List of Contents
p. 2
Call for a special issue
p. 2
Report of the EPOP work-
meeting in Bologna, May 2009
p. 6
The Bologna EPOP team
p. 8
Calls for Papers and Confer-
ences on popular fiction
Editorial
Welcome to the latest issue of the EPOP Project
Newsletter. The EPOP Project (Popular Roots of European
Culture Through Film, Comics and Serialized Literature) is a
research and popularization project funded by the
European Commission’s Culture Programme 2007 and is
promoted by the Department of Music and Performing
Arts of the University of Bologna, the Faculty of
Humanities of the University of Limoges, the Pallas
Institute for Art Historical and Literature Studies of the
University of Leiden, the GRIT (Groupe des Recherche
sur l’Image et le Texte) of the Catholic University of
Louvain-la-Neuve, and the Department for Culture of
the Province of Pescara. The project started on 24
November 2008 and will be completed on 24 May 2010.
If you have any suggestions regarding the
newsletter or anything else relating to the project, please
contact federico.pagello@unibo.it.
With best wishes,
EPOP Project Publication Committee
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Call for a special issue
With a view to extending the EPOP network a forthcoming issue of the EPOP newsletter
(October or November 2009) will be dedicated to brief presentations of other research groups,
institutions, associations, academic, fan/collector reviews or web-sites, etcetera working on
European popular culture. Networking is an important aspect of the EPOP newsletter, and of the
project as a whole, one of the aims being to develop further research projects on the history of
European popular culture after the end of the first phase of EPOP.
If you are interested in participating in this special issue please send a brief text, including a
description of your interests and activities, to Federico Pagello at federico.pagello@unibo.it by 15
September.

Report: The EPOP work-meeting in

Bologna (18-20 May 2009)
In May the EPOP team members met in Bologna to review the work done so far, and to plan
future activities.

The Database
Loic Artiaga (Limoges team) presented the main principles underlying the design of the EPOP
database (see newsletter #3, #4–5): a. the collection and integration of data (both data already
available online and new data); b. the quantitative approach to the study of literary and
cinematographic objects; c. a geographical focus.

Methodology: Quantitative approach to the study of literature and the book industry
Since the 1960s, the historical and sociological quantitative study of the book industry has
considerably developed. The aim of this research is to approach the book dynamically as both a
commercial and cultural object. Relevant sources for such an approach include: legal deposit data
and national bibliographies, library catalogues, publishers’ catalogues and archives, etcetera. Some
existing examples of this kind of research are:
• The study of Gisèle Sapiro on the evolution of translations from French into Hebrew;
• The Mame Project (University of Tours): see http://mameetfils.hypotheses.org/;

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 • CIEL (Free University of Brussels and University of Liege), which has developed several
databases on French-language authors active in Belgium between 1920 and 1960.

Operative approach: collection and integration of data from online resources

The information for the database will be harvested from resources already online, such as The
European Library (http://search.theeuropeanlibrary.org/portal/en/index.html) and other national
and international online catalogues (such as the Library of Congress), but also fan sites, book sales
sites, etc.). Data from these various sources will be collated and verified against specialized
bibliographies.

The geographical focus of the database

The first aim of collecting information in the database is the identification of individual works.
The database has been structured to allow querying by all relevant criteria, such as author, title,
date of publication, etcetera. However, one of the most important aspects is the geographical
focus of the database: it will enable following the course of works through Europe (via
translations and foreign distribution), but also exploring the fictional geography of these works
(through representations of European and other countries). The database identifies the places of
birth and death of the individuals involved, the production locations for films, etcetera.
Conceptually, the database will be useful not only to collect information for the EPOP virtual
museum, but also to provide additional quantitative information. The database is devised to
remain a useful scholarly tool well beyond the duration of the current programme.

Farid Boumediene (Limoges team) is responsible for the technical conception of the database and
the possibilities it offers.

The conceptual data model

The relational system centres around the concept of archetypal characters in popular literature:
Character ↔ Opponent
Described by its archetype and appearing in
➘
One or more works
Categorised by type of material (e.g., novel) and type of plot
➘
Featuring further characters
Described by their function
➘
Involved in action in or more locations
Characters, authors, diegesis, distribution, etc.

