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Revolutionary free speech

How does the censorship of Marie-Joseph Ch茅nier, Olympe de Gouges and other authors go against the advocacy of free speech promoted at the start of the French Revolution?

"Cancel culture" is used to describe debates which touch on freedom of expression today but what can we learn if we look back at events after the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen? Clare Siviter, who lectures on the French Revolution and theatre at the University of Bristol, takes us through the experiences of playwrights and authors, Marie-Joseph Ch茅nier, Olympe de Gouges, Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Suard and Destutt de Tracy, who wrote about how ideas spread.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod

You can find a collection of essays, discussions and features which showcase the research of New Generation Thinkers on the Free Thinking programme website. The Arts and Humanities Research Council has worked with 大象传媒 Radio 3 on the scheme since 2012.

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14 minutes

Broadcast

  • Fri 7 Apr 2023 22:45

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