Jules Huret (; 8 April 1863,

Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the C ...

, Pas-de-Calais – 14 February 1915,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

) was a French journalist, best known for his interviews with writers.

Life

Born to a family of fishermen, he started work aged 15 at the secretariat of the mayor's office at Boulogne, to support his widowed mother. In 1881 he founded a small literary review and four years later came to Paris, finding work there as an editor of scholarly books on the

Rive Gauche The Rive Gauche (, ''Left Bank'') is the southern bank of the river Seine in Paris. Here the river flows roughly westward, cutting the city in two parts. When facing downstream, the southern bank is to the left, and the northern bank (or ''Rive D ...

. Entering in 1886 '' L'Événement'' of Edmond Magnier, he remained in its employ for 6 months, then worked for several other daily newspapers. In 1890, Valentin Simond took him on as a regular collaborator on ''

L'Écho de Paris ''L'Écho de Paris'' was a daily newspaper in Paris from 1884 to 1944. The paper's editorial stance was initially conservative and nationalistic, but it later became close to the French Social Party. Its writers included Octave Mirbeau, Henri d ...

''. In March 1891, he began his famous "Enquête sur l'évolution littéraire" (Enquiry on literary evolution), in the course of which he interviewed 64 writers, including Émile Zola and his five collaborators on '' Soirées de Médan'',

Octave Mirbeau Octave Mirbeau (16 February 1848 – 16 February 1917) was a French novelist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, journalist and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, whilst still appealing to the ...

and Maurice Barrès, about the state of French literature and their perspectives on it, and on the battle of the " Psychologists against the Naturalists" and the " Symbolists against the Parnassians". The basic proposal of these interviews, which the interviewees had to accept, was that the

Darwinian Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that ...

principal of

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

could be applied to literature, which was also in certain ways a battlefield in which the fittest survived. Making a speciality of interviews and practising it to perfection, he reported the spirit of his notable contemporaries with as much tact as efficiency. He moved in 1892 to ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...

'', where the same year he began an "Enquête sur la question sociale en Europe" (Enquiry into the social question of Europe), which took him to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Zurich,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. In 1895, under the direction of Antonin Périvier and Fernand de Rodays, Huret saw himself entrusted with ''Petite chronique des lettres du quotidien'' (A short report on the letters of the day), then – from 1896 to 1899 – a report on the state of the theatre. From 1902, he made great voyages to foreign lands, sending back several reports. He published enquiries on the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

in ''Le Figaro'', which his friend Octave Mirbeau proposed for the

prix Goncourt The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

, along with ones on Germany and Argentina and on France's universities, politics, poor, and critics' rights.

Works

*''Enquête sur l'évolution littéraire. Conversations avec MM. Renan,

de Goncourt The Goncourt brothers (, , ) were Edmond de Goncourt (1822–1896) and Jules de Goncourt (1830–1870), both French naturalism writers who, as collaborative sibling authors, were inseparable in life. Background Edmond and Jules were born to m ...

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

Guy de Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...

, Huysmans,

Anatole France (; born , ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie França ...

, Maurice Barrès, etc.'' (1891
Online text
*''La Catastrophe du

Bazar de la Charité The ''Bazar de la Charité'' was an annual charity event orchestrated by the French Catholic aristocracy in Paris beginning in 1885, when it was first organised by Englishman Henry Blount, the son of banker Sir Edward Blount, a financier of ra ...

(4 mai 1897). Historique du Bazar de la charité, la catastrophe. Documents recueillis et mis en ordre par Jules Huret'' (1897
Online text
*''Enquête sur la question sociale en Europe'' (1897
Online text
*''Sarah Bernhardt'' (1899) *''Loges et coulisses'' (1901
Online text
*''Tout yeux, tout oreilles'' (1901
Online text
*''Les Grèves. Enquête au Creusot, à Lille, Roubaix, Anzin, Lens, Marseille, Carmaux, Lyon, Saint-Étienne, Saint-Chamond'' (1902) *''En Amérique. De New-York à la Nouvelle-Orléans'' (1904
Online text
*''En Amérique. De San Francisco au Canada'' (1905) *''En Allemagne. Rhin et Westphalie : prospérité, les villes, les ports, usiniers et philanthropes, les grands syndicats patronaux'' (1907
Online text
*''En Argentine'' (2 volumes, 1911–1913
Online text
*''En Allemagne.

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

'' (1913) *''

Rothschild Rothschild () is a name derived from the German ''zum rothen Schild'' (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "with the red sign", in reference to the houses where these family members lived or had lived. At the time, houses were designated by sign ...

et la question sociale'' (1920
Online text
*''Correspondance

-Jules Huret'' (2009)

References

External links

Notice on his ''Enquête sur l'évolution littéraire''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huret, Jules 1863 births 1915 deaths People from Boulogne-sur-Mer French journalists French male non-fiction writers