Political Actors: Representative Bodies and Theatricality in the Age of the French Revolution 9781501724237

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Political Actors

POLITICAL ACTORS Representative Bodies and Theatricality in the Age of the French Revolution

PAUL FRIEDLAND

Cornell University Press ITHACA AND LONDON

Copyright © 2002 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 5 I 2 East State Street, Ithaca, New York I48 50. First published 2002 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2003

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Friedland, Paul, I962Political actors : representative bodies and theatricality in the age of the French Revolution I Paul Friedland. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN o-8014-3982-5 (cloth: alk. paper)-ISBN o-8oi4-88o9-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) r. France-History-Revolution, I789-I799· 2. Theater--Political aspects-France-History- I 8th century. 3. Actors-France-Political activity. I. Title. DCI58.8 .F75 2002 944.04-dc2I 200200I598 Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu. Cloth printing Paperback printing

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Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction PART

r. 2.

3. 4·

6. 7· 8.

THE REVOLUTION IN REPRESENTATION

I7

Embodiment: Concrete Re-presentation in Premodern France A New Political Aesthetic: Public Opinion and the Birth of the Modern Political Audience

29

Entr'acte. Public Opinion and the Theater

8I

The Resurrection and Refashioning of the Estates General Praxis: The Birth of the National Assembly and the Death of the Binding Mandate

9I

II:

52

I

24

REPRESENTATION IN THE REVOLUTION

Metissage: The Merging of Theater and Politics in Revolutionary France Theater Critics: Reactions to Actors on the Political Stage The Fear and Ridicule of Revolutionary Representations Breaching the Fourth Wall: Spectators Storm the Stage, Actors Invade the Audience Conclusion Notes Index

v

I

Prologue. A Parable: The Revolution in Theatrical Representation

PART

5.

I:

Vll

I67 I97 228

258 29 5 30I

343

Acknowledgments

Like any book that has been a long time in the making, this one owes quite a bit, both intellectually and financially, to many institutions and individuals. A predissertation fellowship from the Council on European Studies and a Bicentennial Fellowship from the French American Foundation respectively funded a summer and a year of research in France. A Mellon dissertation write-up grant awarded by the University of California allowed me to transform my research into a dissertation. When I later began the long process of transforming the dissertation into a book, a Newberry Library-Loyola summer grant afforded me the opportunity to make use of the Newberry's extraordinary collection of medieval and early modern political texts. The National Endowment for the Humanities helped to fund a membership in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, and it was at this institution-a veritable scholar's paradise-that the book truly began to take shape. I am very much indebted to the permanent faculty at the School of Social Science and to my fellow members who shared the year with me for the exchange of ideas that took place there. I would like to express my gratitude to the staff at the Archives nationales, the Bibliotheque de !'Arsenal, the Bibliotheque nationale de France, and to Noelle Guibert and Jacqueline Razgonnikoff of the Bibliotheque de Ia Comedie-Fran