Comment peut-on être censeur? L'exemple de Victor Hallays-Dabot

This article is a case study. It aims at understanding the life course and motivations that lead an individual to become a drama censor during the nineteenth century. Victor Hallays-Dabot was such a censor. As a young man, he was close to some of literature most important figures in the educational institution that was run by his father. He eventually worked as a rather obscure civil servant at the Public Instruction and Fine Arts Department, before becoming a well-known examiner.