Toward a Semiotic Description of French Historical Dramas of the Early Nineteenth Century

In the place of the diachronic, evolutionary path most scholars trace from neo-classical tragedy to melodrama or "scènes historiques" and then to romantic drama, this article describes a synchronic continuum. Each generic æsthetic is presented both as a unique attempt to define the relationship between fact nd fiction and as a point on a line representing the chronological coexistence of and the æsthetic interrelationships among the various dramatic forms. In the end, the "revolutionary" character of the French romantic drama is called into question. (BTC)