The Sentimental Theater of the French Revolution

275 Pages·2013·2.39 MB·English

by  Cecilia Feilla

The Sentimental Theater of the
French Revolution
Cecilia Feilla
THE SENTIMENTAL THEATER OF THE
FRENCH REVOLUTION
Performance in the
Long Eighteenth Century:
Studies in Theatre, Music, Dance
Series Editors:
Jane Milling, University of Exeter, UK
Kathryn Lowerre, Michigan State University, USA
Focusing on performance culture during the long eighteenth century, this series
offers studies of individuals, institutions, forms and trends in all types of cultural
performance including theatre, opera, dance, musical performance, and diverse
popular entertainments. It is a forum for interdisciplinary work, drawing the
debates of historians, musicologists, literary scholars, dance, theatre and opera
scholars into a creative symbiosis.
The editors welcome studies which are concerned with British, European, and
early American cultural history. Studies that concern themselves with theoretical
questions surrounding acts of performance during this period are also welcome.
Also in this series
Moral Reform in Comedy and Culture, 1696–1747
Aparna Gollapudi
Music and Musicians on the London Stage, 1695–1705
Kathryn Lowerre
Women Writing Music in Late Eighteenth-Century England
Social Harmony in Literature and Performance
Leslie Ritchie
The Incomparable Hester Santlow
A Dancer-Actress on the Georgian Stage
Moira Goff
The Dramatic Works of Catherine the Great
Theatre and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Russia
Lurana Donnels O’Malley
The Sentimental Theater of the
French Revolution
CECILIA FEILLA
Marymount Manhattan College, USA
First published 2013 by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © 2013 Cecilia Feilla
Cecilia Feilla has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to
be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only
for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Feilla, Cecilia.
The sentimental theater of the French Revolution – (Performance in the long eighteenth
century)
1. French drama – 18th century – History and criticism. 2. Theater and society – France –
History – 18th century. 3. France – History – Revolution, 1789–1799 – Theater and the
revolution.
I. Title II. Series
842.6’09-dc23
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows
Feilla, Cecilia.
The sentimental theater of the French Revolution / by Cecilia Feilla.
p. cm. — (Performance in the long eighteenth century: studies in theatre, music, dance)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4094-1163-5 (hardcover: alk. paper) 1. Theater—France—History—18th
century. 2. Books and reading—France—History—18th century. 3. Theater—Moral and
ethical aspects—France. 4. Politics and literature—France—History—18th century.
5. France—History—Revolution, 1789–1799—Influence.
I. Title.
PQ538.F45 2013
842’.509—dc23
2012033176
ISBN 9781409411635 (hbk)
ISBN 9781315552996 (ebk)
To M.P.H.
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Contents
List of Figures ix
Preface xi
List of Abbreviations xv
Introduction 1
1 The Bestsellers of the French Revolution, or, Why Sentimentality
Dominated the Revolutionary Stage: Four Case Studies (La Mère
coupable, Le Déserteur, Fénelon, and Les Deux petits savoyards) 19
2 Revolutionary Tableaux: Diderot, David, and the Sentimental Frame
of Politics 65
3 Sentimental Vows and the Affective Bonds of Social Contract:
National and Private Theatricals in Collot d’Herbois’s La Famille
Patriote (1790) 93
4 Virtue’s Proofs: Paméla on Stage and on Trial during the Terror 127
5 Virtuous Citizen, Suffering Father: Voltaire’s Brutus and the
Sentimentalization of Political Tragedy 163
6 Acting Revolution: Talma and the Sentimental Body 197
Bibliography 225
Index 251
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List of Figures
1.1 The Marquis watches Michel and Joset perform a chanson
savoyarde (scene iv). Les Petits savoyards: “Eh! Comment,
d’Jannetto, tu n’douvines pas?” A Mesdames St Aubin &
Renaud. Engraving by Augustin Claude Simon Legrand after
the illustration by Jean Frédéric Schall. Paris: chez Augustin
Legrand, 1789. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Collection
Michel Hennin. 58
3.1 Anonymous cartoon depicting a scene from the pantomime
Paris in an Uproar; or, the Destruction of the Bastille
performed at Astley’s Amphitheatre (17 August 1789). Attic
Miscellany. 1 November 1789. Vol. 1, p. 41. Douce M1. The
Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. 95
3.2 Fédération générale des Français au Champ-de-Mars le 14
juillet 1790. Engraving by Helman after Charles Monnet.
Musée Carnavelet / Roger Viollet. 98
3.3 Medallion of Louis XVI swearing his oath over the altar of the
fatherland. La Royauté et la Nation – 14 juillet 1790. Musée
Carnavelet / Roger-Viollet. 104
3.4 Jean-Baptiste Lesueur, Serment des enfants. Gouaches de
Jean-Baptiste Lesueur de 1789 à 1806. Paris: Musée Carnavalet /
Roger-Viollet. 118
3.5 Jacques-Louis David, Le Serment des Horaces, ca. 1784. Paris:
Musée du Louvre. Photo: G. Blot / C. Jean. Réunion des
Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, NY. 119
4.1 L’Innocence présumée est Marie Françoise Victoire Salmon.
n.d. [Paris, 1786] Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Collection
de Vinck. 147
5.1 Jacques-Louis David, Les Licteurs rapportent à Brutus les
corps de ses fils, 1789. Paris: Musée du Louvre. Photo: G. Blot /
C. Jean. Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, NY. 181