fbpx
Wikipedia

Popular novel in France

The popular novel —or popular literature, also known as paraliterature— refers to literary productions that reach a wide readership, which developed during the XIXth century primarily due to the decrease in printing costs, the emergence of the first press groups, and literacy. This genre is originally concurrent with the Industrial Revolution and a sociology of reading, which practice could only democratize with the appearance of leisure time in a context of progressive urbanization.

These terms encompass works of great variety: detective, adventure, historical, regional, romance novels, etc. The common denominator is to present a story in a simple chronological order, with well-identified characters, archetypes, and where the plot takes precedence over stylistic considerations. Morality is sometimes imbued with good feelings, "common sense," or even Manichaeism; other times, it is reversed, with great naturalistic effects, positioning readers facing notions of fair and unfair.

The works of Eugène Sue, Alexandre Dumas, and Georges Simenon, among others, rank among the greatest successes of the popular novel, in terms of their posterity.

Not exclusively French, the notion of this genre is found among Anglo-Saxons in the British penny dreadful and the American dime novel, expressions equivalent to that of "two [or four] penny novel."

Long scorned by academia but prized as collectibles, the popular novel constitutes a subculture, an aspect of popular culture and the history of books. Its study was initiated by pioneers such as Richard Hoggart, founder of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (1964), Michel Ragon (Histoire de la littérature prolétarienne en France, 1974), as well as Roger Chartier, Marc Angenot,[1] and Rosalind Krauss.[2] Nowadays, it attracts a significant number of researchers and enthusiasts, while its production experiences sustained growth.

History edit

Origins and myth edit

The popular novel follows the tradition of oral literature from which it borrowed themes and narrative techniques. The first popular novelist (or "storyteller") is undoubtedly Scheherazade, who, in The Thousand and One Nights, to pique Shahryar's interest, is required to resume the thread of her story daily, consisting of a series of interconnected adventures. From a more historiographical perspective, the Bibliothèque bleue is a collection of small, disparate booklets often illustrated with wood engravings, whose dissemination was ensured, in rural France, from the early 17th century until the mid-19th century, by peddlers —other similar collections flourished at the same time across Europe. One of the earliest inventors of the "formula" of the French popular novel seems to be the writer François Guillaume Ducray-Duminil with works such as Les Veillées de ma grand-mère (1799) or Tableau d'une bonne famille (1804), although they remained expensive to purchase.[3]

Various occurrences of the expression "popular novel" appeared before 1836, the birth date of the feuilleton novel. In September 1839, in the Revue des deux Mondes, Sainte-Beuve criticized what he then called "industrial literature.[4]" The expression "popular novelist" is said to have first appeared in 1843 in the socialist press to praise Eugène Sue, author of The Mysteries of Paris (1842-1843). The term refers to the author of literature intended for the people —for the masses, as his detractors would soon say. Other authors, who were unaware of being "popular," preceded Sue, such as Paul de Kock, Auguste Ricard, or Marie Aycard.

Emerging from the July Monarchy, this literary form, also called feuilleton-novel and then serial novel, developed during the Second French Empire and, especially, the French Third Republic. During 1835-1845, the price of a single-volume novel decreased, dropping from 3 to 1 franc, thanks to Gervais Charpentier, Michel Lévy Frères, among others.

The "popular novel" expression is regularly used only from the French Second Republic, with the creation of the Romans illustrés (Illustrated Novels) collection by Gustave Havard in 1848; and, in 1849, with the creation of the Romans populaires illustrés (Illustrated Popular Novels) collection by the publisher Gustave-Émile Barba and his father. However, as early as 1841-1845, novels sold at 20 centimes each began to appear. They were called "four-penny novels," published by Joseph Bry or Hippolyte Boisgard.

With The Mysteries of Paris, Sue created archetypes that would be extensively reused: the persecuted innocence, and the righter of wrongs. This redeeming hero continued his career in historical novels, with Alexandre Dumas, Paul Féval, and Viscount Alexis de Ponson du Terrail, authors of some of the finest pages of swashbuckling novels. Meanwhile, adventure novels rapidly grew during the Second Empire with authors such as Gustave Aimard or Gabriel Ferry, and later Louis Noir, brother of Victor Noir.[5]

The object definitively democratizes in the 1860s-1880s with a significant decrease in production costs of the press, and thus the unit selling price. Popular novels were everywhere. Some newspapers published up to three serials daily. It was the era when novels of judicial error triumph, dramas of families torn apart by a relentless fate. Emotion was the order of the day. One must make "Margot cry" or be "loved by their concierge" (an expression taken from the title of a novel by Eugène Chavette). The "novel for Margot" wa also, for a time, called the "novel of the doorman." The period also saw the emergence of detective fiction, fantastical and scientific genre novels, precursors to science fiction, and soon, espionage novels.

The wild fictions of the first popular novels were gradually giving way to a less epic social realism, closer to melodrama.

1880-1900: The first golden age edit

The peak of novels featuring victims edit

This was the advent of authors such as Xavier de Montépin, whose The Bread Peddler saw numerous reprints, or Jules Mary who wrote Deux Innocents, Roger-la-Honte, La Pocharde, stories in which lost children, orphans, unwed mothers, alcoholics, and innocent convicts abound. At the start in an obscure newspaper, Mary earned eight francs a month. But he progressed quickly: his first novels delivered to Le Moniteur universel brought him a hundred times more. At Le Petit Journal, he was then paid 30000 gold francs annually. He bought himself a mansion on Boulevard Malesherbes. He was made an officer of the Legion of Honor in 1913. Finally, he was paid three francs per line, using an écurie (stable) of ghostwriters who were royally paid thirty centimes a line.

