The smack and political representation in the 19th century

This study provides apolitical interpretation of the nineteenth century debate on the claque. The claqueur introduces a mediation in a realm then looked upon as the last manifestation of a "direct democracy." The claqueur justifies his presence in political terms, stressing either his unity with the audience (the theory of resemblance) or his superiority to the spectators (the theory of substitution). As a result, the debate on the claque echoes the great polemic of the nineteenth century : should a representative serve as an extension of the people or as its pedagogue ? The audience and the claque function as microcosms of French society and its political representatives. Such a parallelism is not without significance; one can trace an evolution in the debate and in the institution of the claque itself that reflects the gradual development of a "happy medium" of political representation.