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Durham E-Theses The inuence of industrialism on French imaginative literature, prose, 1830-70 Harley, William How to cite: Harley, William (1952) The inuence of industrialism on French imaginative literature, prose, 1830-70, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/8441/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk ABSTRACT OF THESIS. The state of-'knowledge- concerning the reflection! of the Industrial Revolution ini French prose is at "beet imperfeat,,for the subject is one that has not hitherto "been investigated.Yet the effect^ produced by this< revolution! on the writers; between 1830 and 1870 was not only not negligible,but, im many oases?, left a deep mark on them. After outlining the industrial progress achieved together with its social! consequences', an examination is-made of the reactions of the- outstanding sociologists and economists: to le machintsme> Next an attempt is made to show how la Bourgeoisie,with its respect for riches and social prominence,its deep preoccupation with economic- interests and material prosperity would be inimical to the prolongation of the Romantic-Movement.To further emphasise the rSle Industry was assuming in Society attention iT drawn to the importance of the many Industrial Exhibitions held before l870.Then follows---an investigation into the transformation of the Press-by- the introduction of publicity 4nd the appearance of the roman-feuilleton as being the first manifest• ation of the influence of Industry in. literature.From the newspapers to the stage:the vaudevillistes and playwrights bear witness to the predominance of la Question d<argent and to the invasion of the Press by les ho mmea d'affaires. Finally the novelists are considered in, order to crystallise: their attitude to the new industrial forcer and to distinguish between those writers who believed that literature should be useful and moral and their adversaries who were opposed tio sutah a utilitarian and didactic conception of literature; and to establiieh that the Industrial Revolution occupied the prose-writers ofl8-jo-l870 more than has hitherto been recognised and that in so doing jit -range*, many, though not ail of them, im opposing oamps.and in this way- a ,fforded a kind of touchstone to their philosophies of life*. Table of Contents Page Pref see ••• • • • • • • • • • «»• • • • ••• i I. The Progress of Industrialism in Prance between 1830 and 1870 ••• ••• • •. ••• ••• ••• 1 II. The views of the Economists and Sociologists 23 III. The Material Prosperity of Prance; the reign of the new Bourgeoisie: its outlook and its character• istics • •• • • • • •« ••• «• • »• • ••• if "7 IV. The Great Exhibitions of the mid-XIXth Century, and the impression they created among writers and thinkers ... ••• ••• ••• ••• 5A- V. The Transformation of the Press: le roman- feuilleton 69 VI. The stage as a mirror of bourgeois society: Augier, Dumas fils, Sardou 88 VII. The novelists and their views on Art and Society: Balzac, Sand, Gautier, Flaubert, les freres Gone our t 108 Conclusion .. ••• ... ... ... ••• ... 193 Bibliography ... ... ••• ... ••• I i Preface It cannot be supposed that the revolutionary changes which transformed industry, transport and communications in Prance during the nineteenth century were without their effects on the prose writers of the decades between 1830 and 1870. Nevertheless the state of knowledge concerning the reflection of the Industrial Revolution in French prose is at best ' imperfect, for the subject is one which has not hitherto been investigated. It is true that the repercussions of the new Industrialism on French poetry during this period have been studied,by E.M. Grant in a work published in 19271* and that here and there in various critical works passing_reference is made to the effects_of—iI-ndu^trTalism on literature. Such a cut*! J,^- reference>*^roice>x^r r example, is made by Cassagne in his book 2 La Theorie de l'Art pour l'Art en France , and Professor Denis Saurat in his work Modern French Literature. 1870-1940-5 has a-ihapbn' entitled "The Industrialisation of the Novel". It is a well-recognised fact that by I843 Romanticism in France had exhausted itself and that the money-conscious and power- seeking middle-classes were ready to welcome a new literary 1. E.M. Grant. French Poetry and Modern Industry. 1830-1870. Harvard Univ. Press, 1927. 2. Paris, 1906. 3. London, 1946. ii movement more in harmony with their own predilections; further• more it has become a commonplace to regard the reaction of the Realists as a natural swing of the literary pendulum away from the excesses of the Romanticists, although in other ways Realism was an outgrowth of Romanticism. It is true enough that such a swing of the pendulum did in fact occur, hut un• doubtedly, too, other Influences, democratic, economic and industrial, were exerting their several pressures and pro• ducing their effects on the writers of the time. It is the aim of this thesis to show that the effects produced on the prose writers by the last of these three forces were not only not negligible, but left, in several cases, a deep mark on them. The changes wrought in the industrial field by the Introduction of machines transformed society, and, among those sections of it which did not suffer as the victims of the new mechanical processes, there developed an extraordinary faith not only in material progress but in the power of Industry to create a full and satisfying way of life. Applied science, man's new sword and buckler in his struggle with the forces of Nature, promised god-like powers and led to the arrogant assumption that man with Its help would prove sufficient unto his own salvation. No writer, It is believed, could live at such a time and not react in the way in which his own philosophical conception of life's purpose and hie own literary predilections would dictate. Certain writers might feel inclined to accept wholeheartedly and iii unquestioningly the new vision of an industrial force of magnificent intensity and of an ever-expanding material pro• gress; some among them might, on the other hand, feel com• pelled to set hounds to this new-found arrogance of nan1; to re-state emphatically the old biblical truth that "man does not live by bread alone"; and to affirm that what needs feeding is not so much the machines as man's spirit.. Others there would be - who neither accepted the modern scale.of values nor felt in any way compelled to render their art utilitarian or to imagine themselves as moralists, as writers with a mission. It was a belief that reactions such as these would be manifested by the writers of the years preceding 1870 which led to the present investigation, and the hope that such a belief could be amply Justified. It was not expected that novels would be encountered which made a serious attempt to portray the life and character of the labouring masses, for as late as 1870 the new age of Industrialism had not foundits novelist; and such was the case. There is, however, before 1870 abundant evidence of the influence exerted by the Industrial Revolution on French nineteenth century literature. After outlining the industrial progress achieved between 1830 and 1870 together with Its social consequences, 1. It was not, of course, entirely new: there is already some• thing of this feeling in Voltaire; but by tKF midi,nineteenth century it had acquired body and was in some ways more ., impressive. i/a^vx y iv particularly as it affected the workers themselves, it is proposed to enquire at some length into the reactions of the outstanding sociologists and economists of the day to le machinisme; to investigate what social, economic and political possibilities, in the opinion of these critics, were likely to ensue from the industrial transformation; and what ideas, if any, they had on the nature of a possible union "between Art and Industry. Next will, come a study of the state of that most powerful of the social classes of the time, la bourgeoisie, and it will be pointed out how, with its respect for riches and social prominence and its deep preoccupation with economic interests and material prosperity, middles-class society would inevitably be inimical to the prolongation of the Romantic Movement and, in part, sound the death knell of the latter. The shop window of Industry is the Industrial Pair or Exhibition, and many of these were held in Prance during . j the nineteenth century. Here was to be seen a flaunting of the ! new marvels of ingenuity and inventiveness, and their implica• tions for the society of the future were discussed and debated in the contemporary reviews and newspapers by such powerful critics as Henan, and;provide, as will be shown, an interesting ' commentary on the rtfle Industry was assuming in society. And the reviews and newspapers were themselves under• going a metamorphosis. Mass production in the Industrial sphere led newspaper and review directors to strive after an V increased circulation and incited their contributors to a more intense literary output; while the radical changes in the press, from the introduction of industrial publicity into newspapers to the appearance of the roman«-feulllston among their pages, is worthy of investigation as being the first manifestation in literature of the influence of the Industrial Revolution.

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