The Last Letter of Camille Desmoulins

Camille Desmoulins sits alone in a prison cell, writing at a wooden table with a quill. The room is bare. A barred window lets in a little light. Faint words float across the wall: “My Lucile! …my severed head rests its dying eyes upon you.”

April 5th, 1794: Camille Desmoulins went to the Place de la Révolution to die.

There was no journal left to write, no crowd to stir, no chance to rewrite the last page. He had already said too much.

The Revolution had eaten through its own flesh, and Camille, once its poet, was now just another name on the list.

He left behind one final letter. Not quite a manifesto. Just a man, waiting to die, writing to his wife.

Logo of Amateur Voltaire in White
Logo of Amateur Voltaire in White
Logo of Amateur Voltaire in White