Success? This was also the case for Émile Richebourg who, with Les Deux Berceaux and La Petite Mionne, stages his favorite theme: the abduction or exchange of children, combined with adultery. At the peak of his career, he is said to have earned up to 1.5 million gold francs.[6]

Also noteworthy are Georges Ohnet, author of The Ironmaster, and Pierre Decourcelle, with The Two Kids, whose success was as impressive as short-lived. Under their influence, there was a proliferation of novels featuring victims that depict heroes caught in a fatal spiral of ruthless circumstances. Ideal scapegoats endured a long and painful sentence for crimes they did not commit, awaiting their rehabilitation, a plot that owes much to The Count of Monte Cristo (A. Dumas, 1844). These victim novels, tearful as they may be, also reflected a painful social reality. While sometimes posing as moralizers, novelists also contributed to raising awareness of real social problems: the gradual rehabilitation of the daughter-mother owes much to Jules Mary or Émile Richebourg.

 
Jenny l'ouvrière, advertising poster for Jules Cardoze's novel, 1890-1891.

The selling price remained a determining factor before 1914. Launching new collections or series was the subject of promotional offers on the first volumes (for example, 15 or 35 centimes instead of the usual 65). Delivered weekly, the illustrated booklets benefit from an exceptional print run for each first issue (500,000 copies) and sometimes free distribution. All publishers emphasized the pagination of their publications (Tallandier: "the volume of 448 pages, appearing on the 25th of each month, 3 fr. 50") and the number of lines ("each volume containing a complete work - 30,000 lines of reading"). Fayard, for example, praised the launch of Chaste et flétrie in its collection Le Livre populaire: "The magisterial work of Charles Mérouvel, the great popular novelist, comprises nearly 800 pages of compact text with 33,700 lines corresponding to 50,000 lines of newspaper with 1,518,000 letters. It was given without missing a word for 65 centimes in the first volume of our series Le Livre populaire. Such effort has never been made in bookselling, both in terms of affordability and the significance of the work provided."

Emergence of popular publishers edit

By the turn of the century, enthusiasm was at its peak. So specialized publishers emerged: Jules Rouff, one of the most prolific; Arthème Fayard, who launched Le Livre populaire in 1905; Jules Tallandier (Le Livre national rouge in 1909); Joseph Ferenczi, whose series Le Petit Livre, created in 1912, were sold at 40 centimes each and did not stop until 1964 after more than 2,000 issues. La Maison de la bonne presse inaugurates the Collection des romans populaires at 20 centimes in 1912 with authors such as Pierre l'Ermite, René d'Anjou, and Delly. The era saw the affirmation of genre autonomy (duly identified by publishers) and the sentimental novel triumph. Female literacy has gradually caught up with male literacy. Publishers addressed an expanding audience, with women gradually becoming the main targets. The novel Jenny, l'ouvrière (1890) by Jules Cardoze offered an inside story: the adventures of Jenny, a worker like her readers, through a glorified daily life.[7]

Press and popular novel edit

Newspaper publishers have greatly benefited from the popular novel advent. From the late 1830s until 1920, the original edition of a bookstore book was almost always preceded, accompanied, or followed by publication in episodes in national or regional newspapers. For the press, the period from 1860 to 1920, which saw the triumph of increasingly rapid machines like those of Marinoni, represented a golden age, now gone: now, press messengers founded by pioneers like Louis Hachette offer readers, at newsstands, cheap, stapled, and unbound booklets with illustrated covers, which serve as derivatives. Thus, in 1914, four national newspapers had circulations of over one million copies, competing for this market: Le Matin, Le Petit Parisien (1,450,000 copies), Le Petit Journal (a symbol and precursor of popular mass-circulation press that appeared in 1863), and Le Journal. These titles accompany their launches with extensive advertising campaigns.

These newspapers provided a great deal of space to sensational news, a theme favored by popular novelists, who often followed criminal cases as journalists, such as Gaston Leroux, a trained lawyer who spent his entire career at Le Matin, first as a journalist and then as a senior reporter (from 1894 to 1908) and finally as a feuilletonist until 1927. Gustave Le Rouge, head of service at Le Petit Parisien, was dismissed for inventing a sensational news story. Jules Mary wrote Le Boucher de Meudon based on the memoirs of Pranzini, the butcher murderer.

The union of the press and the popular novel was primarily an economic success. In 1865, Le Petit Journal increased its circulation to 282,060 copies at the time of the insertion of La Résurrection de Rocambole. In 1867, Le Dernier Mot de Rocambole forced the circulation of La Petite Presse to 100,000 copies on the first day alone. Émile Richebourg accepted the publication of Les Deux Berceaux in La Petite République, which saved Gambetta from ruin, as his newspaper was dying due to lack of readers.

Pierre Decourcelle, a millionaire writer, was at that time a true best-selling industrialist who accumulated successes, for which he mobilized a significant number of ghostwriters, akin to Dumas in his time, but up to sixty individuals. Not content with being published in serial form, this astute novelist had his works published, adapted them for the stage, and then for cinema by creating his own film company in 1908, the Société cinématographique des auteurs et gens de lettres.

1914-1940: a relative decline edit

However, after 1920, French readers seemed saturated and paid less and less attention to serials, soon surpassed by radio and film series. Furthermore, with the First World War, the press had entered a war economy fueled by images: the media landscape of the post-war period had to adapt.

It was during this time that publishers of classic literature or bookstores also began producing popular novels: while Hachette acquired stakes in many structures such as Fayard or Ferenczi through its distribution networks, Gallimard started producing detective or mystery novels. A major popular publisher of the time, Pierre Lafitte, eventually sold his highly profitable group to Hachette. The consequences of the Great Depression only amplified this phenomenon.

From 1945 to the present day: mixing genres edit

After the war, while a crisis hit paper suppliers amid stock shortages, popular novels rose from their ashes in other forms, with genre novels (science fiction, adventure, detective, espionage, romance, etc.) in a pocket format that continues to ensure its success. The specificity of popular literature tended to fade. New genres fluctuated between the status of popular literature and the recognition of a more literate audience. Detective novels or science fiction thus demonstrated great vitality, winning over a much more diverse audience than the one targeted by publishers like Rouff or Tallandier. The Série Noire collection quickly earned its stripes. The San Antonio series defied classification altogether, while novels by Albert Simonin (Touchez pas au grisbi!, 1953; Le cave se rebiffe, 1954; Grisbi or not grisbi, 1955) were as much exercises in cant style as they were detective plots.

