Founded 19 November 1879 Headquarters Paris, France | Ceased publication 1938 Circulation 30,000 | |
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Type daily literary newspaper Publisher Augustin-Alexandre Dumont | ||
Gil Blas (or Le Gil Blas) was a Parisian literary periodical named for Alain-René Lesage's novel Gil Blas. It was founded by the sculptor Augustin-Alexandre Dumont in November 1879.
Contents
Gil Blas serialized famous novels such as Émile Zola's Germinal (1884) and L'Œuvre (1885) before they appeared in book form. Guy de Maupassant regularly published short stories in Gil Blas. The journal was also known for its opinionated arts and theatre criticism. Contributors included René Blum, Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești, and Abel Hermant. Théophile Steinlen and Albert Guillaume provided illustrations.
Gil Blas was published regularly until 1914, when it went on a short hiatus due to the outbreak of World War I. Afterwards, it was published intermittently until 1938.
In addition to Germinal, Gil Blas serialized the Zola novels L'Argent, Au Bonheur des Dames, and La Joie de vivre. Guy de Maupassant stories which debuted in Gil Blas include "À vendre," "Imprudence," "L'Inconnue," "La Bête à Maît' Belhomme," "La Confidence," "La Baptême," "Tribunaux Rustiques" and perhaps most famously "Le Horla".
Gil Blas critic Louis Vauxcelles's phrase "Donatello chez les fauves!" ("Donatello among the wild beasts") brought notoriety and attention to the works of Henri Matisse and Les Fauves exhibited at the Salon d'Automne of 1905. Vauxcelles' comment was printed on 17 October 1905 and passed into popular usage.
Contributors
Some well-known authors who were published in Gil Blas include:
Controversies
In 1887, after seeing a dress-reheasal of Victorien Sardou's La Tosca at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris (with Sarah Bernhardt in the title role), Gil Blas published a complete description of the plot on the morning of opening night. Following the premiere, Sardou brought a successful suit for damages against Gil Blas.
In 1888 Camille Lemonnier was prosecuted in Paris for "offending against public morals" by a story in Gil Blas, and was condemned to a fine.