'Le Provincial' of Dijon: French Romanticism and Provincial Cultural Awakening

Abstract

"Mais d'abord, pourquoi la province fait-elle des journaux? Pour deux raisons. J'ai longtemps cherche, je n'en ai pas trouve trois. La premiere, c'est que la province a, tout aussi bien que Paris, du papier, de l'encre et des caracteres; des caracteres d'imprimerie. La seconde raison, c'est que Paris fait des journaux." Written in 1841, the above passage, taken from 'Le Redacteur en chef d'un journal de province', an entry from the first volume of the 'serie provinciale' of Les Francais peints par eux-memes, deliberately plays with the stereotypical Parisian view regarding the inferior cultural attempts of the so-called 'province'. In keeping with the satirical tone of this well-known Encyclopedie morale du dix-neuvieme siecle, the passage draws its readers' attention to a contemporary cultural phenomenon: the vitality of the provincial press in France during the nineteenth century. The historical and cultural relevance of this phenomenon is illustrated and explored in Presse et plumes: journalisme et litterature au XIXe siecle (2004), a wide-ranging collection of studies examining the relationship between journalism and literature during the long nineteenth century. An entire section of this volume - 'Le Journal entre provinces et nations' - is indeed devoted to studies of regional, or rather provincial, papers.