ABSTRACT
From Liberty to Patriotism Neither authors nor theaters perceived the legislation passed by the National Assembly in January 1791 in the terms that most scholarship has presented it – as a decisive turn towards individual liberty and private literary property from the Old Regime system of monopolies and privileges. The authors perceived this law only as a first step, and not a resolution of the issue. Likewise, the royal troupe and commercial theater directors considered the confusion it created regarding previously performed works and works by dead authors to be an invitation to appropriate these plays onto their repertories. Thus, as we will see in this final chapter, the most intense and consequential period of debate over literary property followed the Le Chapelier law. From January 1791 to July 1793, four more laws would be passed. Moreover, the leadership, form, rhetoric and function of the authors’ association would evolve significantly. Through these trajectories, we will trace literary sociability during the Revolution.
