Seeking a Quarrel: The Enquête sur l’évolution littéraire on Trial

Abstract

Criticism has often pointed out – though not always focusing on it – the combative aspect of Jules Huret’s Enquête sur l’évolution littéraire, published in 1891 in L’Écho de Paris and later in book form by Charpentier. In the wake of several recent works that shed light on the material, pragmatic, and even poetic constraints of the two journalistic genres of inquiry and writer interview, this article examines how Huret’s text triggers or fuels interpersonal quarrels, and how, in its reception or in the shift from newspaper to book, Huret’s very project invites controversy, questioning a media system that alters the meaning of literary action.