BARON DE BAZANCOURT: LITERATOR, HISTORIAN, MILITARY CORRESPONDENT. PART VIII. “LE MONTAGNARD…” VS “ANGE PITOU”

Baron de Bazancourt’s novel “Montagnard, or The Two Republics: 1793–1848 (1850–1851)” was one of the first large-scale artistic treatments of the events of the French Revolution. The text was created amidst political struggle and pursued ideological goals. Meanwhile, the author was forced to draw material from the works of historians whose conclusions contradicted Bazancourt’s own ideological principles. This article analyzes Bazancourt’s methods of interpreting historical facts in accordance with the ideological vector set forth in the novel. The creative solutions in Bazancourt’s novel are examined in comparison with the updated artistic tactics of A. Dumas, embodied in the novel “Ange Pitou”, which also tells the story of the French Revolution and was written simultaneously with Bazancourt’s “Montagnard”.