“Drowning in pamphlets”: mediality of the frivolous

“France is flooded with a multitude of pamphlets every day, that the licentiousness of spirit has generated”, wrote Caraccioli. It is common place in the XVIII^th century to complain about the abundance, the profusion, the flood of daily pamphlets that overwhelm the literary spheres, proliferating like rye grass. These pamphlets, short works that one does not bother to bind, are light and handy, passed from one hand to another, moving from the lobby to the boudoir at a lightning speed, then are quickly forgotten, replaced the next day by a flow of new ones. They can be about the most diverse subjects: current affairs, economic projects, literary quarrels, satires on societal mores, tales, novels, anecdotes... The “Pamphlet makers” are never short of ideas, the readers, always eager for new materials, the printing presses run, the slightest idea circulates, creating a hubbub that many contemporaries find deafening and vain, pointless twittering, a reflection of the frivolity of the times, but that also represents a booming market. The proliferation of these ephemeral pamphlets is therefore a reason to reflect on the value and the use of literature, that is not only measured in terms of morality (utile dulci, “please to instruct”, etc.), but also economic and social, at a time when the literary arena is dramatically changing.