Sylvain Maréchal, Le Jugement dernier des rois / The Last Judgment of Kings (Bilingual Edition by Yann Robert)

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.

Contents

Introduction
A Collaborative Translation
The Last Judgment of Kings
Le Jugement dernier des rois
Notes
Bibliography

—

YANN ROBERT is an associate professor in the Department of French and Francophone Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago. He is the author of Dramatic Justice: Trial by Theater in the Age of the French Revolution and, with Mark Darlow, of a critical edition of the revolutionary play L’Ami des lois.

YANN ROBERT enseigne dans le département d’études françaises et francophones à l’université d’Illinois, Chicago. Il est l’auteur de Dramatic Justice: Trial by Theater in the Age of the French Revolution et, avec Mark Darlow, d’une édition critique de la pièce révolutionnaire L’Ami des lois.

SYLVAIN MARÉCHAL (1750–1803) was a French journalist, philosopher, political theorist, and playwright, famous for his militant atheism and radical egalitarianism.

—

Praise

"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 "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 "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