Lehning - The melodramatic thread spectacle and political culture in modern France

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

2007 by James R. Lehning
All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in anyform or by any means, electronic or mechanical, includingphotocopying and recording, or by any information storageand retrieval system, without permission in writing from thepublisher. The Association of American University PressesResolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception tothis prohibition.

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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. TheaterFranceHistory19th century. 2. TheaterFranceHistory20th century.3. FrancePolitics and government19th century. 4. FrancePolitics and government20th century. 5. FranceHistoryRevolution, 17891799Theater and the revolution.I. Title.
PN2634.L44 2007
792.0944dc22

2006100897

1 2 3 4 5 12 11 10 09 08 07

FOR AMANDA AND CHARLES

Contents

The completion of this book owes much to people who have helped me along theway. Harvey Graff first 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 andBob Sloan of IUP have both been supportive as I have written the book, and I willalways be grateful for their patience. The referees for the press, especially VenitaDatta, made comments that greatly improved the book. I have also learned muchfrom friends and colleagues with whom I have talked. As always, Joan Scotts supporthas been crucial. At the University of Utah, Bob Goldberg, Ray Gunn, RonSmelser, Esther Rashkin, and Bruce Dain helped with suggestions, references, andloans of books. Parts of were presented as a paper at the Society for FrenchHistorical 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 office of the Marriott Library at the University ofUtah helped, as usual, to overcome the limitations of the library collection. Ialso thank the libraries of the University of California, Berkeley, the Universityof Washington, and Brigham Young University for allowing me to use theircollections.

Financial support for this project came from the University of Utah ResearchCommittee, which gave me a Faculty Research Grant for research in Paris andthen extended it when my original plans did not work out. Robert Newman,Dean of Humanities at the University of Utah, has supported my work sincehis arrival in Salt Lake City, and I am particularly grateful for his permissionto leave behind my administrative duties and head for Paris in February 2004.Liz Leckie, Assistant Dean of Humanities, also deserves thanks for taking overthose duties during my absence from campus. Ray Gunn and Eric Hinderaker,chairs of the History Department during the life of this project, have also beensupportive in every way possible. To all these people, and to those I may haveneglected to mention, my deepest thanks.

Salt Lake City
October 19, 2006

The Melodramatic Thread

On June 8, 1794, at the height of the Terror, the leaders of France and the peopleof Paris celebrated a Festival of the Supreme Being in central Paris. WithJacques-Louis David as impresario, the houses of Paris were decorated withtree branches, flowers, and tricolored flags to demonstrate the productivity ofthe soil of France and the glory of the Republic. The Tuileries Gardens, whichwould be the site of the first part of the festival, featured a statue representingatheism, with the inscription only hope of the foreigner on it. Across theSeine, the Champs de Mars, the site of previous revolutionary festivals, hadbeen renamed the Champs de la Runion. In the immense field rose a highmountain that would be the focal point for the second half of the celebration.

The Festival of the Supreme Being began with a cannon salvo summoningmen and women from each section of the city to the Tuileries. Mothers carryingroses symbolizing mercy, young girls with baskets filled with flowers tosymbolize youth, and men and boys with tree branches to represent the masculinevirtues 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 Conventionnelsalso participated in the symbolism of the festival, holding shocks of wheat,flowers, and fruits.

Robespierre welcomed the processions from around the city with a speechcelebrating Frances devotion to the Supreme Being, the source of all that wasgood, including the Republic and the liberty written in mens hearts. In spiteof the ongoing war, the Terror, and the need for revolutionary vigilance, heurged his fellow citizens to give themselves over to joy on this day of festivities.This speech was followed by a performance by the Opera of TheodoreDsorguess song Father of the Universe, Supreme Intelligence, set to musicby Franois-Joseph Gossec. Robespierre then set fire to the statue of Atheism,which disappeared in flames to be replaced by a statue of Wisdom. Interpretingthe pageant in a second speech, Robespierre described the disappearanceof atheism and with it all the crimes and unhappiness of the world. Onlywisdom, he told his audience, could lead to the prosperity of empires.

After the ceremony at the Tuileries the members of the Convention marchedin procession across the river to the Champs, surrounded by tricolored bannersand children with flowers. A coach in the middle of this procession carriedtools and goods made around the country, a plow covered with wheat andoak branches, and a printing press. These were placed next to a statue of Liberty,

At the Champs de la Runion the Conventionnels assembled at the highestpoint of the mountain constructed in the middle of the field, while a hymn tothe Supreme Being and a symphony were performed. The groups of men andwomen sang while children threw their flowers into the air. Young men drewtheir sabers and swore to be victorious, while elderly men gave them a paternalblessing. The festival ended with another artillery salvo, representing thenational vengeance, and a fraternal embrace by all of the participants and thecry of Vive la Rpublique! Impressed by its perception of the festivalthebeauty of the weather, the decorations, the joy of the people, the unanimityof the sentiments expressed, the speeches, and the cordiality and order thatreigned during the ceremonyLe Moniteur summarized the events as themost beautiful festival whose memory could be perpetuated in the pomp ofthe Revolution.