1. Literary Journals
[see also Press] The 17th c. saw the appearance in France of two types of literary periodical: the Journal des savants printed reviews of new books, while the Mercure galant was a salon-related publication containing verse, literary discussions, and the like. While the Mercure continued as the Mercure de France, other reviewing journals appeared in the 18th c., often providing a forum for political or religious debate as well as literary arguments; major titles include the Mémoires de Trévoux, Pierre Rousseau's Journal encyclopédique (an organ for philosophe thought), and the work of journalists such as Desfontaines, Raynal, Grimm, Linguet, and Fréron, as well as of major writers such as Marivaux or Prévost.
The 19th c. was the golden age of the literary journal. Novels were often published in serial form, not only romans-feuilletons, but even Madame Bovary, which first appeared in the Revue de Paris (founded 1829). Other major periodicals of the century were the controversial Le Globe (1824-32) founded by P.-F. Dubois [see Romanticism], the Revue des deux mondes (founded 1829 and still appearing today), La Presse (founded by Girardin in 1836), the Revue blanche (1889-1903), and for Belgium La Jeune Belgique (1881-97) and La Wallonie (1886-92). The Revue blanche was an organ of Symbolism, a movement which expressed itself largely in a host of short-lived periodicals. Surrealism was similarly to give birth to journals such as Littérature or La Révolution surréaliste.
Two of the most important journals in the early years of the 20th c. were the new Mercure de France (1890-1965) and the immensely influential Nouvelle Revue Française. Europe (founded 1923), which like the NRF continues to appear, contains a good deal of literary material. This was also the period of the short-lived but influential Swiss journal Les Cahiers vaudois (1914-19). World War II brought the appearance of many new publications, before and after the Liberation. Combat and Les Temps modernes were mainly philosophical and political, whereas Critique, founded by Georges Bataille in 1946, published, and continues to publish, searching discussions of new works. Other literary journals of the post-war decade include Lettres nouvelles (1953-7), Tel Quel and its continuation L'Infini, Change, and Obliques (founded 1972).
A particular development was the appearance of numerous poetry magazines, including the annual Poésie launched by Seghers in 1940 and relaunched, after an interval, in 1984, Action poétique (1955- ), La Délirante (1967- ), Bonnefoy's important L'Éphémère (1967-72), and Po&sie founded by Deguy in 1977. Most of the titles mentioned above combine new writing with criticism; at the same time the general public is served by reviewing journals such as Le Figaro littéraire (1946-72), succeeded by the weekly supplement to Le Figaro), La Quinzaine littéraire, Le Magazine littéraire, and the weekly supplement to Le Monde (Le Monde des livres).
Literary journals have had an important cultural part to play in francophone countries outside France: in Quebec Liberté, Parti pris, and La Relève; in North Africa Horizons maghrébins (1984- ); in the West Indies Tropiques and Les Griots [see also African Literary Journals and entries for specific areas].
2. Academic Journals
Of the current French academic periodicals with literary interests some have a theoretical or critical perspective, e.g. Communications (1962- ), Poétique (1970- ), and Littérature (1971- ). Other, longer-established journals are more concerned with literary history: Revue d'histoire littéraire de la France (1894- ), Revue des sciences humaines (1927- ), Cahiers de l'Association Internationale des Études Françaises (1951- ). Journals specializing in particular periods include for medieval studies Romania (1872- ) and Revue de langues romanes (1870- ), and for later periods Humanisme et renaissance (1934- , later Bibliothèque d'humanisme et renaissance), Dix-septième siècle (1951- ), the yearbook Dix-huitième siècle (1969- ), and Romantisme (1971- ). There are innumerable journals devoted to individual writers or literary groups.
Several well-established English-language periodicals are devoted primarily to French literature and culture: in Britain French Studies (1947- ) and Nottingham French Studies (1962- ); in America the French Review (1927- ), Yale French Studies (1948- ); and L'Esprit créateur (1961- ); in Australia the Australian Journal for French Studies (1964- ). More-recent arrivals, taking a new approach, include the theoretical journal Paragraph (1983- ), the comparative Franco-British Studies (1986- ), and the wideranging French Cultural Studies (1990- ). French Seventeenth-Century Studies (1979- ) and above all the voluminous Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century (1955- ) are devoted to specific periods. And of course French literature occupies a considerable place in the numerous general journals such as the Modern Language Review, Modern Language Notes, and the Proceedings of the Modern Languages Association of America.
[Peter France]
