L’esprit de famille en littérature : le cas J.-H. Rosny

Abstract

Joseph-Henri Rosny (the elder) and Séraphin-Justin-François Rosny (the younger) jointly produced a series of sixty-seven novels between 1886 and 1909, securing an enviable reputation in Paris during the turn of the century. They were regulars in the Goncourt “attic” and each, in turn, became President of the Académie. Following a public dispute, their paths diverged. Many doubts remain about their individual contributions to their joint work, which were not definitively resolved by a “Convention” drawn up in 1935 that was supposed to divide their production. In the absence of reliable direct testimony about the nature of their collaboration, this article focuses on the reactions of their peers and the press to the news of their literary divorce, as well as the media and critical reception of their first individually signed novels. The goal is to attempt to identify, within the context of a remarkably diverse body of work, the stylistic and thematic main thrusts that run through their joint production and how these shifted in their individual works, in order to suggest plausible hypotheses on the respective strengths and weaknesses of the two brothers.