Suchergebnisse

Résumé

Literary Misfortunes.
The development of reading in popular milieux was accompanied by the emergence of a very low-value position in the literary field. Contrary to the common belief that the career of popular novelist results from an initial, deliberate choice inspired by sheer appetite for mercenary gain, analysis shows that relegation to this illegitimate, but still hierarchically structured, sector of cultural production is the outcome and the mark of previous failure. By observing the social characteristics and the trajectories of popular novelists, one is able to identify a contrario the objective laws of success in the literary field : the writers initially best endowed with economie and/or social capital are those most capable of avoiding identification of their perso n with this low-value form of production and of producing the «quality-popular» literature which has the least popular readership.

Au début du xxe siècle, la population française est très largement alphabétisée : certes, les lois scolaires élaborées à l'aube de la Troisième République n'ont encore touché que les jeunes générations, mais le processus d'alphabétisation était engagé depuis longtemps déjà, avec ou sans le concours de l'école. Le nouveau dispositif légal a en fait parachevé et consacré une évolution, en faisant de l'inaptitude à utiliser l'écrit non plus seulement un trait d'arriération mais même une anomalie sociale. D'autre part, le progrès dans les techniques d'impression a permis un abaissement sensible des coûts. Est-ce à dire que le déclin d'une culture populaire dont les productions étaient essentiellement orales a eu pour pendant une accession massive à la lecture?

International audience ; In this study on Les Mystères de Paris by Eugène Sue, we attempt to determine the reciprocal effect of the social image produced by one work of litterature on the overall literary output of its author. A serialised novel written on a day-to-day basis and published over more than a year, Les Mystères de Paris bear the stamp of its readership. The many letters received by the writer as his serial was brought out were, in a manner of speaking, integrated into the very fabric of the novel by the author, through the comments and factual hints these letters contained. The fact that Sue took into account this feedback from his readers brought about a shift in the writer's political stance ; a Legitimist* Dandy turned «socialist intellectual» through having accepted the role of spokesman. assigned him by the petty and middle bourgeoisie. Along with this came changes in the work itself which, starting off as a picturesque novel exploring the seedier side of Parisian life, changes into a programmatical catalogueexpounding social reforms. So here we have an invaluable document relating to the philanthropical vision of society in the nineteenth century, and one which illustrates the shift from a notion of 'OldRegime'** -style social assistance to a more modem one and «scientific» one ; Dans cette étude sur Les Mystères de Paris d'Eugène Sue, on s'efforce de mesurer l'effet produit par l'image sociale d'une oeuvre sur l'oeuvre elle-même et son auteur. Roman-feuilleton écrit au jour le jour et publié durant plus d'un an, Les Mystères de Paris portent l'empreinte de ceux qui l'ont lu : les nombreuses lettres reçues par l'écrivain, au fur et à mesure de la parution, ont été en quelque sorte intégrées au roman par l'auteur, à travers les jugements et les informations qu'elles contenaient. La prise en compte par Sue de l'image que lui renvoyait le public a entraîné une évolution de l'écrivain, dandy légitimiste mué en «intellectuel socialiste» pour avoir accepté le rôle de porte-parole que lui assignaient ...

The social upbringing of a novelist : the case of Eugene Sue.
In this study on Les Mystères de Paris by Eugène Sue, we attempt to determine the reciprocal effect of the social image produced by one work of litterature on the overall literary output of its author. A serialised novel written on a day-to-day basis and published over more than a year, Les Mystères de Paris bear the stamp of its readership. The many letters received by the writer as his serial was brought out were, in a manner of speaking, integrated into the very fabric of the novel by the author, through the comments and factual hints these letters contained. The fact that Sue took into account this feedback from his readers brought about a shift in the writer's political stance ; a Legitimist* Dandy turned «socialist intellectual» through having accepted the role of spokesman. assigned him by the petty and middle bourgeoisie. Along with this came changes in the work itself which, starting off as a picturesque novel exploring the seedier side of Parisian life, changes into a programmatical catalogue expounding social reforms. So here we have an invaluable document relating to the philanthropical vision of society in the nineteenth century, and one which illustrates the shift from a notion of 'Old Regime'** -style social assistance to a more modem one and «scientific» one.

* Legitimiste : one who adhered politically to the elder branch of the Bourbon family.
** A translation of the French l'Ancien Regime, the system of government prevailing in France prior to 1789.