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The database is organized in interconnected catalogues related to characters, works (printed,
audiovisual, theatrical), the people involved in producing and disseminating the works, the site of
the diegesis, the dissemination relating to authors and other persons involved. It allows the user to
map the spatial references through such graphic representations as maps, diagrams, etc.

The user interface

The database has a user-friendly graphic interface. Detailed instructions are available on the
database website.

Status and prospects

At the moment the database is accessible to EPOP members only, at http://www.flsh.unilim.fr/
epop. The database is a work in progress. In addition to ongoing data entry, technical adjustments
and improvements continue to be made as the EPOP teams systematically review the database
components, and evaluate the integrated data.

The Virtual Museum: its architecture and contents

The following structure for the Virtual Museum was agreed at the work meeting in Bologna:

Entry: Introduction
1. Introducing European Popular Culture (Jacques Migozzi)
Historical/Theorical ‘Rooms’:
2. Modes of Production, Marketing and Circulation (Adriaan van der Weel, Loïc Artiaga)
3. Authors (Adriaan van der Weel)
4. European Readers & Spectators (Loïc Artiaga, Monica Dall’Asta)
5. Young America and Old Europe. Reciprocal Influences and Shared Imaginary (Paul Bleton,
Monica Dall’Asta, Federico Pagello)
6. Imagery (Jean-Louis Tilleuil)
Monographic ‘Rooms’:
7. The Mysteries of the Cities (Matthieu Letourneux, Federico Pagello)
8. Adventure, Exoticism and the Colonial Imaginary (Matthieu Letourneux, Olivier Odaert,
Jacques Migozzi, Federico Pagello)
9. Fantastic, Horror and Anticipation (Mark Guillaumie, Natacha Levet)
10. Sherlock Holmes and Other Detectives (Natacha Levet, Federico Pagello, Jacques Carion)
11. The Out-Law, Gentlemen Thieves and Criminal Geniuses (Loïc Artiaga, Monica Dall’Asta,

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Natacha Levet)
12. Sentimental Literature (Jean-Louis Tilleuil, Jacques Migozzi, Matthieu Letourneux)
Exit
13. Quizzes, bibliographies and other critical materials; links.

The contracted minimum scope of the Virtual Museum is 400 images, 40–50 critical descriptive
texts (four 3000-character texts per room), 200 full texts of popular fiction, 500 literary references
and 300 film references.

The Exhibition
The exhibition, which will be the responsibility of the Louvain team, will include around fifty
panels, some original literary objects, and a video presenting an anthology of film sequences.
Structurally, the exhibition will be built on the model of the Virtual Museum: there will be a
panel for each room of the Virtual Museum (ten to twelve in total). Each room will comprise
three to four panels, at three to four images per panel.
Final details for the exhibition will be decided during the last EPOP work meeting in
December. The exhibition will be held in the Spring of 2010, in Louvain and in Pescara. It is
hoped it will travel to other places after EPOP officially ends.

The Book
A 200-page bilingual (French and English) book will be published by way of a catalogue of the
exhibition. In terms of concept and content it will be based on the Virtual Museum, and include
about one hundred illustrations. In line with the stated project aims of dissemination and
education the book will be designed to be able to function also as a teaching aid. The catalogue
will include the actual texts of the Virtual Museum, as well as additional commentaries for each
image. (A second book, a scholarly collection of essays, will follow after the end of the project,
with publication scheduled for 2011).

EPOP Public Presentation in Bologna, December 2009

In early December, the database, the Virtual Museum, and the cd-rom (which will contain the
Virtual Museum for teaching purposes) will be publicly presented in Bologna. This will take place
on the occasion of a two-session study day. In the morning, the presentations will take place,
followed by discussion. In the afternoon, there will be a round table on the preservation of the

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material cultural heritage related to European popular culture with contributions also from a
library and archive perspective. The day will close with a discussion on the issue of future projects
and partnerships among the established as well as potential new partners of EPOP. Especially for
the occasion, the Bologna Film Library will organize an exhibition of materials from their
collection of serial literature and comics and a screening of silent movies related to European
popular culture.

Beyond May 2010

Two further activities after the official end of the current three-year project have already been
planned. One is a collection of scholarly essays on the origins of European popular culture, to be
published in 2011. The second is a conference to be organized by the EPOP team of Louvain-la-
Neuve in early 2011, intended to gather both current project partners and other interested parties.

