Unit name | Revolution, Theatre, and the Public Sphere, 1789-1799 |
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Unit code | FREN30110 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Clare Siviter |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of French |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Revolution, Theatre, and the Public Sphere, 1789-1799 traces how the French who experienced the Revolution engaged with political debates through the largest entertainment forum of the period: theatre. This Unit will be focused around five main texts listed below (all available online) by a variety of authors with different political standpoints. We will investigate the different political sides and tides of the Revolution; the responses of audiences and the government; the themes of censorship and propaganda; how Revolutionary playwrights broke their inherited dramatic moulds; how they wrote for the newly liberated people; the impact of the freedom of expression as it was granted and then repressed; and how playwrights and actors subverted governmental control, sometimes with fatal consequences.
Aims:
By the end of this unit the student will be able to:
1 x weekly lecture
1 x weekly seminar
Students will also make use of digital humanities databases (notably cfregisters.com) and online libraries (especially Gallica).
1 x 3,000 word essay assessing ILOs 1-4 (75%)
1 x 15-minute oral presentation assessing ILOs 1-5 (25%)
Marie-Joseph Chénier, Charles IX(1789)
Olympe de Gouges, Mirabeau aux Champs-Elysées (1791)
Jean-Louis Laya, L’Ami des lois(1793)
Charles Pierre Ducancel, L’Intérieur des comités révolutionnaires (1795)
August Kotzebue, Misanthropie et repentir, trans. by Julie Molé (1798)