Crossing the Ramp to Cross the Years. Auguste Vacquerie and the Dead End of Romanticism in the 1840s
The young playwright Auguste Vaquerie aspired to make a place for himself among the literary and theatrical figures of his time. To this end, he tried to show dramatic audacity, notably by removing the “fourth wall,” first in his play Antigone (1844) ; but the consensual reception given to this play pushed Vaquerie to a second attempt with Tragaldabas (1848), this time seeking to provoke the audience. In the end, it is the media coverage of Tragaldabas in the press that will serve the ambitions of its author.