The Bologna EPOP Team

The Department of Music and Performing Arts

The Department of Music and Performing Arts (DMS) of the University of Bologna undertakes
historical research in the broad field of popular
cinema and its relationship with popular culture
at large. Analyzing both early and contemporary
cinema, as well as other forms of visual
narratives, film studies have increasingly paid
attention to the cultural value of the often
neglected popular arts and their complex
intermedial connections. DMS researchers
explore popular culture from many perspectives:
in its migration from silent cinema to new media
and from serial literature to comics, focusing on
various historical periods and geographical areas,
adopting diverse theoretical and methodological
frameworks, etcetera.
The DMS offers many undergraduate and

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graduate courses on these topics, such as ‘Forms of Audiovisual Popular Narratives’, ‘Forms of
Serial Cinema and Television’, ‘Dynamics of Intertextual and Intermedia Processes’, ‘Cinema and
Cultural Studies’. More information can be found at www.muspe.unibo.it.

The Archeology of Serial Cinema Research Group

Monica Dall’Asta leads the research group on the ‘Archeology of Serial Cinema’ for the study of
the relationship between silent serial films and older examples of industrial serialization of
narrative texts. Long before television, silent cinema imported from popular literature various
serial forms, such as ‘serials’, ‘series’, ‘sequels’, etcetera, establishing strong synergies between
different sectors of the cultural industries. Furthermore, along with the birth of the feature film
the appearance of the serial film was undoubtedly one of the most notable among the many
innovations that transformed the film market during the First World War. The transnational
circulation of these products was a crucial aspect of the development of cultural industries, and
made for fast dissemination of a new popular culture on a global scale. The relationship between
silent cinema and other literary and visual languages is an important aspect of this phenomenon,
since transmediality strongly reinforced the transnational
circulation of serial fictions. Images favoured more rapid Monica Dall’Asta
processes of translation, adaptation, as well as enjoyment
by an international public. Illustration, comics,
Trame spezzate
Archeologia del film seriale
novelizations, picture stories, and films facilitated the
diffusion of the same themes and characters beyond
national boundaries. (Various materials on the history of
serial cinema are available from http://www.cinema.uni-
bo.it/index.php?id=337.) Monica Dall’Asta’s chief
publications include:
M. Dall’Asta, Trame spezzate. Archeologia del film seriale, Le
Mani, Recco 2009 (forthcoming)
M. Dall’Asta, ‘Dal melodramma alla serialità: Il caso
Fantômas’, in: S. Pesce (ed.), Imitazioni della vita: Il
melodramma cinematografico, Le Mani, Recco 2007
M. Dall’Asta (ed.), Fantômas. La vita plurale di un antieroe, Il
Principe costante, Udine 2004 Le Mani

M. Dall’Asta, ‘American Serials and the Identity of

French Cinema, or How to Resist Colonization’, Cinegrafie 14 (2001)
M. Dall’Asta, ‘Italian Serial Films and “International Popular Style”’, Film History 3 (2000)
M. Dall’Asta, ‘Maciste: ein Stereotyp westlicher Männlichkeit’, Kintop 7 (1998)

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M. Dall’Asta, ‘Forms of Excess: the French Cinéroman between Sensationalism and Nostalgia’,
Cinegrafie 9 (1996)
M. Dall’Asta, ‘Le film à épisodes entre système primitif et système classique’, in J. Gili et al. (eds.),
Les Vingt Premières Années du cinéma français, Presses de la Sorbonne nouvelle, Paris 1995
M. Dall’Asta, Un Cinéma musclé, Yellow Now, Crisnée 1992

Calls for papers and Conferences on

Popular Fiction
CFP: «Régis Messac, l’écrivain-journaliste à re-connaître?»,
5-6 février 2010

Le colloque, organisé par le Centre d’études et de recherches sur François Mauriac /

E.A. TELEM n°4195 de l’Université Michel-de-Montaigne Bordeaux 3, s’intègre à ses
recherches actuelles menées sur les relations entre littérature et journalisme au XXe
siècle. Il aura pour objet, en association avec la Société des amis de Régis Messac,
d’explorer pour la première fois l’œuvre journalistique de Régis Messac.

