French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Glinoer, La Littérature frénétique
Novel and Narrative Prose
Review published in Acta Fabula: "Industrial or Elite Literature? The (Il)legitimation of Frenetic Literature" by Emilie Pézard.
Anthony Glinoer, La Littérature frénétique
Paris: Presses universitaires de France, "Les littéraires" collection, 2009.
288 pp.
ISBN: 978-2-13-057749-2
Price: 22 €
Publisher's Description:
In this book, Anthony Glinoer explores the history and stakes of frenetic literature (also known as dark, horror, or Gothic literature) in France. After situating this genre within the debates surrounding industrial literature, the first part of the book traces the history of the genre in French literature from the 17th to the 20th century (Rosset, Abbé Prévost, Sade, Nodier, Hugo, Dumas, the Grand Guignol theater, the advent of fantasy cinema, Jean Ray, and gore literature). Returning to the Romantic era, the second part of the book examines the development of the frenetic novel in French literature, inherited from the English gothic novel. Publishing history, the history of criticism, and discourse analysis are employed to study the conditions of literary production and recognition during this period, and to answer the question: why and how did the frenetic genre suffer such disparagement in France?
Table of Contents:
PART ONE. — HISTORY OF A DE-LEGITIMATION
Chapter I. Prehistory
In Search of an Origin
From "canards" to tragic stories
Disseminations of the Macabre in the 18th Century
Chapter II. The gothic novel and Its Counterparts
A French-Style gothic novel
Sade: The Forbidden Reference
Melodrama: The Community of the Repressed
Chapter III. A Frenetic School?
Charles Nodier, the driving force of the frenetic novel
The Dishonor of a Definition
Horrifying Tales, from Nodier to Nodier
A Model of Paraliterature
The Romanticizing Frenetic Novel
Chapter IV. Hybridizations
Walter Scott: History at the Risk of the Frenetic
The Shades of Lord Byron
The Merits of E.T.A. Hoffmann
Dark Realism
Frenetic Romanticism
Chapter V. From The Count of Monte Cristo to the Grand Guignol
The Novel
Short Genres
The Grand Guignol Theater: Hemoglobin and Terror
Chapter VI. From Zigomar to the Fleuve Noir
Cheap Novels and Chapbooks
Pre-War Cinema and Film Novels
Entering Literary History
Marginal Legitimation: Jean Ray and the Belgian School of the Strange
The Contemporary Frenetic
PART TWO. — THE RISE AND STAKES OF FRENETIC LITERATURE
Chapter I. Toward an Industrial Literature
What Kind of "Popular" Reading?
Reconfiguration of the Book Market
An Efficient Distribution System: The Circulating Library
The Dominance of the Novel
Presences of the Frenetic Novel
Le Solitaire, a Phenomenal but Isolated Success
Was There a "Popular" Distribution of the Frenetic Novel?
Chapter II. The Two Regimes of Production
Novels and Their Female Readers
Publishers' Strategies
Publishers for Circulating Libraries
Chapter III. Writers' Strategies
Producers of Serial Fiction
The "Generation" of 1820
Contrasting Debuts: Balzac and Hugo
The Jeunes-France
Chapter IV. To End with the Beginnings
On the Cover
Epigraphs and Dedications
Prefaces
Conclusion — Selected Bibliography
Anthony Glinoer is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto. His publications include La querelle de la camaraderie littéraire. Les romantiques face à leurs contemporains (Droz, 2008).
Anthony Glinoer situates frenetic literature within the broader context of nineteenth-century French Romanticism and industrial print culture. By examining the legacy of the English gothic novel and its French counterparts, the study traces how macabre themes evolved across changing media landscapes, from early penny press narratives and serialized fiction to the Grand Guignol theater and early fantasy cinema. The work combines publishing history, discourse analysis, and cultural critique to investigate the mechanisms that shaped literary production and reception during a period of rapid modernization in the book trade.
This scholarly investigation addresses central questions regarding literary value, genre hierarchies, and the criteria for cultural legitimation in France. It sheds light on how works associated with horror and sensationalism were marginalized by traditional criticism while retaining a powerful hold on popular readerships. Scholars of French literature, cultural historians, and researchers interested in the sociology of texts will find this volume a valuable resource for understanding the complex negotiations between elite aesthetic standards and mass-market publishing strategies.