Gautier rewatches Chatterton and Le More de Venise, or a critic’s nostalgia

Le More de Venise (1829) and Chatterton (1835) are two of Vigny’s dramas that Gautier, who saw them when they debuted, could not talk about at the time because he was not yet a drama critic. But he had the privilege of seeing them again, notably much later during the Second Empire: his creator, Geffroy, reprised the role of Chatterton in 1857 (without Marie Dorval), and the inspired incarnation of Othello by the atypical Rouvière in 1862 provided him with the opportunity to take emotional stock of his youthful romantic passions, which remained intact.