A ''feuilleton'' (; a

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...

of french: feuillet, the leaf of a book) was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of

French newspapers Below is a list of newspapers in France. National Daily ; Online newspapers * ''Mediapart'' (internet only, investigative journalism) * ''La Tribune'' (switched to internet only since 2012, economics) * ''Slate'' * ''Atlantico'' * ''Cont ...

, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criticism, a chronicle of the latest fashions, and

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

s, charades and other literary trifles. The term ''feuilleton'' was invented by the editors of the French '' Journal des débats'';

Julien Louis Geoffroy Julien Louis Geoffroy (17 August 1743 – 27 February 1814) was a French literary critic. He was born at Rennes, and educated there and at the Collège Louis le Grand in Paris. He took orders and for some time was a mere usher, eventually becom ...

and

Bertin the Elder Bertin ( la, Bertinus; 615 – ''c''. 709 AD), also known as Saint Bertin the Great, was the Frankish abbot of a monastery in Saint-Omer later named the Abbey of Saint Bertin after him. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic and Orthodox C ...

, in 1800. The ''feuilleton'' has been described as a "talk of the town", and a contemporary English-language example of the form is the "Talk of the Town" section of '' The New Yorker''. In English newspapers, the term instead came to refer to an installment of a serial story printed in one part of a newspaper.

History

The ''feuilleton'' was the literary consequence of the Coup of 18 Brumaire (Dix-huit-Brumaire). A consular edict of January 17, 1800, made a clean sweep of the revolutionary press, and cut down the number of Paris newspapers to 13. Under the Consulate, and later on, the Empire, '' Le Moniteur Universel'', which served as a propaganda mouthpiece for

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

, basically controlled what the other twelve Parisian publications could run.

found that what might not be written in an editorial column might appear with perfect impunity on a lower level on the ''rez-de-chaussée'', the "ground floor" of a journal. Geoffroy started the first ''feuilleton'' in the ''Journal des Débats''. The idea caught on at once. The ''feuilleton'', which dealt ostensibly with literature, the drama and other harmless topics, but which, nevertheless, could make political capital out of the failure of a book or a play, became quite powerful under the Napoleonic nose. The original ''feuilletons'' were not usually printed on a separate sheet, but merely separated from the political part of the newspaper by a line, and printed in smaller type. Geoffroy's own ''feuilleton'' dealt with the theatre as he was a trenchant drama critic. By the time of his death in 1814, several other feuilletonists had made their mark, with Janin taking over from him. ''Feuilletonists'' featured in other papers included Théophile Gautier, Paul de St. Victor,

Edmond de Biéville Edmond de Biéville, full name Charles-Henri-Étienne-Edmond Desnoyers de Biéville, (30 May 1814 – 1 January 1880 ) was a French journalist and playwright. The poet Fernand Desnoyers (1826-1869) was his brother. A student at the École sp ...

, Louis Ulbach and Francisque Sarcey, who occupied the "ground floor" of the ''Temps''. Adolphe Adam,

Hector Berlioz In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

, and Coutil-Blaze wrote music-laden ''feuilletons''. Babinet, Louis Figuier and Meunier focused on science. Bibliographical ''feuilletons'' were done by Armand de Pontmartin, Gustave Planche, and

Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (; 23 December 1804 – 13 October 1869) was a French literary critic. Early life He was born in Boulogne, educated there, and studied medicine at the Collège Charlemagne in Paris (1824–27). In 1828, he se ...

. However, the ''feuilleton'' would become a phenomenon only with the appearance of serialised novels. For instance,

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...

' ''

The Count of Monte Cristo ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers''. Li ...

'', '' The Three Musketeers'' and '' Vingt Ans Apres'' all filled the "ground floors" of the ''Siècle''. Eugène Sue's '' Mystères de Paris'' ran in the ''Débate'', and his ''Juif Errant'' ('' The Wandering Jew'') appeared in the ''Constitutionnel''. In '' The World of Yesterday'',

Stefan Zweig Stefan Zweig (; ; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist, and biographer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular write ...

wrote of how the '' Neue Freie Presse''s ''feuilleton'', "in the lower half of the front page, separated sharply from the

ephemera Ephemera are transitory creations which are not meant to be retained or preserved. Its etymological origins extends to Ancient Greece, with the common definition of the word being: "the minor transient documents of everyday life". Ambiguous in ...

of politics and the day by an unbroken line that extended from margin to margin", had become the leading arbiter of literary culture in '' fin de siècle'' Vienna, such that a ''feuilleton'' writer's "yes or no... decided the success of a work, a play, or a book, and with it that of the author".Zweig, Stefan, ''The World of Yesterday'', p.85 (1953)
The ''feuilleton'' was a common genre in Russia, especially during the Government reforms of Alexander II of Russia.

Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

wrote ''feuilletons''. The ''feuilletonistic'' tendency of his work has been explored by Zhernokleyev. By 1870 Dostoevsky parodied the feuilleton for its celebration of ephemeral culture.

Reference in Hesse novel

In the novel '' The Glass Bead Game'' (1943) by Nobel Prize-winning novelist Hermann Hesse, the current era is characterised and described as "The Age of the Feuilleton".

References

{{Authority control Newspapers

History

Reference in Hesse novel

See also

References