L’animal sur les tréteaux forains au siècle des Lumières : émergence d’une sensibilité consciente dans La Mort du bœuf gras de Taconet

This study analyses the significance of zootextuality and zooscenography in drama representations of Parisians fairs and boulevards during the Enlightenment. Drawing on the comic tragedy La Mort du boeuf gras by Toussaint-Gaspard Taconet, known as «the Molière of the boulevard», we propose to explore the polyphony of the animal metaphor through the figure of the ox and other contemporary examples such as the animaux savants. This invites reflection on how popular theatre can be seen as a vector for an emerging awareness of alterity, at a time when questions about human nature and, by extension, animals, are becoming fun-damental.