The war or espionage novel was mainly exemplified by the immense success of Gérard de Villiers' series, SAS, with an ideology marked by racism and misogyny.[8]

The Canadian publisher Harlequin established itself as a global leader, offering successful American texts translated into French as well as other languages.

Comics gradually moved away from the children's section where they were long confined, especially from the 1970s onwards, to capture a wider audience, with constantly renewed forms (stories, layouts, themes).

Children's literature experienced strong growth. In addition to reissues of 19th-century authors (Paul d'Ivoi, Jules Verne, etc), new successful texts emerged, such as The Famous Five by Enid Blyton, or Fantômette (a feminine tribute to Fantômas) by Georges Chaulet.

Legacy edit

While Balzac or Stendhal are now globally recognized authors, a large part of the successful authors of the XIXe century were, so to speak, forgotten. The works of Richebourg or Ohnet, so famous in their time, were hardly read except by academic researchers. Except for a few authors few authors, reprints were rare. However, some popular novels continued to be the subject of numerous adaptations, in cinema and television, where they could boast of renewed success.

The popular novel on screen edit

If we limit ourselves to the field of French-language literature, we note that Arsène Lupin was adapted several times for cinema (by Jacques Becker notably) before becoming a television series in Quebec (Arsène Lupin, 1960), and then being portrayed by Georges Descrières in a new television series (1971-1974). The same applies to the series Chéri-Bibi (1974) based on Gaston Leroux's work and the multiple adaptations of The Mysteries of Paris by Eugène Sue. Several films by André Hunebelle are dedicated to Fantômas, portrayed by Jean Marais, opposite Louis de Funès as Juve. The adaptations of The Three Musketeers are too numerous to count, perpetuating the popularity of the swashbuckling novel on screen, as are the films or series based on Paul Féval's The Hunchback (Lagardère, TV series by Jean-Pierre Decourt, 1967) and, to a lesser extent, Michel Zévaco's Pardaillan.

Publishing edit

As early as the 1910s, authors such as Paul Féval, Maurice Leblanc, Gaston Leroux, Alexandre Dumas, Jules Mary, etc., were reissued in pocket-sized book format sold for between 20 and 30 cents each.

Alexandre Dumas was the first popular novelist to receive the honor of a critical edition in the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade (1962). Georges Simenon joined him there in 2003. With the Bouquins collection, Francis Lacassin gradually reissued numerous popular novels, accompanied by very detailed notes. The success of a movie or TV series often prompts a reissue.

Key dates in the popular novel edit

Genres edit

Author selection edit

List of authors of popular novels (period 1836-1918) featured in Michel Nathan's anthology.

 
Shelves at the Bibliothèque européenne du roman populaire in Laxou.

Common expressions edit

French borrows many everyday terms from popular literature, such as:

  • Rocambole, the hero created by Ponson du Terrail, gave his surname to the adjective rocambolesque.
  • When Amédée Achard wrote La Cape et l'épée in 1875, he generalized an expression coined by Ponson du Terrail, giving the generic name to a genre whose plot mainly takes place between the XV and XVIII centuries.
  • We sometimes get annoyed when we come across a Zigomar, without suspecting that he is a character by Léon Sazie.

Bibliography edit

  • Artiaga, Loïc (dir.) (2008). "Le roman populaire : des premiers feuilletons aux adaptations télévisuelles, 1836-1960". Autrement (in French). Paris. Mémoires: culture (143): 186. ISBN 978-2-7467-1200-3.
  • Angenot, Marc (1975). "Le roman populaire: recherches en paralittérature". Presses de l'Université du Québec (in French). Montreal. Genres et discours (1): X-145. ISBN 0-7770-0119-5.
  • Moritz, Bassler (2002). "Der deutsche Pop-Roman. Die neuen Archivisten" [(Le pop-roman allemand. La nouvelle archiviste)]. C.H. Beck (in German). Munich. ISBN 3406476147.
  • Brochon, Pierre (1961). "La littérature populaire et son public". Communications (in French). 1 (1): 70–80. doi:10.3406/comm.1961.918.
  • "Collectif". Romantisme. Littérature populaire (53). 1986.
  • Compère, Daniel (dir.) (2007). Dictionnaire du roman populaire francophone (in French). Paris: Nouveau Monde. p. 490. ISBN 978-2-84736-269-5.
  • Compère, Daniel (2012). Les romans populaires (in French). Vol. Les Fondamentaux de la Sorbonne Nouvelle. Paris: Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle. p. 139. ISBN 978-2-87854-561-6.
  • Couégnas, Daniel (1992). Introduction à la paralittérature. Paris: Seuil. p. 200. ISBN 2-02-013555-8.
  • Frigerio, Vittorio (2002). Les fils de Monte-Cristo: idéologie du héros de roman populaire. Limoges: Presses universitaires de Limoges (PULIM), coll. Médiatextes. p. 358. ISBN 2-84287-250-9.
  • Frigerio, Vittorio (2008). "Bons, Belles et méchants (sans oublier les autres) : le roman populaire et ses héros". In Artiaga (ed.). Le roman populaire : des premiers feuilletons aux adaptations télévisuelles, 1836-1960 (in French). Vol. Mémoires: culture (Loïc ed.). Paris: Autrement. pp. 97–116. ISBN 978-2-7467-1200-3.
  • Lacassin, Francis (1991). "À la recherche de l'empire caché: mythologie du roman populaire". Julliard. Paris: 366. ISBN 2-260-00688-4.
  • Migozzi, Jacques (2005). "Littérature(s) populaire(s) : un objet protéiforme". Hermès (in French). 42 (Peuple, populaire et populisme): 93–100. doi:10.4267/2042/8988. Archived from the original on May 25, 2023.
  • Liesebrinck, Hans-Jurgen; Lux, York-Gothart; Mollier, Jean-Yves; Sorel, Patrick (dir.) (2003). "Les lectures du peuple en Europe et dans les Amériques (XVIIe-XXe siècle)". Complexe. Brussels.
  • Olivier-Martin, Yves (1979). Histoire du roman populaire en France : de 1840 à 1980. Paris: Albin Michel. p. 301. ISBN 2-226-00869-1.
  • Nathan, Michel (1985). Anthologie du roman populaire 1836-1918. Paris: UGE 10-18. ISBN 2-264-00677-3.
  • Proust, Jean-Marc (1997). Racisme et nationalisme dans le roman populaire français sous la IIIe République (1870-1940) (Thesis).
  • Queffélec, Lise (1989). "Le Roman-feuilleton français au XIXe siècle". PUF (in French). Paris. coll. « Que sais-je ? » (2466).
  • Ragon, Michel (1986). Histoire de la littérature prolétarienne de langue française : littérature ouvrière, littérature paysanne, littérature d'expression populaire (in French) (1st ed.). Paris: Librairie générale française. ISBN 2-253-11506-1.
  • Thiesse, Anne-Marie (1984). Le Roman du quotidien : lecteurs et lectures populaires à la Belle-Époque (in French). Vol. Le Temps et la mémoire. Paris: Le Chemin vert. p. 270. ISBN 2-903533-11-3.
  • Reedited version: Thiesse, Anne-Marie (2000). Le Roman du quotidien : lecteurs et lectures populaires à la Belle-Époque (in French). Vol. Points. Paris: Seuil. p. 283. ISBN 2-02-040434-6.
  • Eco, Umberto (1976). Il Superuomo di massa [De Superman au Surhomme] (in Italian). Le Livre de Poche, 1983. ISBN 978-2-253-94209-2.

