Jules Gabriel Janin (; 16 February 1804 – 19 June 1874) was a French writer and critic.

Life and career

Born in

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

(

Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

), Janin's father was a lawyer, and he was educated first at St. Étienne, and then at the

lycée Louis-le-Grand The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on Rue Saint-Jacques (Paris), rue Saint-Jacques in central Par ...

in Paris. He involved himself in journalism from an early date, and worked on the '' Figaro'' and the '' Quotidienne'', among others, until in 1830 he became dramatic critic of the ''

Journal des Débats The ''Journal des débats'' (, ''Journal of Debates'') was a French newspaper, published between 1789 and 1944 that changed title several times. Created shortly after the first meeting of the Estates-General of 1789, it was, after the outbreak ...

''. Long before, however, he had made a literary reputation for himself, publishing novels such as '' L'Âne mort et la Femme guillotinée'' ("The Dead Donkey and the Guillotined Woman") (1829). '' La Confession'' (1830) followed, and then in '' Barnave'' (1831), he attacked the

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and Le Chant des chemins de fer'' by

Hector Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

, a composer and fellow critic at the ''Débats''. After many years of ''

feuilleton A ''feuilleton'' (; a diminutive of , the leaf of a book) was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criticism, a chronicle ...

'' writing he collected some of his articles in the work called '' Histoire de la littérature dramatique en France (1853-1858).'' In 1865 he made his first attempt upon the Academy, but was not successful until five years later. Meanwhile, he had not been content with his feuilletons, written persistently about all manner of things. No one was more in request with the Paris publishers for

preface __NOTOC__ A preface () or proem () is an introduction to a book or other literature, literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a ''foreword'' and precedes an author's preface. The preface o ...

s, letterpress to illustrated books and suchlike. He was accused of taking bribes for favourable reviews, reputedly earning 6,000 to 8,000 francs from fearful playwrights on a premier. Janin traveled (picking up in one of his journeys a country house at

Lucca Città di Lucca ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its Province of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...

in a lottery), and wrote accounts of his travels. He wrote numerous tales and novels, and composed many other works, including '' Fin d'un monde et du neveu de Rameau'' (1861), in which, under the guise of a sequel to

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during t ...

's work, he showed his familiarity with the late 18th century. He married in 1841. In the early part of his career he had many quarrels, notably one with Felix Pyat (1810-1889), whom he prosecuted successfully for defamation of character. For the most part his work was improvisation, noted for its light and vivid style. His '' Œuvres choisies'' (12 vols., 1875–1878) were edited by Albert Patin de La Fizelière. A study on Janin with a bibliography was published by Auguste Piédagnel in 1874. See also Sainte-Beuve, '' Causeries du lundi'', ii. and v., and Gustave Planche, '' Portraits littéraires''.

Works

*''The Dead Donkey and the Guillotined Woman'' (English translation ed. by Terry Hale, Gargoyle, 1993)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Janin, Jules 1804 births 1874 deaths French critics Writers from Saint-Étienne French travel writers Members of the Académie Française Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni 19th-century French journalists French male journalists 19th-century French novelists French male novelists 19th-century French male writers