Des feuilletons de Geoffroy au Cours de littérature dramatique (1800-1825)

Authors

  • Thibaut Julian

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15167/1824-7482/pbfrm2022.1.2136

Keywords:

Julien-Louis Geoffroy, dramatic criticism, French Consulate and First Empire, theatrical repertoire, literary history

Abstract

This paper analyzes the editorial shift from the theatrical “feuilletons” by Julien-Louis Geoffroy, the famous dramatic critic, which were issued in the Journal des Débats/Journal de l’Empire between 1800 and 1814, to the Cours de littérature dramatique, a collection of most of his reviews published after his death, in 1819 (first edition) then 1825. This anthology gives a glimpse into the evolutions of play-acting, dramatic genres and topics during the Napoleonic era. It reads like a palimpsest of plays through which the reader, from the Restoration onwards, could access a wide range of knowledge from the Ancients to Geoffroy’s time, including the Enlightenment and the French Revolution that he despised and debunked as a conservative, although he could also appreciate contemporary plays and trends.

References

BOURDIN P., Aux origines du théâtre patriotique, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2017.

CHAILLOU D., Napoléon et l’Opéra. La politique sur la scène, 1810-1815, Fayard, Paris 2004.

DESCOTES M., Histoire de la critique dramatique en France, Place/Narr Verlag, Paris/Tübingen 1980.

DES GRANGES C.-M., Geoffroy et la critique dramatique sous le Consulat et l’Empire (1800-1814), Hachette, Paris 1897.

SIVITER C., Tragedy and nation in the age of Napoleon, Liverpool University Press, Liverpool 2020.

THOMASSEAU J.-M., Le Mélodrame sur les scènes parisiennes, de « Coelina » (1800) à « L’Auberge des Adrets » (1823), Service de reproduction des thèses, Lille 1974.

VIALA A., De la Révolution à la Belle Époque. Une histoire brève de la littérature française, Presses universitaires de France, Paris 2017.

Published

2023-01-27 — Updated on 2023-02-06

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