French Romanticism and the Genesis of Popular Literature

Abstract

The article analyzes the transformation ofcreativity in romanticism of the late 1820 s - 1830 s ideas, the interaction of romantics with newspapers and magazines in the second half of the 1830 s - 1840 s. and the appearance of the feuilleton novel as a genre of popular fiction. The success of F. Soulier, E. Sue, A. Dumas, and other authors works, published in periodicals, contributed to the emergence of ethical and aesthetic disputes about the feuilleton novelas a genre. Following Ch. Sainte-Beuve, who spoke out against "industrial literature", French intellectual elite attacked feuilleton novels, claiming the authors for damaging artistic taste and immorality. Meanwhile, the fields of "high" and "folk" romanticism constantly intersected, and in the course of dispute about feuilleton novels, the poetics of elite prose not only influenced popular fiction, but also voluntarily or involuntarily used its experience. In the process of this repulsion / attraction, the main types of popular literature were born, namely: detective story, love story, fantastic prose, etc.