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Scènes Francophones: Studies in French and Francophone Theater
The Last Judgment of Kings / Le Jugement Dernier Des Rois

The Last Judgment of Kings / Le Jugement Dernier Des Rois

A Bilingual Edition

Edited by Yann Robert

by Sylvain Maréchal (1750-1803)

Translated by Yann Robert

Published by: Bucknell University Press

Series: Scènes Francophones: Studies in French and Francophone Theater

Imprint: Bucknell University Press

156 Pages, 140.00 × 216.00 × 10.00 mm, 1 B-W image

Paperback
9781684485444
Published: December 2024

£10.99

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Hardcover
9781684485451
Published: December 2024

£56.00

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Description
Contents
Authors
Praise

First performed the day after Marie-Antoinette’s beheading, Le Jugement dernier des rois stages the burlesque trial of the remaining kings and queens of Europe-paraded in chains like animals, made to brawl over a barrel of crackers, and finally obliterated by a spectacular volcanic eruption. Such is the shocking context-at once tragic and farcical-of the most infamous play of the French Revolution, familiar to all specialists of the period. Until now, however, no standalone critical edition or English translation of this historic play existed. This bilingual edition revives MarÉchal’s play and reveals its centrality to scholarly debates about Revolutionary notions of justice, religion, commemoration, comedy, and propaganda. Provocative, written in accessible prose, and short-perfect for students in a French or history seminar-Le Jugement dernier des rois offers an ideal introduction to the most important and contentious questions of the Revolutionary period.

JouÉ pour la premiÈre fois le lendemain de l’exÉcution de Marie-Antoinette, Le Jugement dernier des rois met en scÈne le procÈs burlesque des autres rois et reines d’Europe : exhibÉs et enchaÎnÉs tels des animaux, contraints de se battre pour un tonneau de biscuits, et finalement anÉantis par l’Éruption spectaculaire d’un volcan. Tel est le contexte scandaleux-tragÉdie et farce À la fois-de la piÈce la plus cÉlÈbre de la RÉvolution franÇaise, bien connue de tous les spÉcialistes de cette pÉriode. Jusqu’À maintenant, pourtant, il n’existait ni Édition critique ni traduction anglaise de cet ouvrage historique. Notre Édition bilingue fait revivre la piÈce de MarÉchal et la replace au centre des plus grands dÉbats chez les historiens de la RÉvolution, traitant de justice, religion, commÉmoration, comÉdie, et propagande. Provocateur, facile À lire, et concis-parfaitement adaptÉ aux Étudiants d’un cours de franÇais ou d’histoire-Le Jugement dernier des rois propose ainsi une introduction idÉale À la pÉriode rÉvolutionnaire et À ses principales controverses.

Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.

"This is a great pedagogical enterprise. . . . It is important to provide this curious piece to anglophone readers, helping us all understand the mindset of the French public during the Revolution of 1789. . . . I would recommend this book to whomever intends to motivate students to investigate the French literature produced around the time of the French Revolution." (Monde Français du Dix-huitième Siècle (MFDS)) "A superb edition and lively translation of one of the French Revolution's most striking plays. In his expert introduction, Yann Robert carefully lays out the theatrical and political contexts, bringing this subversive comedy to life for readers of all levels." - Thomas Wynn (author of Reading Drama in Eighteenth-Century France) "Making this hard-to-find text accessible to both Francophone and Anglophone readers, this fantastically helpful new edition and translation also includes a substantial critical introduction, which demonstrates how this play-frequently cited but all-too-rarely engaged with in detail-is at once much more complex and much more fertile than previous scholars have tended to allow. A collaborative project with three generations of students, this is also a wonderful pedagogical model that reveals the value of bringing research material into the classroom." - Jessica Goodman (editor and translator of The Philosophes) "This innovative and erudite edition restores Sylvain MarÉchal's astonishing and wildly comic play to a rightful place of prominence while breaking new ground with a new, student-led collective translation. Yann Robert's book is a brilliant example of how scholarship can align with the teaching of the French Revolution's endlessly fascinating theater." - Annelle Curulla (author of Gender and Religious Life in French Revolutionary Drama) "Sylvain MarÉchal's Le Jugement dernier des rois was the most important play performed during the French Revolution, yet it is surprisingly little-known. Scholars and students alike will therefore warmly welcome this new edition and translation of the play, for which editor Yann Robert has supplied a sparkling introduction." - Colin Jones (author of The Fall of Robespierre: 24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris)
"Robert offers a wonderfully engaging and readable English translation of one of the most original and incendiary plays of the French Revolution. While the script provides a front-row seat to how theater shaped and was shaped by the new social and political order of the French Revolution, the volume's introduction and critical apparatus provide essential contextualizing information on the main debates both of the Revolutionary period and of revolutionary scholarship today. Robert argues convincingly for the play's unique presentation of the issues of the day, and at times corrects the scholarly record on it. In short, the volume offers an illuminating window onto theatre's role and inventiveness at a highly charged and precarious moment of the Revolution, as well as an innovative and portable pedagogical model for collaborative translation. With so few plays of the Revolution available in English translation, this is a welcome and valuable addition for teachers, scholars, and students alike."
- Cecilia Feilla (author of The Sentimental Theater of the French Revolution)