. I imagine that humor is harder to exercise when you're focused on writing in your second language. The other factor is that the further this book went on, the less closely I read every single letter and skimmed more and more....so it's possible that there were more witticisms that I missed because I decided to skip over repetitive letters.

That latter point is something I have to confess: I skimmed a lot of the end of this book. There are only so many letters you can read between generals detailing promotions (or lack thereof), whether or not to invade Canada, and complaining politely about the lack of clothes for their troops. This is especially repetitive because in each chapter we get a narrative description of the events, then Lafayette's brief memoir of that time period, then letter after letter send to/from/about him during the same time period. But...that's fine. These volumes were created as a record of these time periods, not as an thrilling novel. For someone doing research, this is invaluable. For someone with a general interest in the events and a weird crush on a historical figure....well, I was eager to skim to the good bits.

So, imagine my chagrin when I realized belatedly that this volume only went up to March of 1778. Of course, there are five volumes total, but for some reason I thought that Volume 1 was "Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution" and the others were for the rest of his life. Instead I failed to realize that it was organized as "Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Volume 1." As in, there are four more volumes to cover the rest of the war. Of course.

Soooo....the parts that I'm REALLY interested in, like Benedict Arnold's defection, the capture of Major John Andre, and the battle of Yorktown...are nowhere close to happening in this first volume.

*le sigh*

Of course, now I'm too invested and I HAVE to request the volume that DOES cover those events, since I do still want to read Lafayette's own reaction to those times. I'd also like to read some letters between him and Hamilton (another figure I was disappointed to realize wasn't in this volume).

[Alyssa]

Honestly, one of my favorite things I have ever read. If you have an interest in Lafayette I would highly recommend.