Le temps des fascicules: Entre pratiques périodiques et pratiques livresques

Publication year
2023
Journal
Cahiers de la Société bibliographique du Canada
Volume
60
Comment

Here's the version of the abstract in English (though the article itself is in French):

In post-war Quebec, the fascicle format experienced a meteoric rise in popularity. In order to draw all the heuristic potential from an analysis of this format, our article is based on a detailed study of the editorial peritext of some forty fascicles of sentimental novels published between 1945 and 1963 by the Éditions Police-Journal. On the one hand, these dime novels are comparable to “small books”—each issue generally contains a single story spanning 32 pages. The publisher’s branding, ostensibly serves as a guarantee of its quality. On the other hand, these objects with their soft and colourful covers are in constant dialogue with the magazine, often emulating its fundamental mechanisms. Through a detailed analysis of these little-explored romance novels, we hope to inspire a reflection on the popular print formats of the 20th century.