Les mille langues du Père Duchêne : la parade de la culture populaire pendant la Révolution

Abstract

Jacques Guilhaumou : The thousand tongues of père Duchêne : The parade of popular culture during the french revolution. By his scope and diversity, the figure of père Duchêne (or Duchesne) dominates popular burlesque texts of the Revolution period. This character, modelled on those in Rabelais or fairground theatre, played an important role in the education of the people through comedy, following the principle that ' comic ideas follow closely serious ideas '. This article studies mainly the reception of the different incarnations of père Duchesne by Paris popular opinion. He appears in two main guises : for the Royalists he represents a pseudo-popular ' common sense ' while, at the prompting of Hébert, he points to the permanent social mediation of the Jacobins. All in all, père Duchesne represents popular philosophy.