Tragedy and nation in the age of Napoleon / Clare Siviter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Siviter, Clare, author.

Contributor:

Voltaire Foundation.

Series:

Oxford University studies in the Enlightenment ; 0435-2866 2020:05.

Oxford University studies in the Enlightenment, 0435-2866 ; 2020:05

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

French drama (Tragedy)--History and criticism.

French drama (Tragedy).

French drama--18th century--History and criticism.

French drama.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xvii, 378 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Liverpool, United Kingdom : Liverpool University Press on behalf of the Voltaire Foundation, [2020]

Biography/History:

Clare Siviter is lecturer in French theatre and performance at the University of Bristol. Her research focuses on the longer Revolutionary period from 1789 to 1815 in France and Francophone communities, and she is particularly interested in censorship, propaganda, and theatrical encounters between different cultures.

Summary:

Napoleon's biographers often note his fondness for theatre, but as we approach the bicentenary of the Emperor's death, little remains known about the nature of theatre at the time. This is particularly the case for tragedy, the genre in which France considered itself to surpass its neighbours. Based on extensive archival research, this first sustained study of tragedy under Napoleon examines how a variety of agents used tragedy and its rewriting of history to make an impact on French politics, culture and society, and to help reconstruct the French nation after the Revolution. This volume covers not just Napoleon's efforts, but also those of other individuals in government, the theatrical world, and the wider population. Similarly, it uncovers a public demand for tragedy, be it the return of Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire to the Comédie-Française, or new hits like Les Templiers (1805) and Hector (1809). This research also sheds new light on Napoleonic propaganda and censorship, exposing their incoherencies and illustrating how audiences reacted to these processes. In short, Tragedy and Nation in the Age of Napoleon argues that Napoleonic tragedy was not simply tired and derivative; it engaged its audiences, by chomping at the poetic bit, allowing for a retrial of the Revolution, and offering a vision of the new French nation.

Contents:

Introduction. Reconstructing the nation ; Tracing tragedy ; Research aims and structure

I. The reimposition of the tragic canon: introduction

Chapter 1: The tragic inheritance. The eighteenth century ; The Revolution

Chapter 2: Rewriting the past. Attempts at adaptation ; Institutional rewritings ; Tracing tragedy in performance ; The legacy of the afterlives

Chapter 3: Heroic conquerors. Censorship ; Propaganda

II. New Napoleonic tragedies: introduction. Tragédie

Chapter 4: Composition, performance, reception: pulling back the curtain on censorship and propaganda. To the Comédie-Française ; The bureaucratic censorship system ; Back at the theatre ; In print

Chapter 5: The ambiguity of antiquity. Ancient Greece: Pyrrhus, 1807, Polyxène, 1804, and Hector, 1809 ; Ancient Rome: Vitellie, 1809, Tibère, Bélisaire, Scipion, ou l'Africain and Camille, ou le Capitole sauvé

Chapter 6: Heroes of the East. Cyrus, 1804 ; Ninus II, 1813 ; Artaxerce, 1808 ; Omasis, ou Joseph en Egypte, 1806

Chapter 7: Fear of the foreign. Staging foreign history: Mahomet II, 1811, Pierre le Grand, 1804, and Don Pèdre, ou le Roi et le laboureur, 1802 ; Foreign threats: Jeanne Gray, Marie Stuart, L'Orphelin polonois, Gênes sauvée and Wallstein

Chapter 8: Meddling in the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages on the stage: Brunehaut, 1810, and Les Templiers, 1805 ; Unperformed medieval tragédies nationales: Charlemagne, Clovis, Baudouin empereur, La Dèmence de Charles VI, La Régence de Charles VII and Arthur de Bretagne

Chapter 9: Testing tragédies nationales. Les Etats de Blois, 1810 and 1814 ; La Mort de Henri IV, 1806 ; Tippo-Saëb, 1813

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 313-367) and index.

ISBN:

9781789621051

1789621054

OCLC:

1174810819