Vérité historique dans les drames de Louis-Sébastien Mercier

Abstract

In the second half of the 18h century, the new theatrical genre, drame bourgeois 'domestic drama' radically opposes the rigorous rules of the French classical tragedy and comedy of the 17h century. Louis-Sébastien Mercier sees the opportunity of political education in the new genre. His objective, the creation of French national drama, is the reason for turning to historical themes. He has the intention to mediate political and philosophical ideas of his own era and respect the historical fidelity at the same time (in other words, the true and realistic representation of the chosen historical period). This paper focuses on two main questions: how successfully Mercier is in reconciling historical fidelity with the mediation of enlightened conceptions, and what kind of methods Mercier uses in his works to underpin the historical fidelity.