Popular novel in France: History and Key Facts

The popular novel—or popular literature, also known as paraliterature—refers to literary productions that reach a wide readership, which developed during the 19th century primarily due to the decrease in printing costs, the emergence of the first press groups, and literacy. This genre is originally concurrent with the Industrial Revolution and a sociology of reading, which practice could only democratize with the appearance of leisure time in a context of progressive urbanization.

These terms encompass works of great variety: detective, adventure, historical, regional, romance novels, etc. The common denominator is to present a story in a simple chronological order, with well-identified characters, archetypes, and where the plot takes precedence over stylistic considerations. Morality is sometimes imbued with good feelings, "common sense", or even Manichaeism; other times, it is reversed, with great naturalistic effects, positioning readers facing notions of fair and unfair.

The works of Eugène Sue, Alexandre Dumas, and Georges Simenon, among others, rank among the greatest successes of the popular novel, in terms of their posterity.

Not exclusively French, the notion of this genre is found among Anglo-Saxons in the British penny dreadful and the American dime novel, expressions equivalent to that of "two [or four] penny novel".

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