Notes and references edit

  1. ^ Angenot, Marc (April 1974). "Qu'est-ce que la paralittérature ?". Études littéraires (in French). 7: 9. doi:10.7202/500305ar.
  2. ^ Rosalind, Krauss (1980). "Poststructuralism and the "Paraliterary"". October. 13: 36–40. doi:10.2307/3397700. ISSN 0162-2870. JSTOR 3397700.
  3. ^ Artiaga, Loïc (2008). Le roman populaire. Des premiers feuilletons aux adaptations télévisuelles, 1836-1960 (in French). Autrement « Mémoires/Histoire ». pp. 35–36. ISBN 978-2-7467-1200-3.
  4. ^ Sainte-Beuve, Charles-Augustin (1839). "De la littérature industrielle". In Diaz, J. L; Prassoloff, A (eds.). Pour la critique. Paris: Gallimard, «Folio essais» (published 1992). p. 198.
  5. ^ Boyer, Alain-Michel (2008). Les Paralittératures (in French). Armand Colin.
  6. ^ Pelletan, Camille (1898-01-29). "Emile Richebourg". La Justice (in French). Paris (6597): 1. Archived from the original on December 23, 2019. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
  7. ^ SUMPF, Alexandre. "Jenny l'ouvrière héroïne de roman". histoire-image.org (in French). Archived from the original on February 12, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  8. ^ Neveu, Erik (1985). L'Idéologie dans le roman d'espionnage (in French). Paris: Presses de la Fondation nationale des sciences politiques.
  9. ^ "Marie Émery (1816-189.)". Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  10. ^ "Roger Des Fourniels (1851-1924)". Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  11. ^ "Benjamin Gastineau (1823-1904)". Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  12. ^ "Henri Kéroul (1854-1921)". Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  13. ^ "Alexandre de Lamothe (1823-1897)". Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  14. ^ "François Oswald (1839-1894)". Retrieved August 27, 2020.

See also edit

External links edit

  • Entry in a dictionary or general encyclopedia "Universalis".
  • "L'Association des Amis du Roman Populaire". Archived from the original on May 31, 2023.
  • "Un forum érudit consacré à la littérature populaire". Archived from the original on July 14, 2023.
  • "Un site sur les romans d'aventures" (Rich in information and illustrations). Archived from the original on April 4, 2021.
  • "Belphegor" (Academic journal devoted to the study of popular literature and media culture).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  • "Analyse de romans populaires et policiers. Dictionnaire de personnages". Archived from the original on November 27, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

