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23 Oct 2003 @ 10:47 by Tlingel @67.114.89.98 : Synchronicity
Just last night, TV5 was featuring La Bataille d'Hernani, a film about Victor Hugo's ealry years and his involvement with the Romantics.
Director: Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe, 2002
Writers : Claude Allègre, Jean-Claude Carrière
Cast : Arielle Dombasle (mademoiselle Mars / Dona Sol), Alexandre Brasseur (Victor Hugo), Florence Darel (Adèle Hugo), Jacques Dacqmine (Charles X), Fabrice Pruvost (Firmin / Hernani)
Summary:
In 1830's France, the Romantics formed a club called the Cénacle, in which Hugo was the chief poet and Sainte-Beuve the chief critic. Resulting in part from the libertarian and egalitarian ideals of the French Revolution, the romantic movement was plainly a revolt against the prescribed rules of classicism which had been framed in the golden age of French literature as representing the best practice of the best writers. But these rules had been interpreted in a narrow spirit and enforced in an arbitrary manner by succeeding generations of critics. Scant allowance was made for the necessary growth of language, and for the introduction of new ideas and forms of thought. The classic literature belonged to the court and was modeled by strict rules of etiquette, the Romantics felt were out of harmony with the wider view of life and nature struggling for expression.The movement was violently opposed by the conservative Classicists of the Academy who petitioned the king to forbid the representation of any Romantic piece at the Théâtre Français.
After several preliminary skirmishes the struggle culminated at the representation of Victor Hugo's Hernani. Both parties (the Romantics and the Classicists) assembled in force, one prepared to applaud, the other to hiss. Cries arose as the play proceeded, and even blows were struck. Hugos partisans, roused for the conflict, assembled in full force. They were led by the enthusiastic Théophile Gautier, who had arrayed himself in extravagant style for the occasion--green trousers and crimson waistcoat, above which rose his long, yellow leonine mane. The boxes were filled with persons distinguished in rank, letters or art, who joined in the tumult which arose as the play proceeded. The disorder proceeded from cries to blows, but Hugo's party rejoiced in a virtual, if not decisive, victory. The play was repeated night after night for two months. The bitter contest continued, often with serious outbreaks. In the end there was hardly a line that had not been the object of applause or hisses, or both. But the Romantics had won the right of having their new style of plays heard without molestation.
Regardless of the endurance of his individual works, Hugo remains an outstanding symbol of liberty and humanitarianism in France.
Other musings in The Journal
10 Nov 2004 @ 04:02: 
22 Oct 2003 @ 13:15, by shawa