Feuilleton is a work that combines fiction, journalism and satire. From small notes in newspapers, they grew into a separate genre. How did this happen? What features characterize feuilleton? We’ll talk about this.
The emergence of the concept
The concept of “feuilleton” originated in France in the 19th century and related to journalism. From the French language it is translated as a “leaf”, because it is from a leaf that the history of this term began. In 1800, a newspaper called the Journal des Débats began supplementing the standard issues with small inserts, which were later called feuilleton.
The main topic of the newspaper was politics. It opened at the beginning of the French Revolution and published state reports, decisions, orders, deputies' statements and other news in this vein. Extra liners, on the other hand, were clean of politics. They were written in a lively style and had an informal connotation.
Newspaper feuilleton was a way to entertain the audience, and at the same time to draw its attention to the publication. On the inserts posted ads, puzzles, poems, book reviews and theater plays, charades, puzzles and puzzles.
Genre development
Despite the fact that the term “feuilleton” arose after the French Revolution, it is believed that the genre itself originated a century earlier. Its founders are Denis Didro and Voltaire - authors of satirical works criticizing religion and politics.
The feuilleton in the French newspapers quickly turned to a similar tone. Appearing as charades and reviews, they quickly developed into a separate literary and journalistic genre, similar in spirit to Voltaire and Didro.
At first, fragments of literary works, for example, The Three Musketeers by A. Dumas, began to appear in newspaper inserts. From here comes a new genre - feuilleton novel. He belonged to fiction and focused on the general reader, without any particular aesthetics and artistry.
At the same time, European poets and publicists contribute to the formation of political feuilleton. It is characterized by vivid irony and even satire on the topic of politics and social problems. The genre was strengthened thanks to Victor Rochefort-Luce, Heinrich Heine, Georg Werth, Ludwig Burne, etc.
Feuilleton - what is it? Features of the genre
Now it refers to small works and can be represented by a short story, essay, poem or story. Feuilleton is a genre on the border between literature and journalism. With a work of art it combines a form of presentation and techniques, while the severity of the content refers to journalism.
Such a work is characterized by specificity in images and facts, criticism, and irony. The main topics are the pressing problems of society and politics. Feuilletons are works that expose human vices, such as pettiness, greed, or, for example, stupidity.
Feuilleton is sometimes associated with a comic genre. However, he does not set the task to cause laughter. Its main purpose is to show a specific phenomenon through ridicule, banter on it and, perhaps, make the reader think.
Feuilleton in Russia
Over time, feuilletons also appeared in Russia - these were low-level works. At the very beginning, they were perceived with negativity, compared with the yellow press and low-quality cheap publications. By the 20s of the XIX century, the attitude towards them began to change. So, the feuilleton of Baron Brambeus appeared with critical remarks about mediocre and vulgar literature.
Sharp notes distinguished Alexander Pushkin, Dobrolyubov, Bestuzhev, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Panaev, Nekrasov. The genre was gradually gaining popularity. Feuilleton were placed in the magazine "Crocodile", "Spark", "Alarm Clock". They acquired a special ideology and acuteness during the revolution.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Doroshevich and Yablonovsky worked with this genre. Boris Egorov and Semyon Narignani even issued separate book editions. In The New Satyricon, Mayakovsky published his feuilleton hymns (“The Anthem to the Bribe,” “The Anthem to the Scientist, etc.).