popular, novel, france, popular, novel, popular, literature, also, known, paraliterature, refers, literary, productions, that, reach, wide, readership, which, developed, during, xixth, century, primarily, decrease, printing, costs, emergence, first, press, gro. The popular novel or popular literature also known as paraliterature refers to literary productions that reach a wide readership which developed during the XIXth century primarily due to the decrease in printing costs the emergence of the first press groups and literacy This genre is originally concurrent with the Industrial Revolution and a sociology of reading which practice could only democratize with the appearance of leisure time in a context of progressive urbanization These terms encompass works of great variety detective adventure historical regional romance novels etc The common denominator is to present a story in a simple chronological order with well identified characters archetypes and where the plot takes precedence over stylistic considerations Morality is sometimes imbued with good feelings common sense or even Manichaeism other times it is reversed with great naturalistic effects positioning readers facing notions of fair and unfair The works of Eugene Sue Alexandre Dumas and Georges Simenon among others rank among the greatest successes of the popular novel in terms of their posterity Not exclusively French the notion of this genre is found among Anglo Saxons in the British penny dreadful and the American dime novel expressions equivalent to that of two or four penny novel Long scorned by academia but prized as collectibles the popular novel constitutes a subculture an aspect of popular culture and the history of books Its study was initiated by pioneers such as Richard Hoggart founder of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies 1964 Michel Ragon Histoire de la litterature proletarienne en France 1974 as well as Roger Chartier Marc Angenot 1 and Rosalind Krauss 2 Nowadays it attracts a significant number of researchers and enthusiasts while its production experiences sustained growth Contents 1 History 1 1 Origins and myth 1 2 1880 1900 The first golden age 1 2 1 The peak of novels featuring victims 1 2 2 Emergence of popular publishers 1 2 3 Press and popular novel 1 3 1914 1940 a relative decline 1 4 From 1945 to the present day mixing genres 1 5 Legacy 1 5 1 The popular novel on screen 1 5 2 Publishing 2 Key dates in the popular novel 3 Genres 4 Author selection 5 Common expressions 6 Bibliography 7 Notes and references 8 See also 8 1 External linksHistory editOrigins and myth edit The popular novel follows the tradition of oral literature from which it borrowed themes and narrative techniques The first popular novelist or storyteller is undoubtedly Scheherazade who in The Thousand and One Nights to pique Shahryar s interest is required to resume the thread of her story daily consisting of a series of interconnected adventures From a more historiographical perspective the Bibliotheque bleue is a collection of small disparate booklets often illustrated with wood engravings whose dissemination was ensured in rural France from the early 17th century until the mid 19th century by peddlers other similar collections flourished at the same time across Europe One of the earliest inventors of the formula of the French popular novel seems to be the writer Francois Guillaume Ducray Duminil with works such as Les Veillees de ma grand mere 1799 or Tableau d une bonne famille 1804 although they remained expensive to purchase 3 Various occurrences of the expression popular novel appeared before 1836 the birth date of the feuilleton novel In September 1839 in the Revue des deux Mondes Sainte Beuve criticized what he then called industrial literature 4 The expression popular novelist is said to have first appeared in 1843 in the socialist press to praise Eugene Sue author of The Mysteries of Paris 1842 1843 The term refers to the author of literature intended for the people for the masses as his detractors would soon say Other authors who were unaware of being popular preceded Sue such as Paul de Kock Auguste Ricard or Marie Aycard Emerging from the July Monarchy this literary form also called feuilleton novel and then serial novel developed during the Second French Empire and especially the French Third Republic During 1835 1845 the price of a single volume novel decreased dropping from 3 to 1 franc thanks to Gervais Charpentier Michel Levy Freres among others The popular novel expression is regularly used only from the French Second Republic with the creation of the Romans illustres Illustrated Novels collection by Gustave Havard in 1848 and in 1849 with the creation of the Romans populaires illustres Illustrated Popular Novels collection by the publisher Gustave Emile Barba and his father However as early as 1841 1845 novels sold at 20 centimes each began to appear They were called four penny novels published by Joseph Bry or Hippolyte Boisgard With The Mysteries of Paris Sue created archetypes that would be extensively reused the persecuted innocence and the righter of wrongs This redeeming hero continued his career in historical novels with Alexandre Dumas Paul Feval and Viscount Alexis de Ponson du Terrail authors of some of the finest pages of swashbuckling novels Meanwhile adventure novels rapidly grew during the Second Empire with authors such as Gustave Aimard or Gabriel Ferry and later Louis Noir brother of Victor Noir 5 The object definitively democratizes in the 1860s 1880s with a significant decrease in production costs of the press and thus the unit selling price Popular novels were everywhere Some newspapers published up to three serials daily It was the era when novels of judicial error triumph dramas of families torn apart by a relentless fate Emotion was the order of the day One must make Margot cry or be loved by their concierge an expression taken from the title of a novel by Eugene Chavette The novel for Margot wa also for a time called the novel of the doorman The period also saw the emergence of detective fiction fantastical and scientific genre novels precursors to science fiction and soon espionage novels The wild fictions of the first popular novels were gradually giving way to a less epic social realism closer to melodrama 1880 1900 The first golden age edit The peak of novels featuring victims edit This was the advent of authors such as Xavier de Montepin whose The Bread Peddler saw numerous reprints or Jules Mary who wrote Deux Innocents Roger la Honte La Pocharde stories in which lost children orphans unwed mothers alcoholics and innocent convicts abound At the start in an obscure newspaper Mary earned eight francs a month But he progressed quickly his first novels delivered to Le Moniteur universel brought him a hundred times more At Le Petit Journal he was then paid 30000 gold francs annually He bought himself a mansion on Boulevard Malesherbes He was made an officer of the Legion of Honor in 1913 Finally he was paid three francs per line using an ecurie stable of ghostwriters who were royally paid thirty centimes a line Success This was also the case for Emile Richebourg who with Les Deux Berceaux and La Petite Mionne stages his favorite theme the abduction