- Atkinson, Juliette. (2013) "The London library and the circulation of French fiction in the 1840s." Information & Culture, 48 (4), 391-418.
- A "Dig Deeper" article from Modern Libraries
- Accessible online at http://bit.ly/2nEKz4q
Nineteenth century France is fascinating with all its turmoil, I think we can all agree. Its history and its literature particularly interests me. Alexandre Dumas is one of my favorite authors, and of course there is Victor Hugo and Jules Verne. (Should I even mention the Marquis de Sade...?) Yet I thought England and France weren't exactly friends during this time, so I wouldn't have imagined there would be much exchange of written works between the two countries. Indeed, the first sentence Atkinson hits us with is "The Victorians, it is often declared, did not read French novels."
At first, the article does seem like it will be about a conflict between stereotypical-prudish Victorian English readers and stereotypical-sexual and -violent French authors with "diseased imaginations." But Atkinson digs into Victorian society, pulling examples from sources such as library records, bookshop receipts, and letters, to get a real picture of their reading habits...and it turns out French novels were quite the hit! One of the first things to strike me was that the 'opposition' wasn't towards French literature specifically...it was towards all fiction. Libraries wanted to bring people into their buildings, which novels would certainly do, but librarians and scholars worried that novels would drag down readers' intelligence and morals. One subscription library, Mudie's, even warned its patrons "“might do well to deny themselves occasionally the pleasure of using this institution as a means of enjoying cheaply the perusal of books which speedily sink into oblivion.”
Yet novels were popular regardless. As a result, subtle and non-official encouragements towards French literature began to happen. The English novels would be all checked out, so a desperate reader takes home the French. English titles would be completed in one volume, so a voracious reader might choose the eight-volume Dumas title instead--and s/he would be allowed to take all eight at once because it was considered altogether. "New" titles (as in those written in the last two years) could only be checked out for seven days. As the imported French titles were often older than that, they could loan for longer. All these little things stacked up to give French literature an advantage in the Victorian libraries, an advantage many of the upper-class learned didn't want at all to give it in the first place! Yet it created a market for the novels and with that now-international popularity, surely helped Dumas, Balzac and their contemporaries achieve 'classic' status today.
Yet novels were popular regardless. As a result, subtle and non-official encouragements towards French literature began to happen. The English novels would be all checked out, so a desperate reader takes home the French. English titles would be completed in one volume, so a voracious reader might choose the eight-volume Dumas title instead--and s/he would be allowed to take all eight at once because it was considered altogether. "New" titles (as in those written in the last two years) could only be checked out for seven days. As the imported French titles were often older than that, they could loan for longer. All these little things stacked up to give French literature an advantage in the Victorian libraries, an advantage many of the upper-class learned didn't want at all to give it in the first place! Yet it created a market for the novels and with that now-international popularity, surely helped Dumas, Balzac and their contemporaries achieve 'classic' status today.
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