PODRÓŻ SENTYMENTALNA DO FRANCJI ZA CZASÓW ROBESPIERRE’A
The Sentimental Voyage to France under Robespierre

Author(s): Marek Mosakowski
Subject(s): Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Studies of Literature, French Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: French Revolution; Thermidor; Robespierre; François Vernes; sentimental voyage
Summary/Abstract: The fall of Robespierre not only constitutes a major turning point in the history of the French Revolution, it also means a dramatic reorientation of the literary scene in France. A brand new genre, namely roman noir, which originated in England in the 1760s, finally reached France, stirring the recently unsettled French imagination and producing many literary works worthy of attention. This paradoxical infatuation of the French writers with English gothic and horror stories can be primarily attributed to the direful experiences of the guillotine and the Great Terror, which ravaged France with particular intensity during several momentous weeks preceding Robespierre’s spectacular demise in July of 1794. Thus literature offered a perfect vehicle for soothing the French traumatic memories of the Jacobin regime. One of such works was a semi-fictional novel by François Vernes, entitled Le voyageur sentimental en France sous Robespierre.

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