or exchange of children combined with adultery At the peak of his career he is said to have earned up to 1 5 million gold francs 6 Also noteworthy are Georges Ohnet author of The Ironmaster and Pierre Decourcelle with The Two Kids whose success was as impressive as short lived Under their influence there was a proliferation of novels featuring victims that depict heroes caught in a fatal spiral of ruthless circumstances Ideal scapegoats endured a long and painful sentence for crimes they did not commit awaiting their rehabilitation a plot that owes much to The Count of Monte Cristo A Dumas 1844 These victim novels tearful as they may be also reflected a painful social reality While sometimes posing as moralizers novelists also contributed to raising awareness of real social problems the gradual rehabilitation of the daughter mother owes much to Jules Mary or Emile Richebourg nbsp Jenny l ouvriere advertising poster for Jules Cardoze s novel 1890 1891 The selling price remained a determining factor before 1914 Launching new collections or series was the subject of promotional offers on the first volumes for example 15 or 35 centimes instead of the usual 65 Delivered weekly the illustrated booklets benefit from an exceptional print run for each first issue 500 000 copies and sometimes free distribution All publishers emphasized the pagination of their publications Tallandier the volume of 448 pages appearing on the 25th of each month 3 fr 50 and the number of lines each volume containing a complete work 30 000 lines of reading Fayard for example praised the launch of Chaste et fletrie in its collection Le Livre populaire The magisterial work of Charles Merouvel the great popular novelist comprises nearly 800 pages of compact text with 33 700 lines corresponding to 50 000 lines of newspaper with 1 518 000 letters It was given without missing a word for 65 centimes in the first volume of our series Le Livre populaire Such effort has never been made in bookselling both in terms of affordability and the significance of the work provided Emergence of popular publishers edit By the turn of the century enthusiasm was at its peak So specialized publishers emerged Jules Rouff one of the most prolific Artheme Fayard who launched Le Livre populaire in 1905 Jules Tallandier Le Livre national rouge in 1909 Joseph Ferenczi whose series Le Petit Livre created in 1912 were sold at 40 centimes each and did not stop until 1964 after more than 2 000 issues La Maison de la bonne presse inaugurates the Collection des romans populaires at 20 centimes in 1912 with authors such as Pierre l Ermite Rene d Anjou and Delly The era saw the affirmation of genre autonomy duly identified by publishers and the sentimental novel triumph Female literacy has gradually caught up with male literacy Publishers addressed an expanding audience with women gradually becoming the main targets The novel Jenny l ouvriere 1890 by Jules Cardoze offered an inside story the adventures of Jenny a worker like her readers through a glorified daily life 7 Press and popular novel edit Newspaper publishers have greatly benefited from the popular novel advent From the late 1830s until 1920 the original edition of a bookstore book was almost always preceded accompanied or followed by publication in episodes in national or regional newspapers For the press the period from 1860 to 1920 which saw the triumph of increasingly rapid machines like those of Marinoni represented a golden age now gone now press messengers founded by pioneers like Louis Hachette offer readers at newsstands cheap stapled and unbound booklets with illustrated covers which serve as derivatives Thus in 1914 four national newspapers had circulations of over one million copies competing for this market Le Matin Le Petit Parisien 1 450 000 copies Le Petit Journal a symbol and precursor of popular mass circulation press that appeared in 1863 and Le Journal These titles accompany their launches with extensive advertising campaigns These newspapers provided a great deal of space to sensational news a theme favored by popular novelists who often followed criminal cases as journalists such as Gaston Leroux a trained lawyer who spent his entire career at Le Matin first as a journalist and then as a senior reporter from 1894 to 1908 and finally as a feuilletonist until 1927 Gustave Le Rouge head of service at Le Petit Parisien was dismissed for inventing a sensational news story Jules Mary wrote Le Boucher de Meudon based on the memoirs of Pranzini the butcher murderer The union of the press and the popular novel was primarily an economic success In 1865 Le Petit Journal increased its circulation to 282 060 copies at the time of the insertion of La Resurrection de Rocambole In 1867 Le Dernier Mot de Rocambole forced the circulation of La Petite Presse to 100 000 copies on the first day alone Emile Richebourg accepted the publication of Les Deux Berceaux in La Petite Republique which saved Gambetta from ruin as his newspaper was dying due to lack of readers Pierre Decourcelle a millionaire writer was at that time a true best selling industrialist who accumulated successes for which he mobilized a significant number of ghostwriters akin to Dumas in his time but up to sixty individuals Not content with being published in serial form this astute novelist had his works published adapted them for the stage and then for cinema by creating his own film company in 1908 the Societe cinematographique des auteurs et gens de lettres 1914 1940 a relative decline edit However after 1920 French readers seemed saturated and paid less and less attention to serials soon surpassed by radio and film series Furthermore with the First World War the press had entered a war economy fueled by images the media landscape of the post war period had to adapt It was during this time that publishers of classic literature or bookstores also began producing popular novels while Hachette acquired stakes in many structures such as Fayard or Ferenczi through its distribution networks Gallimard started producing detective or mystery novels A major popular publisher of the time Pierre Lafitte eventually sold his highly profitable group to Hachette The consequences of the Great Depression only amplified this phenomenon From 1945 to the present day mixing genres edit After the war while a crisis hit paper suppliers amid stock shortages popular novels rose from their ashes in other forms with genre novels science fiction adventure detective espionage romance etc in a pocket format that continues to ensure its success The specificity of popular literature tended to fade New genres fluctuated between the status of popular literature and the recognition of a more literate audience Detective novels or science fiction thus demonstrated great vitality winning over a much more diverse audience than the one targeted by publishers like Rouff or Tallandier The Serie Noire collection quickly earned its stripes The San Antonio series defied classification altogether while novels by Albert Simonin Touchez pas au grisbi 1953 Le cave se rebiffe 1954 Grisbi or not grisbi 1955 were as much exercises in cant style as they were detective plots The war or espionage novel was mainly exemplified by the immense success of