Y a-t-il un “roman national” au répertoire de la Comédie-Française sous le Consulat et l’Empire?

Résumé 0

Even on the so-called “national” stages, the French Revolution had given rise to a vein of dramatic literature which responded to the demands of a public that was involved in political events. This justifies an attempt on our part to outline the impact that the political life had on the official repertory of the reconstituted Comédie-Française during the Consulate and the Empire.One might venture to conclude that both the government and the general public would capitalise on the whiff of glory left by the Napoleonic epic in order to celebrate the glorious episodes of the national story onstage in an attempt to reinforce the patriotic and nationalistic feelings in the air at the time. Strangely enough, this is not the case. Bonaparte himself distrusted historical comparisons and sought to leave an imprint on his compatriots’ minds through performances of the great classical dramatists, especially Corneille and his Roman plays. In his view, mythological and ancient heroism had more to offer than real heroes drawn from national history. This gave rise to an increasingly tentative type of censorship which focused essentially on the master’s tastes and orders, which had a debilitating effect on creativity. Dramatic writers were hamstrung, and the new repertory was reduced to a handful of titles seldom performed. If there is indeed a field in which it is still possible to find some kind of celebration of the excellence of French drama, it lays solely in reviving the great masterpieces of the classical repertory.