The Melodramatic Thread Interdisciplinary Studies in History Editor Harvey J
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European History Lehning “Lehning’s application of the themes of melodrama to French political culture offers new insights into French history. His style is lively, The clear, and highly readable.” —Venita Datta, Wellesley College In France, both political culture and theatrical performances have drawn upon the melodrama. Melodramatic This “melodramatic thread” helped weave the country’s political life as it moved from monarchy to democracy. By examining the relationship between public ceremonies and theatrical perfor- mance, James R. Lehning sheds new light on the process of democratization in modern France. Thread Lehning explores the extent to which the dramatic forms of nineteenth- and twentieth-century theater and film were present in the public performance of political power and constituted a particular version of politics. By describing a world in which the virtue of the heroine was threat- ened only by the actions of an evil traitor, melodrama figured the virtue of the French nation as threatened by revolutionary or counterrevolutionary extremists. These same themes of threat- The Melodr The ened virtue, good versus evil, and an attempt to restore the assumed wholeness of a lost past are shared by French political ceremonies. Lehning uses this insight to show how the popularity of melodrama contributed to solving one of the fundamental problems of mass democracy, that of attaching citizens to the institutions, processes, and decisions of the Republic. But it also helped to shape political culture by forcing the very complicated events and questions of French public life into the plots, characters, and moral simplifications of the form. By concentrating on the Republic and the Revolution and on theatrical performance, Lehning affirms the importance of examining the performative aspects of French political culture for understanding the political differences that have marked France in the years since 1789. a m JAMES R. LEHNING is Professor of History at the University of Utah and author of To Be a a Spectacle Citizen: The Political Culture of the Early French Third Republic and Peasant and French: Cultural Contact in Rural France during the Nineteenth Century. Thre tic and Interdisciplinary Studies in History Harvey J. Graff, editor Political Cover illustration: Honoré Daumier, La Toile!!! [Paris, 1872]. Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department, Brandeis University. Culture a INDIANA d in Modern University Press France Bloomington & Indianapolis http://iupress.indiana.edu 1-800-842-6796 INDIANA James R. Lehning The Melodramatic Thread Interdisciplinary Studies in History editor Harvey J. Graff James R. Lehning The Melodramatic Thread Spectacle and Political Culture in Modern France Indiana University Press bloomington & indianapolis This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA http://iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail [email protected] © 2007 by James R. Lehning All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lehning, James R., date. The melodramatic thread : spectacle and political culture in modern France / James R. Lehning. p. cm. — (Interdisciplinary studies in history) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-253-34900-2 (cl : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-21910-7 (pbk : alk. paper) 1. Theater—France—History—19th century. 2. Theater—France—History—20th century. 3. France—Politics and government—19th century. 4. France—Politics and government— 20th century. 5. France—History—Revolution, 1789–1799—Theater and the revolution. I. Title. PN2634.L44 2007 792.0944 —dc22 2006100897 1 2 3 4 5 12 11 10 09 08 07 For Amanda and Charles Contents Acknowledgments ix 1. Introduction 1 2. Varieties of Performance in Nineteenth-Century Paris 20 3. Boulevard Spectacles of the Third Republic 45 4. Spectacles of Light and Darkness between the World Wars 76 5. Commercial Spectacles in Postwar Paris 100 6. Conclusion 126 Notes 135 Selected Bibliography 159 Index 175 Acknowledgments The completion of this book owes much to people who have helped me along the way. Harvey Graff fi rst suggested to me that I write a book that became this one, and offered a place for it in his series with Indiana University Press. Harvey and Bob Sloan of IUP have both been supportive as I have written the book, and I will always be grateful for their patience. The referees for the press, especially Venita Datta, made comments that greatly improved the book. I have also learned much from friends and colleagues with whom I have talked. As always, Joan Scott’s sup- port has been crucial. At the University of Utah, Bob Goldberg, Ray Gunn, Ron Smelser, Esther Rashkin, and Bruce Dain helped with suggestions, references, and loans of books. Parts of chapter 3 were presented as a paper at the Society for French Historical Studies meeting in March 2005, and I am grateful to the commentator, Ray Jonas, and to the audience and other participants for their comments. The Interlibrary Loan offi ce of the Marriott Library at the University of Utah helped, as usual, to overcome the limitations of the library collection. I also thank the libraries of the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Washington, and Brigham Young University for allowing me to use their collections. Financial support for this project came from the University of Utah Research Committee, which gave me a Faculty Research Grant for research in Paris and then extended it when my original plans did not work out. Robert Newman, Dean of Humanities at the University of Utah, has supported my work since his arrival in Salt Lake City, and I am particularly grateful for his permission to leave behind my administrative duties and head for Paris in February 2004. Liz Leckie, Assistant Dean of Humanities, also deserves thanks for taking over those duties during my absence from campus. Ray Gunn and Eric Hinderaker, chairs of the History Department during the life of this project, have also been supportive in every way possible. To all these people, and to those I may have neglected to mention, my deepest thanks. Salt Lake City October 19, 2006 The Melodramatic Thread 1. Introduction On June 8, 1794, at the height of the Terror, the leaders of France and the peo- ple of Paris celebrated a Festival of the Supreme Being in central Paris. With Jacques-Louis David as impresario, the houses of Paris were decorated with tree branches, fl owers, and tricolored fl ags to demonstrate the productivity of the soil of France and the glory of the Republic. The Tuileries Gardens, which would be the site of the fi rst part of the festival, featured a statue represent- ing atheism, with the inscription “only hope of the foreigner” on it. Across the Seine, the Champs de Mars, the site of previous revolutionary festivals, had been renamed the Champs de la Réunion. In the immense fi eld rose a high mountain that would be the focal point for the second half of the celebration. The Festival of the Supreme Being began with a cannon salvo summoning men and women from each section of the city to the Tuileries. Mothers car- rying roses symbolizing mercy, young girls with baskets fi lled with fl owers to symbolize youth, and men and boys with tree branches to represent the mas- culine virtues of strength and liberty all converged on the Tuileries Gardens. They were met by members of the Convention, with Maximilien Robespierre, in his role as president of the Convention, at their head. The Conventionnels also participated in the symbolism of the festival, holding shocks of wheat, fl owers, and fruits.1 Robespierre welcomed the processions from around the city with a speech celebrating France’s devotion to the Supreme Being, the source of all that was good, including the Republic and the liberty written in men’s hearts. In spite of the ongoing war, the Terror, and the need for revolutionary vigilance, he urged his fellow citizens to give themselves over to joy on this day of festivi- ties. This speech was followed by a performance by the Opera of Theodore Désorgues’s song “Father of the Universe, Supreme Intelligence,” set to music by François-Joseph Gossec. Robespierre then set fi re to the statue of Atheism, which disappeared in fl ames to be replaced by a statue of Wisdom. Interpret- ing the pageant in a second speech, Robespierre described the disappearance of atheism and with it “all the crimes and unhappiness of the world.” Only wisdom, he told his audience, could lead to the prosperity of empires. After the ceremony at the Tuileries the members of the Convention marched in procession across the river to the Champs, surrounded by tricolored ban- ners and children with fl owers. A coach in the middle of this procession car- ried tools and goods made around the country, a plow covered with wheat and oak branches, and a printing press. These were placed next to a statue of Liberty, to indicate that liberty was necessary for the arts to fl ourish. Robespierre was at the head of this procession, exposing him not only to the cheers of the crowd but also to hecklers who accused him of wanting to be a god.2 At the Champs de la Réunion the Conventionnels assembled at the highest point of the mountain constructed in the middle of the fi eld, while a hymn to the Supreme Being and a symphony were performed.