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  • Jules Lefèvre-Deumier, Un Poète romantique contre la peine de mort. Quatre poèmes
  • Bradley Stephens
Jules Lefèvre-Deumier, Un Poète romantique contre la peine de mort. Quatre poèmes. Edited by Loïc Guyon. Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2005. 86 pp.

Jules Lefèvre-Deumier is by no means a well-known name today. There appears to be only one major study devoted to his works thus far, a thesis dating from 1953 that remains unpublished. But this short collection, framed by Loïc Guyon's engaging introduction, neatly indicates and opens up dialogues between Lefèvre and the major Romantic players of the early nineteenth century. The writer's life is usefully summarized in the opening pages by way of context. Born in 1797, Lefèvre's natural affability helped him befriend the constellation of Romantic luminaries that were reshaping the literary scene in the 1810s and 1820s, including Lamartine and Hugo. The latter indeed published a gushing review of Lefèvre's Le Parricide in 1823. But disillusionment marked much of his life, since he did not attain the renown of his contemporaries, nor could he win the heart of the woman he loved. Lefèvre was nonetheless deeply committed to discussions of social justice, not least concerning capital punishment. Individual introductions to the four poems offered here lucidly build on Lefèvre's contributions to the growing interest of his peers in the death penalty, not only as a public debate but also as a poetic inspiration that tied in well with the developing emphasis on the grotesque. His 1823 homage to André Chénier as a figure upon whom those two drives converged tellingly captured the anxiety of a generation traumatised by an excessively bloody period of history in which 'l'honneur est un crime, et le crime un système' (p. 81). In the context of this opposition, there is however a curious biographical note that Guyon seems to downplay. Lefèvre supported Louis-Napoléon's candidacy for president, having seemingly become more conservative after a considerable inheritance from a wealthy aunt. He was rewarded with library positions at the Elysée and then, under the Second Empire, at the Tuileries. Guyon insists [End Page 86] that Lefèvre did not profit from his standing to further his writing career, but this does not explain his political motivations from 1848 onwards. It seems strange that such a liberal-thinking artist, who had in fact served as a volunteer in Poland's struggle against Russian imperialist oppression, could throw in his lot with the very symbol of institutional conformism that his old friend Hugo would so avidly denounce. Such queries aside, this is a highly enjoyable introduction to a long-forgotten poet whose alexandrine verse recalls the passionate outrage of other Romantics as regards the death penalty. Guyon is lively in his overview and meticulous in his presentation of the poems themselves, all of which are accompanied by thorough referencing. That the legitimacy of capital punishment is still very much on the ethical agenda in our own times should make this title attractive to students and scholars in French Studies alike, regardless of their period. [End Page 87]

Bradley Stephens
University of Bristol
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