French Gothic Fiction. Roman Noir: "Black Novel."

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This is a work in progress like my Schauerroman: The "Shudder Novel", thread.



Middoth and andydecker mentioned how they liked French Weird, so I thought  I'd do a thread on the Roman Noir.

"the Gothic novel as it emerges in France and Germany is not merely to be defined in terms of the devices employed by Radcliffe and Lewis, but that it is a hybrid of forms and influences. German Gothic and French Gothic are understood here in the inclusive rather than exclusive sense suggested by the working definition, and have been preferred to the terms Schauerroman and roman noir. This does not mean that they are seen as offshoots of or footnotes to the English Gothic, quite the opposite."



Hall, Daniel, French and German Gothic Fiction in the Late Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2005) p. 18.

In France, an early catalogue of novels provides a similar problem, listing novels in five categories that could come under the auspices of the generic term roman noir as used by such critics as Didier and Le Brun. These also tally to some extent with the German sub-genres as identified by Brauchli, and entail romans de magie, those of ‘magies, sortileges, enchantemens et necromancies’ (Zauberromane); romans de fantomes, those of Tevenans, ombres, apparitions, spectres et visions’ (Gespenster or Geisterromane)\ romans mysterieux, those of ‘secrets impenetrates, mysteres sur mysteres et secrets devoiles’ (seemingly a more French form, the German equivalent is the slightly different Bundesroman)\ romans noirs, full of‘assassinats, empoisonnemens, souterrains, prisons, cavernes, vieux chateaux, enlevemens, vengeances et crimes affreux’ (Schauerromane in the narrower Sachworterbuch sense); and romans de brigands, those of ‘faux monnoyeurs, voleurs, scelerats, bandits et escrocs’ (Rduberromane).~ Even a cursory glance at Marc’s division by devices reveals that there is considerable overlap in each category, which an examination of the texts listed in each only confirms. These differences in terminology underline not only the difficulty of definition by set topoi, but the ambiguity inherent in the terms Schauerroman and roman noir, as these are both used to refer to specific elements of a wider form, and to that wider form in general. The generality offered by the term Gothic fiction (for the works considered are not always novels) is unavoidably tempting. Moreover, an avoidance of terms separated by language befits a genre of considerable international interchange, but does not mean that any particularly ‘national’ characteristics cannot be identified when appropriate, for example the fact that, in very general terms, many German works ot mystery concentrate on secret societies and orders, whilst French works of mystery concentrate on family relationships and inheritance.

Hall, Daniel, French and German Gothic Fiction in the Late Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2005) p. 20.

French Gothic author list:

François-Thomas-Marie de Baculard d'Arnaud

Louis-Frangois-Marie Beilin de la Liborliere

Jean-Nicolas-Etienne de Bock

Louise Marguerite Brayer de Saint-Leon

André Cavard

Desiree De Castera

Jacques Cazotte

Hector Chaussier

Denis Diderot

François Guillaume Ducray-Duminil

J. A. Gardy

Stéphanie Félicité, comtesse de Genlis

[Middoth]

Would you mind about it?

www.goodreads.com/book/show/33533590-phantoms?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=rlxED9X6kd&rank=1

www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/18287580

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