2. The Dreyfus Affair as National Theater

Abstract

The Dreyfus Affair is one of the most dramatic, indeed, melodramatic, events in French history. This chapter examines why contemporaries viewed the Dreyfus Affair as national theater, and, moreover, how hyperbolic, theatrical images in the boulevard theater and the mass press played a role in fin-de-siecle perceptions not only of Alfred Dreyfus, but also of the Affair itself. The chapter focuses on the theatrical aspects of the Affair, beginning with Alfred Dreyfus's during his degradation ceremony in 1895 and especially addressing the mise en scene of the Rennes trial. This examination illustrates the importance of the press and the theater in national life and in the construction of national identity at the fin de siecle, as well as the role these two venues had in creating what Vanessa Schwartz has dubbed spectacular realities. Dreyfus's first performance at his degradation ceremony forever shaped contemporaries' image of him. Keywords: degradation ceremony; Dreyfus affair; fin-de-siecle; French history; melodramatic hero; mise en scene; national theater; Rennes trial