I have been
blogging for a while now and from time to time I wonder what it is that I actually
write. Wondering about my writing genre may be a presumption. This term is for literary
folks and I am only a person who likes reading and writing and at times needs
to clarify thoughts and believes through blogging. Nevertheless, I notice that
my blog covers varied subjects. Book and film reviews, traveling impressions,
events from my personal life, my observations on varied subjects. My mind seems to need a better structure or a
justification why it is OK to write haphazardly as I seem to do. If I have
constant readers (one can always dream), they may want to know what to expect
from my new posts. And I am all over the place. Should I change it? Maybe I
should, but then it might not be authentic or spontaneous. And after all I am writing mainly for myself.
One day the long forgotten term feuilleton came to my mind. This is a popular term in Poland, but I can not remember hearing it for some time. Apparently, even if the term is used internationally its meaning varies
from country to country.
Wikipedia
says:
Feuilleton was
originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criticism, a chronicle of the latest fashions, and epigrams, charades
and other literary trifles. The term feuilleton was
invented by Julien Louis Geoffroy and Bertin the Elder, editors of the French Journal des débats in 1800. The feuilleton may be
described as a "talk of the town",[1] and a contemporary English-language example of the
form is the "Talk of the Town" section of The New Yorker.[2]
In Polish press terminology the term feuilleton (Polish: felieton) meant a regular, permanent column in a magazine where
episodes of novels, serial press publications and other
items on entertainment and cultural issues were published.
The Feuilleton is a writing genre that allows for
much journalistic freedom as far as its content, composition and style are
concerned; the text is
hybrid which means that it makes use of different genre structures, both
journalistic and literary.
I like the highlighted bit
best – much freedom is my thing. Freedom is even one of my core values, most
likely causing some problems in my personal life. Looks that I need to pay the
price, for sticking to my values, without complains. On reflection, I decided
that what I write could be called feuilletons. I rather like this
classification.
Further the Wikipedia says:
The tone of its
writing is usually reflexive, humorous, ironic and above all very subjective in drawing conclusions, assessments and
comments on a particular subject.
Unlike other
common journalistic genres, the feuilleton such is very close to literary. Its
characteristic feature is lightness and wit evidenced by wordplay, parody,
paradox and humorous hyperboles. The vocabulary is usually not neutral, and
strongly emotionally loaded words and phrases prevail.
I like it even better.
Maybe I am not there yet, but this is a great guide to follow. It gives me
freedom without feeling like I do not know what I am all about. So, now I have
a label - I will write feuilletons. Ufff….
The portrait was painted by Joshua Reynolds, so he must have been famous in his times. But how about his rather unsettling statement. I obviously tried to define my writing, or maybe even myself. Hmm..... Something to think about. Or maybe comment?