Gerard de Villiers series SAS with an ideology marked by racism and misogyny 8 The Canadian publisher Harlequin established itself as a global leader offering successful American texts translated into French as well as other languages Comics gradually moved away from the children s section where they were long confined especially from the 1970s onwards to capture a wider audience with constantly renewed forms stories layouts themes Children s literature experienced strong growth In addition to reissues of 19th century authors Paul d Ivoi Jules Verne etc new successful texts emerged such as The Famous Five by Enid Blyton or Fantomette a feminine tribute to Fantomas by Georges Chaulet Legacy edit While Balzac or Stendhal are now globally recognized authors a large part of the successful authors of the XIXe century were so to speak forgotten The works of Richebourg or Ohnet so famous in their time were hardly read except by academic researchers Except for a few authors few authors reprints were rare However some popular novels continued to be the subject of numerous adaptations in cinema and television where they could boast of renewed success The popular novel on screen edit If we limit ourselves to the field of French language literature we note that Arsene Lupin was adapted several times for cinema by Jacques Becker notably before becoming a television series in Quebec Arsene Lupin 1960 and then being portrayed by Georges Descrieres in a new television series 1971 1974 The same applies to the series Cheri Bibi 1974 based on Gaston Leroux s work and the multiple adaptations of The Mysteries of Paris by Eugene Sue Several films by Andre Hunebelle are dedicated to Fantomas portrayed by Jean Marais opposite Louis de Funes as Juve The adaptations of The Three Musketeers are too numerous to count perpetuating the popularity of the swashbuckling novel on screen as are the films or series based on Paul Feval s The Hunchback Lagardere TV series by Jean Pierre Decourt 1967 and to a lesser extent Michel Zevaco s Pardaillan Publishing edit As early as the 1910s authors such as Paul Feval Maurice Leblanc Gaston Leroux Alexandre Dumas Jules Mary etc were reissued in pocket sized book format sold for between 20 and 30 cents each Alexandre Dumas was the first popular novelist to receive the honor of a critical edition in the Bibliotheque de la Pleiade 1962 Georges Simenon joined him there in 2003 With the Bouquins collection Francis Lacassin gradually reissued numerous popular novels accompanied by very detailed notes The success of a movie or TV series often prompts a reissue Key dates in the popular novel edit1843 The Mysteries of Paris becomes a social phenomenon The Journal des debats which publishes the serial exclusively is in high demand and riots break out at the doors of reading rooms that rent the journal to modest budgets In the Chamber of Deputies indignant debates denounce the decadence and the amoral nature of Eugene Sue s work while he receives thousands of letters testifying to a certain confusion between fiction and reality Some readers even send money for Fleur de Marie while others seek help or protection from Rodolphe the all powerful benefactor of the poor Eugene Sue quickly finds himself at the head of a colossal fortune Le Constitutionnel buys the right to publish The Wandering Jew for the trifling sum of 100 000 francs 1857 Paul Feval publishes The Hunchback in Le Siecle 1883 Publication of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson 1884 Publication of The Bread Peddler by Xavier de Montepin 1895 Publication at Rouff of the epic novel by Adolphe d Ennery 1811 1899 and Eugene Cormon 1811 1903 The Two Orphans of which D W Griffith signs the first adaptation to the screen in 1921 with Lillian Gish 1896 Publication of L Invasion noire by Commander Emile Driant alias Captain Danrit This 1200 page novel was a big success and would be quickly followed in 1905 by L Invasion jaune which enjoyed the same success 1911 First appearance of Fantomas which was an immediate success The first volume released on February 15 1911 is printed in hundreds of thousands of copies A further 31 monthly volumes followed Genres editAdventure novel is subdivided into several sub genres historical novels Alexandre Dumas Paul Feval Michel Zevaco etc anticipation novels and Westerns Many adventure novels depict journeys around the world following the path laid out by Jules Verne such as Paul d Ivoi or Jean de La Hire As the adventure novel is illustrated in the conquest of virgin territories it sometimes echoes European colonization policies as exemplified by Louis Henri Boussenard or Captain Danrit Several authors like Gabriel Ferry or Gustave Aimard followed the path laid out by James Fenimore Cooper to write adventure novels of the Western type primarily set in the United States The detective novel originates from both adventure novels and novels of manners It initially revolves around the rehabilitation of victims of judicial errors and gradually shifts towards solving police mysteries It is first illustrated by Emile Gaboriau and then by others less known today than their characters Maurice Leblanc is overshadowed by the famous Arsene Lupin Gaston Leroux is the father of Joseph Rouletabille and Cheri Bibi while the names of Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain are completely ignored to the great benefit of Fantomas Anticipation and science fiction are related to the terrifying strange and pseudo scientific novels that anticipate the future illustrated science fiction novel immortalized by Jules Verne This genre is sometimes called scientific romance In 1892 Jules Lermina s Le Secret des Zippelius was published and serialized since 1889 In 1891 H G Wells caused a sensation with The Time Machine Then came Gustave Le Rouge Le Prisonnier de la planete Mars Jean de La Hire La Roue fulgurante or Alfred Assollant The fantasy novel is illustrated by Maurice Renard author of the fascinating Les Mains d Orlac From Revenge to Espionage The roman revanchard soon to be the war novel gains a certain autonomy in the form of espionage novels directly imported from across the Channel L Homme du gaz by Paul Feval is one of these pioneering works fitting into a historical perspective Spies infest even the sentimental novel As an avatar of this martial vein the comedic soldier has his moment of glory World War I will intertwine all these themes The sentimental novel has multiple origins melodrama judicial error novels social realism etc From 1920 onwards it entered its psychological era first illustrated by Delly and Max du Veuzit then by Guy des Cars After the war Barbara Cartland appeared This is followed by the genre industrialization with publishers of global dimensions such as Harlequin world leader Author selection editList of authors of popular novels period 1836 1918 featured in Michel Nathan s anthology Jules Beaujoint 1830 1892 Adolphe Belot 1829 1890 Paul Bertnay 1846 1928 Jules Boulabert 1830 1887 Alexis Bouvier 1836 1892 Paul Bru 1858 1929 Paul d Ivoi 1856 1915 Emile Driant 1855 1916 Jules Verne 1828 1905 Jean Bruno 1821 1899 Jean Vaucheret Eugene Chavette 1827 1902 Adolphe d Ennery 1811 1899 Pierre Decourcelle 1856 1926 Jean Louis Dubut de Laforest 1853 1902 