'"Je soupe chez ma femme" ("I Sup with My Wife"). Cover illustration by Théophile Steinlen for a story from "Monsieur, madame et bébé" by Gustave Droz.
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Type | daily literary newspaper |
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Publisher | Augustin-Alexandre Dumont |
Founded | 19 November 1879 |
Ceased publication | 1938 |
Headquarters | Paris, France |
Circulation | 30,000 |
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.
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".