The Animal on the Fairground Theatre in the Age of Enlightenment: The Emergence of a Conscious Sensibility in "La Mort du bœuf gras" by Taconet

Abstract

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 bœuf 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. 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 fundamental.

Keywords: zootextuality, zooscenography, alterity, La Mort du bœuf gras, Taconet.