Héros, sauveur, homme du peuple ? La création et contestation des premiers masques théâtraux de Bonaparte sous le Directoire

Combining archival research, reviews in the press, and scholarship on the Napoleonic legend, this article analyses five waves of plays that were linked to Bonaparte from 1797 to the coup of 18 Brumaire to give the first proper study of the creation and contestation of Bonaparte’s theatrical masks during this transformative period. In so doing, it shows the how circumstantial plays slotted Bonaparte into a longer theatrical heritage; the development of his association in the theatre with the Italian and Egyptian campaigns, associations that would be emphasized during the Consulate and Empire, and then after Napoleon’s fall in 1815 for the Napoleonic legend; and how these theatrical masks were feared and tailored by the state, a practice that also continued well beyond 18 Brumaire and well into the nineteenth century.