Literary discourse on approval of revolutionary violence in dramatic and poetic works of the Reign of Terror era (1793-1794)

The eighteenth century was the era of Literature in France. According to an apt expression of the French researcher R. Chartier, the population was gripped by a “reading mania”. During the Revolution, it became even more obvious due to the destruction of censorship institutions. The study analyzes the literary field of the end of the XVIII century, namely the Reign of Terror era, which is a special phenomenon in the context of the French Revolution, but for a long time it has been rejected by historians. In this study, we consider the works of the «writers of Terror», who supported the government and its methods. We try to answer the questions: What tactics did they follow in their support of «terrorism» and were there common clichés, images and rhetorical techniques among these authors and politicians? The results of this study include not only the allocation of common rhetoric, but also the revelation of common themes for this period. We also describe in detail the complex relationship between artists and the Jacobin state.