Used book – Lorenzaccio, Alfred de Musset, Anne Ubersfeld, Daniel Mesguich

Between being a procurer and the favorite of Duke Alessandro, who reigns as a debauched tyrant over the corrupt city of Florence, Lorenzaccio is not what he seems: one day in 1537, he assassinates the Duke before dying himself – without the city regaining its freedom. It is on the historical reality of the Italian Renaissance that Musset bases the drama he published in 1834 in Un spectacle dans un fauteuil, and which would not be performed during his lifetime. But the play is also written for the present, in those years after 1830 when the inefficiency of the Florentine republicans and the passivity in the face of tyranny find a clear resonance. The self-discovery that leads Lorenzo to self-destruction only makes sense in the political apathy of the city, and his individual failure mirrors that of Florence before its tyrants. Zola had perceived it: "There is a drama worthy of Shakespeare here."

Edited by Anne Ubersfeld.