Du rayonnement a l’eclipse, l’image mediatique et institutionnelle de casimir delavigne (1793-1843)

Abstract

This thesis, entitled « From radiance to eclipse, Casimir Delavigne’s media image », throws light on the career of this now-forgotten author. It completes and continues the research begun with the Colloque « Casimir Delavigne en son temps » (October 2011). It brings to the fore Delavigne’s fame and the impact that his work had on the French public from 1818 to 1843. This study questions the perception of Delavigne and his work by his relatives and contemporary artists, and by the press of his time and of the years following his death. Contemporary newspapers are analysed to illustrate or explain what Delavigne embodied for the French public at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The importance of this poet and playwright called for study given his disappearance from most literary and cultural histories from the twentieth century on. This study will propose hypotheses which will enable us to understand how an author who was so famous could so quickly be forgotten. Chapter 1 analyses the intensity of Delavigne’s radiance and identifies the historical and political context of his time ; Chapter 2 identifies the cultural context of the time of Delavigne in order to situate him as an artist and understand his importance to French and/or European literary heritage. Finally, chapter 3 consists of an analysis of the different types of reception of Delavigne’s work. The ultimate goal of this thesis is to analyse in detail how the work of the artist and criticism interact while also giving us an overall view of the author’s career.