Marie Emery 1816 1889 9 Paul Feval 1817 1887 Zenaide Fleuriot 1829 1890 Hector France 1840 1908 Roger Des Fourniels 1851 1924 10 Marie Louise Gagneur 1832 1902 Benjamin Gastineau 1823 1904 11 Etienne Gervais Just Jean Etienne Roy Jean Grange 1827 1892 Henri Keroul 1857 1921 12 Paul de Kock 1793 1871 Pierre Alexandre Bessot de Lamothe Alexandre de Lamothe 1824 1897 13 Maurice Landay 1873 1931 Gaston Leroux 1868 1927 Daniel Lesueur pseudonyme de Jeanne Loiseau 1854 1921 Andre de Lorde 1869 1942 Jules Mary 1851 1922 Arthur Matthey pseudonyme d Arthur Arnould 1833 1895 Charles Merouvel 1832 1920 Louise Michel 1833 1905 Victorine Monniot 1825 1880 Xavier de Montepin 1829 1902 Eugene Morel 1869 1934 Michel Morphy 1863 1928 Raoul de Navery 1834 1885 Georges Ohnet 1848 1918 Stephanie Ory alias Jean Just Roy Francois Oswald 1894 14 Pierre Alexis de Ponson du Terrail 1829 1871 Rene de Pont Jest 1830 1904 Felix Pyat 1810 1889 Emile Richebourg 1833 1898 Jean Just Roy 1794 1871 Pierre de Sales 1854 1914 Alfred Sirven 1830 1904 Frederic Soulie 1800 1847 Eugene Sue 1804 1857 Leo Taxil 1854 1907 alias Gabriel Antoine Jogand Pages Louis Adolphe Turpin de Sansay 1832 1891 Paul Verdun 1861 1936 alias Gustave Marchand Charles De Vitis 1848 Pierre Zaccone 1817 1895 Michel Zevaco 1860 1918 nbsp Shelves at the Bibliotheque europeenne du roman populaire in Laxou Common expressions editFrench borrows many everyday terms from popular literature such as Rocambole the hero created by Ponson du Terrail gave his surname to the adjective rocambolesque When Amedee Achard wrote La Cape et l epee in 1875 he generalized an expression coined by Ponson du Terrail giving the generic name to a genre whose plot mainly takes place between the XV and XVIII centuries We sometimes get annoyed when we come across a Zigomar without suspecting that he is a character by Leon Sazie Bibliography editArtiaga Loic dir 2008 Le roman populaire des premiers feuilletons aux adaptations televisuelles 1836 1960 Autrement in French Paris Memoires culture 143 186 ISBN 978 2 7467 1200 3 Angenot Marc 1975 Le roman populaire recherches en paralitterature Presses de l Universite du Quebec in French Montreal Genres et discours 1 X 145 ISBN 0 7770 0119 5 Moritz Bassler 2002 Der deutsche Pop Roman Die neuen Archivisten Le pop roman allemand La nouvelle archiviste C H Beck in German Munich ISBN 3406476147 Brochon Pierre 1961 La litterature populaire et son public Communications in French 1 1 70 80 doi 10 3406 comm 1961 918 Collectif Romantisme Litterature populaire 53 1986 Compere Daniel dir 2007 Dictionnaire du roman populaire francophone in French Paris Nouveau Monde p 490 ISBN 978 2 84736 269 5 Compere Daniel 2012 Les romans populaires in French Vol Les Fondamentaux de la Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle p 139 ISBN 978 2 87854 561 6 Couegnas Daniel 1992 Introduction a la paralitterature Paris Seuil p 200 ISBN 2 02 013555 8 Frigerio Vittorio 2002 Les fils de Monte Cristo ideologie du heros de roman populaire Limoges Presses universitaires de Limoges PULIM coll Mediatextes p 358 ISBN 2 84287 250 9 Frigerio Vittorio 2008 Bons Belles et mechants sans oublier les autres le roman populaire et ses heros In Artiaga ed Le roman populaire des premiers feuilletons aux adaptations televisuelles 1836 1960 in French Vol Memoires culture Loic ed Paris Autrement pp 97 116 ISBN 978 2 7467 1200 3 Lacassin Francis 1991 A la recherche de l empire cache mythologie du roman populaire Julliard Paris 366 ISBN 2 260 00688 4 Migozzi Jacques 2005 Litterature s populaire s un objet proteiforme Hermes in French 42 Peuple populaire et populisme 93 100 doi 10 4267 2042 8988 Archived from the original on May 25 2023 Liesebrinck Hans Jurgen Lux York Gothart Mollier Jean Yves Sorel Patrick dir 2003 Les lectures du peuple en Europe et dans les Ameriques XVIIe XXe siecle Complexe Brussels Olivier Martin Yves 1979 Histoire du roman populaire en France de 1840 a 1980 Paris Albin Michel p 301 ISBN 2 226 00869 1 Nathan Michel 1985 Anthologie du roman populaire 1836 1918 Paris UGE 10 18 ISBN 2 264 00677 3 Proust Jean Marc 1997 Racisme et nationalisme dans le roman populaire francais sous la IIIe Republique 1870 1940 Thesis Queffelec Lise 1989 Le Roman feuilleton francais au XIXe siecle PUF in French Paris coll Que sais je 2466 Ragon Michel 1986 Histoire de la litterature proletarienne de langue francaise litterature ouvriere litterature paysanne litterature d expression populaire in French 1st ed Paris Librairie generale francaise ISBN 2 253 11506 1 Thiesse Anne Marie 1984 Le Roman du quotidien lecteurs et lectures populaires a la Belle Epoque in French Vol Le Temps et la memoire Paris Le Chemin vert p 270 ISBN 2 903533 11 3 Reedited version Thiesse Anne Marie 2000 Le Roman du quotidien lecteurs et lectures populaires a la Belle Epoque in French Vol Points Paris Seuil p 283 ISBN 2 02 040434 6 Eco Umberto 1976 Il Superuomo di massa De Superman au Surhomme in Italian Le Livre de Poche 1983 ISBN 978 2 253 94209 2 Notes and references edit Angenot Marc April 1974 Qu est ce que la paralitterature Etudes litteraires in French 7 9 doi 10 7202 500305ar Rosalind Krauss 1980 Poststructuralism and the Paraliterary October 13 36 40 doi 10 2307 3397700 ISSN 0162 2870 JSTOR 3397700 Artiaga Loic 2008 Le roman populaire Des premiers feuilletons aux adaptations televisuelles 1836 1960 in French Autrement Memoires Histoire pp 35 36 ISBN 978 2 7467 1200 3 Sainte Beuve Charles Augustin 1839 De la litterature industrielle In Diaz J L Prassoloff A eds Pour la critique Paris Gallimard Folio essais published 1992 p 198 Boyer Alain Michel 2008 Les Paralitteratures in French Armand Colin Pelletan Camille 1898 01 29 Emile Richebourg La Justice in French Paris 6597 1 Archived from the original on December 23 2019 Retrieved October 5 2019 SUMPF Alexandre Jenny l ouvriere heroine de roman histoire image org in French Archived from the original on February 12 2018 Retrieved January 2 2018 Neveu Erik 1985 L Ideologie dans le roman d espionnage in French Paris Presses de la Fondation nationale des sciences politiques Marie Emery 1816 189 Retrieved August 27 2020 Roger Des Fourniels 1851 1924 Retrieved August 27 2020 Benjamin Gastineau 1823 1904 Retrieved August 27 2020 Henri Keroul 1854 1921 Retrieved August 27 2020 Alexandre de Lamothe 1823 1897 Retrieved August 27 2020 Francois Oswald 1839 1894 Retrieved August 27 2020 See also editExternal links edit Entry in a dictionary or general encyclopedia Universalis L Association des Amis du Roman Populaire Archived from the original on May 31 2023 Un forum erudit consacre a la litterature populaire Archived from the original on July 14 2023 Un site sur les romans d aventures Rich in information and illustrations Archived from the original on April 4 2021 Belphegor Academic journal devoted to the study of popular literature and media culture a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Analyse de romans populaires et policiers Dictionnaire de personnages Archived from the original on November 27 2015 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link nbsp Literature portal Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Popular novel in France amp oldid 1210774579, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.