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Children's Literature in Education

, Volume 48, Issue 3, pp 214–229 | Cite as

The Comtesse de Genlis’ Théâtre à l’usage des jeunes personnes (1779–1780): Educating for Order and Prejudice in Pre-revolutionary France

  • Isabel Pinto
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

This essay explores the educational contribution of the Comtesse de Genlis’ Théâtre à l'usage des jeunes personnes [Theatre of Education] (1792/1779–1780), a four-volume collection of closet drama, in light of the social, political and cultural shifts occurring in France in the period prior to the French Revolution. In particular, in two plays from Theatre of Education, La Marchande de Modes [The Milliner] and Le Libraire [The Bookseller], Genlis depicts the bourgeoisie’s proper behaviour toward the aristocracy and its natural place in the world. Thus both plays exemplify the educational and the political role of Genlis, who attempts to tame the bourgeoisie through the twofold argument of proper education and effective parenthood, so as to keep alive the social order of the ancien régime.

Keywords

Comtesse de Genlis Children’s literature Children’s theatre French Revolution Educational endeavour Political engagement Aristocracy Bourgeoisie 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology under Grant SFRH/BPD/65068/2009. I am deeply indebted to Dr. Catherine Butler for her insightful comments on previous versions of this article.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.CIDEHUS - Interdisciplinary Centre for History, Culture and SocietiesÉvoraPortugal

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