This essay explores the educational contribution of the Comtesse de
Genlis’ The´aˆtre a` l’usage des jeunes personnes [Theatre of Education] (1792/
1779–1780), a four-volume collection of closet drama, in light of the social,
political and cultural shifts occurring in France in the period prior to the French
Revolution. In particular in two plays from Theatre of Education La Marchande de
Modes [The Milliner] and Le Libraire [The Bookseller], Genlis depicts the bourgeoisie’s
proper behaviour toward the aristocracy and its natural place in the world.
Thus both plays exemplify the educational and the political role of Genlis, who
attempts to tame the bourgeoisie through the twofold argument of proper education
and effective parenthood so as to keep alive the social order of the ancien re´gime

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• The Comtesse de Genlis’ The´aˆtre a` l’usage des jeunes personnes (1779–1780): Educating for Order and Prejudice in Pre-revolutionary France