Roman-feuilleton et écriture collaborative: les affres de la “littérature industrielle”

The commodification of literature in the 19th century, which had become mass culture, poses the problem of moral scandal and limits that should not be exceeded. The study of collaborative writing involving three great serial novelists reveals new abuses. By looking at the association between Eugène Sue and Prosper Goubaux, Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet, and Jules Verne and André Laurie, we have analysed the evolution of the new editorial world from the July Monarchy to the Third Republic: from a phenomenon born and facilitated by the customs of theatrical work and its “commercial associations” to the throes of the serial novel to end with the all-powerful figure of the capitalist publisher.