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| La Revue contemporaine | |
|---|---|
| Title | La Revue contemporaine |
| Firstdate | 19th century |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Based | Paris |
La Revue contemporaine was a French periodical founded in the 19th century that published commentary, literary criticism, political commentary, and cultural reportage. It acted as a forum where writers, statesmen, historians, and artists debated issues ranging from literature and philosophy to international affairs and colonial policy. The journal attracted contributions from leading figures in French letters and politics and intersected with major events in European history, shaping metropolitan and imperial discourse.
The periodical was established in Paris in the mid-19th century amid a proliferation of journals that included contemporaries such as Le Figaro, Revue des deux Mondes, La Gazette de France, La Presse, and Le Monde Illustré. Its founding cohort drew on networks linked to institutions like the Académie française, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the salons associated with figures such as George Sand and Charles Baudelaire. Early editorial discussions referenced political transitions including the July Monarchy, the Second French Republic, and the Second French Empire, situating the journal within debates about republicanism, monarchical restoration, and liberal reform. Financial backers and printers who supported the launch had ties to Parisian publishing houses that worked with authors such as Honoré de Balzac, Victor Hugo, and Alexandre Dumas.
The editorial line combined literary criticism, historical essays, and commentary on diplomatic affairs, attracting contributors from a wide spectrum: novelists like Émile Zola, poets like Paul Verlaine, playwrights such as Émile Augier, historians including Jules Michelet and Ernest Renan, and critics like Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve. Political writers associated with parliamentary bodies such as the Chamber of Deputies (France), journalists from La Liberté, and intellectuals linked to the Université de Paris also contributed. The journal published work by colonial administrators connected to the French colonial empire and military figures who had served in campaigns such as the Crimean War and the Franco-Prussian War, as well as by scientists affiliated with the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle and the École Polytechnique. Artists and illustrators in its pages included names tied to the Salon (Paris) and the École des Beaux-Arts.
Published in Paris, the journal followed contemporary models for periodicals like Le Temps and La Revue Politique et Littéraire, offering serialized novels, critical essays, and feuilletons. It utilized printing and distribution networks connected to the Parisian book trade and the railway system that linked Paris to provincial centers such as Lyon, Marseille, and Bordeaux and to colonial ports like Le Havre and Toulon. Subscriptions circulated among readers in metropolitan France and in overseas territories administered from ports including Algiers and Saigon. The physical format mirrored that of other illustrated journals, with typographical contributions from printers who worked on editions by publishers such as Calmann-Lévy and Hachette, and with typographical influences from the era's lithographic ateliers.
Over its run the journal published provocative essays and polemics that intersected with controversies involving figures like Gustave Flaubert, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Georges Clemenceau, and Jules Ferry. Articles on colonial expansion elicited responses from critics of imperial policy and from proponents linked to ministries overseen by statesmen like Théophile Delcassé and Paul Bert. Literary debates in its pages engaged advocates of realism and naturalism such as Flaubert and Zola, as well as symbolist writers like Stéphane Mallarmé and Arthur Rimbaud, producing quarrels mirrored in rival organs including La Nouvelle Revue and Le Monde moderniste. Political pieces addressing crises like the Dreyfus Affair provoked alignment and denunciation from participants associated with institutions such as the Cour de cassation and the Ministry of War, while historical essays sparked scholarly rebuttals from academics at the Collège de France and the École pratique des hautes études.
The journal influenced literary canons, public opinion, and policy discussions through reviews and essays that shaped reception of works by Marcel Proust, Gustave Flaubert, Honoré de Balzac, Stendhal, and Alphonse de Lamartine. Its cultural criticism resonated with theater managers linked to venues like the Comédie-Française and the Théâtre de l'Odéon, and with art dealers and critics operating within the Salon des indépendants and the Musée du Louvre. Intellectuals associated with movements such as positivism—linked to figures like Auguste Comte—and republicanism debated items first aired in the journal. Provincial readers, colonial administrators in places like Indochina and French West Africa, and expatriate communities in cities such as London and Brussels used the journal as a touchstone for metropolitan cultural and political trends.
As the 20th century progressed, the magazine confronted competition from illustrated weeklies including L'Illustration and emerging mass-circulation dailies such as Le Populaire and Le Matin, and it struggled with financial pressures similar to those faced by contemporary titles owned by publishers like Hachette and Groupe Hersant Média. Changing tastes, the professionalization of academic history at institutions like the Université de Strasbourg, and shifting media technologies contributed to its decline and eventual cessation. Its archival presence survives in holdings at repositories such as the Bibliothèque nationale de France and university libraries that preserve periodicals, and its influence is traceable in subsequent journals and critical traditions cultivated by editors and writers associated with the Revue des deux Mondes and the Mercure de France.
Category:19th-century French magazines Category:French literary magazines