French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Giannouli, Ancient Greece on the French Stage, 1797–1873
Theatre and Performance

Bibliographic reference: A. Giannouli, La Grèce antique sur la scène française, 1797-1873, Honoré Champion, "Romantisme et modernité" series, 2015. EAN13: 9782745325495.

Angeliki Giannouli, Ancient Greece on the French Stage, 1797–1873

Preface by Jean-Marie Thomasseau

Paris: Honoré Champion, coll. "Romantisme et modernité", 2013.

EAN 9782745325495.

528 p.

Price 95EUR

Publisher's overview:

Ancient Greece held a privileged place on the French stage throughout the nineteenth century. In an era marked by profound aesthetic, social, and political upheavals, the theater established a new relationship with the myths, authors, and heroes of Antiquity. This book explores the image of Ancient Greece as portrayed on the French stage between 1797 and 1873.
Through a historical and dramaturgical analysis of roughly a hundred plays, the study demonstrates how a reinterpretation and questioning of ancient Greek heroes and mythological themes gradually emerged, moving beyond the classical doctrine of imitation. By grouping performances by dramatic genre and mythological cycle—whether staged at the Opéra, the Odéon, the Comédie-Française, or popular theaters—the author sheds light on shifting mentalities, theatrical techniques, and the aesthetic significance of this renewed interest in Greece.
From the final neoclassical tragedy imitations to the earliest stagings of ancient Greek authors, and through reworked plots in dramas, comedies, and vaudevilles in which Romantics often played a leading role, this study traces the shifting dynamics and evolving demands of theatrical staging and writing.

Angeliki Giannouli holds a PhD in Art Aesthetics, Sciences, and Technologies from Paris VIII University. She is a member of the research team at Paris III University working on a repertory of ancient theater stagings in France, and has published numerous articles focusing on nineteenth-century French theater, often intersecting with historical and literary research.

This study situates nineteenth-century French theater within a crucial period of transition, spanning from the end of the French Revolution to the early Third Republic. During this era, French drama shifted away from the rigid constraints of seventeenth-century classicism and the strict rules of neoclassical tragedy. Instead of merely imitating ancient models, playwrights across various genres—including melodrama, vaudeville, and Romantic drama—began to adapt Greek myths to reflect contemporary political and social anxieties. Giannouli demonstrates how these diverse theatrical venues, from prestigious national stages like the Comédie-Française to popular boulevard theaters, became spaces for aesthetic experimentation.

By examining a vast corpus of nearly one hundred plays, this work is an invaluable resource for scholars of theatre history, French literature, and classical reception studies. It addresses fundamental questions about how a society uses the past to understand its present, showing how the staging of Greek antiquity evolved alongside theatrical technology and shifting audience expectations. Readers interested in the history of staging, the development of Romanticism, or the enduring influence of classical mythology on modern European culture will find this meticulous dramaturgical analysis both illuminating and deeply researched.