Stages of Battle: Theater and War in the Plays of Bernhardt, Raynal, and Anouilh

Noting a neglect of theater in literary and cultural histories of the Great War, this article contributes to a much-needed correction of this oversight by analyzing three plays: Sarah Bernhardt’s propagandistic Du théâtre au champ d’honneur (1916), Paul Raynal’s controversial and antimilitaristic Le...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The French review 2014-05, Vol.87 (4), p.41-55
Main Authors: Sachs, Leon, McCready, Susan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Commemorations
Poetry
Soldiers
Sons
Tableaux
Theater
Theater criticism
War
Warfare
World wars
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Noting a neglect of theater in literary and cultural histories of the Great War, this article contributes to a much-needed correction of this oversight by analyzing three plays: Sarah Bernhardt’s propagandistic Du théâtre au champ d’honneur (1916), Paul Raynal’s controversial and antimilitaristic Le tombeau sous l’Arc de triomphe (1924) and Jean Anouilh’s ironical Le voyageur sans bagage (1937). Despite their contrasting attitudes toward the armed conflict itself, all of these plays call explicit attention to the significant role that theatrical performance plays in wartime and/or the practices of commemoration that follow.
ISSN:0016-111X
2329-7131
2329-7131
DOI:10.1353/tfr.2014.0207