What Are Robespierre and Télémaque Doing in Saint-Domingue?: Humanness, Revolutionary Legitimacy, and Political Order in Charles Pigault-Lebrun’s Le blanc et le noir  (1795)

Jonas Ross Kjærgård

doi:10.1111/oli.12157

What Are Robespierre and Télémaque Doing in Saint-Domingue? Humanness, Revolutionary Legitimacy, and Political Order in Charles Pigault-Lebrun’s Le blanc et le noir (1795)

Bidragets oversatte titel: Hvad laver Robespierre og Telemachos i Saint-Domingue?: Menneskelighed, revolutionær legitimitet og politisk orden i Charles Pigault-Lebruns Le blanc et le noir (1795)

Jonas Ross Kjærgård

Institut for Kommunikation og Kultur - Litteraturhistorie

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift/Konferencebidrag i tidsskrift /Bidrag til avis › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › peer review

1 Citationer (Scopus)

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Abstract

Charles Pigault-Lebrun's play Le blanc et le noir (1795) is one of only a handful of French revolutionary plays to stage the Saint-Domingue slave rebellion, a rebellion today better known as the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804). I argue that Pigault-Lebrun uses early melodramatic generic traits to develop a theatrical thought experiment revolving around three main themes: humanness, revolutionary legitimacy, and political order. Crucially, Pigault-Lebrun does so by transporting French revolutionary figures and themes to the colonial setting, which means that his depiction of Caribbean revolt is seen through a distinctly Parisian lens. The first consequence of this framing is an omission of specifically Haitian concerns. The second is a particular infusion of colonial problems into metropolitan discussions. In analyzing this reciprocal transportation of figures and discourse, the article shows how the colonies not only affected the material lives of millions of Europeans but also influenced crucial questions of humanness, societal change, and political order.

Bidragets oversatte titel	Hvad laver Robespierre og Telemachos i Saint-Domingue?: Menneskelighed, revolutionær legitimitet og politisk orden i Charles Pigault-Lebruns Le blanc et le noir (1795)
Originalsprog	Engelsk
Tidsskrift	Orbis Litterarum
Vol/bind	73
Nummer	2
Sider (fra-til)	186-212
Antal sider	27
ISSN	0105-7510
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/oli.12157
Status	Udgivet - 2 mar. 2018

Emneord

Slaveri
melodrama
menneskelighed
revolutionær legitimitet
politisk orden
den haitianske revolution
Den franske revolution

Adgang til dokumentet

10.1111/oli.12157

What Are Robespierre and Télémaque Doing in Saint-Domingue_Accepted manuscript_2018Accepteret manuskript, 465 KB

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Tjek tilgængelighed hos det Kgl. Bibliotek

Reading Slavery - Comparative Studies of the Literature of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
Kjærgård, J. R. (Deltager), Andersen, F. (Deltager), Simonsen, K.-M. (Deltager), Carvalho, V. M. D. (Deltager), Ladegaard, J. (Deltager), Baggesgaard, M. A. (Projektleder), Smed, S. J. (Deltager) & Pelckmans, L. (Deltager)
01/02/2015 → 23/09/2019
Projekter: Projekt › Forskning

Citationsformater

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What Are Robespierre and Télémaque Doing in Saint-Domingue? Humanness, Revolutionary Legitimacy, and Political Order in Charles Pigault-Lebrun’s Le blanc et le noir (1795). / Kjærgård, Jonas Ross.
I: Orbis Litterarum, Bind 73, Nr. 2, 02.03.2018, s. 186-212.

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift/Konferencebidrag i tidsskrift /Bidrag til avis › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › peer review

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What Are Robespierre and Télémaque Doing in Saint-Domingue? Humanness, Revolutionary Legitimacy, and Political Order in Charles Pigault-Lebrun’s Le blanc et le noir (1795)

Abstract

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Projekter

Reading Slavery - Comparative Studies of the Literature of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

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