Most often perceived as a mass-producer of literature, Alexandre Dumas, the father (1802-1870), an extremely popular author if ever there was one, also turned his hand to the press. During the 19th century, this was an important means of distribution and a significant production site for literature. The proof lies in his newspaper Le Mousquetaire – among other publications of which he was the owner and/or editor-in-chief – which, from 1853 to 1857, was a relatively unique example of quality cultural journalism.

Pascal Durand, professor at the University of Liège and a specialist in the sociology of cultural institutions, has just published – in collaboration with Sarah Mombert, lecturer in French 19th century literature at the Ecole Normale Supérieure des Lettres et Sciences Humaines in Lyon – the proceedings of the symposium organised in Lyon (8th December 2005) and Liège (7th – 8th December 2006) under the title Entre presse et literature. Le Mousquetaire, journal de M. Alexandre Dumas (1853-1857) [Between press and literature. Le Mousquetaire, the newspaper of Mr. Alexandre Dumas (1853-1857)]. This collection of essays has been published by the library of the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature at the University of Liège – Fascicule CCXCVII and distributed by Librairie Droz. It includes the revised versions of the majority of participants’ speeches from the three days of the symposium.

Until recently, literary studies ignored the press. Newspapers were clearly not of any credible interest, hence the reason why dailies and periodicals have remained terra incognita for such a long time. Pascal Durand’s and Sarah Mombert’s credit is all the greater for having ventured into this unknown territory, with the help of nine contributors, including Luciano Curreri, professor at the University of Liège, and Olivier Isaac, a graduate in Information and Communication studies from the same institution. The book contains the names of a number of highly-reputed specialists in the domain: Claude Schopp, who is not only the best biographer of Dumas and the editor of several important hitherto unseen works, but also one of the novelist’s “ghost-writers” since he recently completed one of the author’s unfinished novels; Corinne Saminadayar-Perrin, a renowned specialist in the rhetoric of journalistic discourse in the 19th century; and Lise Dumasy, an international specialist in the domain of the popular novel in the 19th century.

This book, and the broader project of electronic publication and an in-depth analysis of Alexandre Dumas’ periodicals by a Franco-Liège team, therefore falls perfectly under the scope of the recent boom in works on the press and journalism in the domain of literary studies and cultural history.