Lioncel, ou l’Émigré, nouvelle historique contains three major parts. The story is preceded by an avant-propos, in which the author explains his motives for writing the text. At the end of this introduction, we are told that the novella will relate the story of Monsieur de V…, an émigré recently returned to France. The narrator is given fifteen days to compile his thoughts and he begins his recital to V’s family, in a country setting removed from the ongoing chaos of An III (1795), one year after the fall of Robespierre. The de Lioncel and de Pressac families of the story did indeed exist, although they are to be found primarily in the Poitou and Angoumois regions,188 unlike Bruno’s setting of Roussillon. Bruno will provide occasional dates, names, and events to situate the story firmly in the chaos of the Terror in Paris and the provinces, but some details, such as the real names of the lead characters or their homes will be hidden to
188 Hyacinthe de Fourmont, L’Ouest aux croisades Tome 3 (Nantes: V. Forest et E. Grimaud, 1867), 272.
protect them from any retribution, a typical rhetorical device of the time.189 While the fictional story is centered on the main characters, the novella offers “a historical justification in the ‘real’
background”190 for its important tale.
Despite his avant-propos’ emphatic denunciation of melodramatic writers, Bruno begins the story with a classic gothic feel: “Une nuit orageuse avoit succédé à une journée terrible : les vents souffloient avec violence ; […] le Ciel paroissoit tout en feu ; […] la plaine [était] jonchée de cadavres […].”191 This melodramatic and violent beginning sets the tone for the sentimental émigré narrative to follow. The field in the opening lines turns out to be a grisly battlefield, where Frédéric Lioncel, our hero, has been left for dead. He is rescued by a loyal family servant, Francœur, who is a hussar in the French army. Believing himself to be dying, Lioncel is only concerned with sending his last thoughts to his family and his beloved Éléonore. Lioncel is put into the clothing of a French soldier, which will save his life and give him a secure identity until he can recover from his injuries. Although it is not clearly stated, Lioncel is obviously fighting with the Austrian troops against the French, and it is only the change of uniform that allows him to escape detection after the battle. Francœur entrusts Lioncel’s recovery to a close friend, Dr.
Gaubiac. Between these two men, Lioncel will remain safe throughout his convalescence and his journey through France.
While Lioncel is struggling to recover and make his way home, his cousin Oursonvilliers is plotting to return to France. He is serving with the armée des princes and begs permission to return to his home in order to protect his property and to raise troops for the émigré army. In
189 It is not clear exactly when the novella was composed, but we can safely say it was in the immediate aftermath of the Terror. The storyline follows the characters through the end of the Terror, mentioning Robespierre’s fall in precise detail. The novella itself was first published in 1800, leaving only a few years in which it could have been written.
190 Cook, 135.
191 Bruno, 1.
reality, having heard that Lioncel is dead, he is intending to convince Éléonore to accept him as her husband. As he travels through the country on his way to Paris, we learn that not only is he intending to betray his family, he is also betraying his country. Oursonvilliers is a secret agent of the Committee of Public Safety, and takes his orders directly from Robespierre and his cohorts.
Escaping a series of traps set by his cousin, Lioncel is eventually reunited with his family and his betrothed. Éléonore has been imprisoned by Oursonvilliers and some of her family has been killed on his orders, but Lioncel is able to free her and safely bring the remaining family together. The novella ends in a confrontation between Oursonvilliers and Lioncel, in which Lioncel offers the villain his life, if he will only repent his wicked ways. Oursonvilliers refuses to even consider such a transformation and commits suicide rather than repent and become a force for good.
The story is quite simplistic in its depictions of good and evil, loyalty and betrayal, Émigré and Revolutionary. The Revolutionaries are portrayed as animalistic, ill-educated, credulous men who are either evil by nature, or are willing to be led by evil men. Lioncel’s family and friends are loyal, pure of heart, and self-sacrificing in the face of overwhelming adversity. In his avant-propos, Bruno claims that the text is meant as “une satyre amère du Gouvernement,”192 and was not intended for printing, although this is obviously an attempt to play into the story’s ‘realism.’ The author goes on to state that his aversion to publishing the work stems partially from the lack of interest in true literature: “on ne lisoit pas dans ce tems-là.”193 Of course, we have no way of knowing exactly when the text was composed, but it was not published until after Napoléon’s coup d’état, when émigré literature was becoming more popular.
192 Ibid., i.
193 Ibid., ii.