La critique littéraire présente Régis Messac (1893-1945) comme le premier exégète de la littérature
policière, comme un précurseur de la science-fiction française, et lui octroie le statut d’historien de
la littérature populaire et d’imagination scientifique. Penseur et écrivain révolutionnaire, l’auteur du
« Detective Novel » et de Quinzinzinzili a cependant produit une œuvre plus vaste et plus variée,
notamment dans le domaine journalistique. Cette activité l’a conduit à s’exprimer sur toutes les
branches de la sociologie du XXe siècle en termes d’économie politique, de sciences, d’art, de
culture, d’histoire, d’éducation, de pédagogie, d’écologie, de prospective… Dès la fin de la guerre
de 1914, Messac donne ses premiers articles à la Fusée et à l’Activité française et étrangère, tout en
écrivant pour le journal la Liberté d’opinion que dirige l’avocat Jacques Bonzon. Il y développe ses
thèmes de prédilection : la corruption, la collusion des puissances financières et du pouvoir
politique, l’antimilitarisme, son hostilité à la religion, à la bourgeoisie, à la famille traditionnelle; il
traite abondamment des problèmes des femmes et des lacunes du système éducatif. De 1924 à
1929, il réside en Amérique d’où il envoie de nombreux articles et reportages que publient le
Quotidien et le Progrès civique dirigés par Henry Dumay. Messac se manifeste aussi à travers des

8
études à caractère littéraire ou scientifique que l’on retrouve dans les colonnes de la Grande Revue, la
Revue belge, la Revue d’histoire littéraire de la France, la Revue de littérature comparée, Science, la Science
illustrée… Sur le terrain des idées, Messac s'engage très ouvertement à travers sa participation à des
périodiques libertaires, syndicaux, vo’re des revues dites de « littérature prolétarienne ». On trouve
sa signature dans Patrie humaine, Barrage, l’Idée libre, Encre rouge, l’École émancipée, l’École libératrice,
l’Université nouvelle, la Révolution prolétarienne, les Humbles… Mais surtout, Régis Messac devient
rédacteur en chef des Primaires, de janvier 1932 à mars 1940, revue mensuelle dans laquelle il tient
notamment la chronique des Idées et sa rubrique Propos d’un utopien. À partir de 1937, il rédige
chaque semaine la page culturelle de Nouvel Âge, fondé et dirigé par Georges Valois. Son œuvre
constitue un ensemble de près de 900 articles actuellement recensés. Ils sont conservés par la
Société des amis de Régis Messac. La Société des amis de Régis Messac (Paris) tient ses archives
ouvertes pour tous ceux qui seraient intéressés par ces perspectives de travail et de recherche.
Les propositions de communications devront parvenir avant le 15 septembre 2009 à l’adresse
électronique suivante: natacha.vas-deyres@u-bordeaux3.fr. Elles devront comporter :
• Un résumé ou une problématique de votre communication en une quinzaine de lignes
(format Word, Times, corps 12);
• Le corpus d’articles choisi.
Le temps imparti pour chaque communication ne devra pas excéder vingt minutes.
The complete cfp can be found at the following address  : http://www.equipe-telem.fr/
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=196:regis-messac-lecrivain-journaliste-a-re-
connaitre-&catid=50:appels-a-contribution&Itemid=67.

21-22 Janvier 2010

Colloque « Littérature et consolation »
Université d’Artois – Texte et Culture

Entre 1960 et 1970, à travers plusieurs articles, Umberto Eco étudiait la littérature populaire et
revenait à cette occasion sur la mission consolatrice de la littérature, en réinterprétant notamment
ainsi la catharsis aristotélicienne. De fait, si la littérature populaire se prête particulièrement bien à
ce programme «  consolateur  », c’est toute la littérature qui peut être analysée en ce sens – les
manuels scolaires de dissertation ont un temps accumulé les citations d’auteurs à ce sujet. Ainsi,
c’est non seulement à la littérature populaire (où le processus est sans doute le plus visible et le
plus fondateur) mais également à toute la littérature – y compris d’ailleurs la moins « consolatrice »

9
de prime abord, que l’on pense à la citation de Kafka – que l’on appliquera l’étude, en s’en tenant
néanmoins à la littérature narrative (et notamment au fonctionnement spécifique du roman, par
essence moins « rassurant » que le mythe), autour de trois axes de réflexion :
• La forme  : quels sont les procédés formels (structure d’ensemble, instance narrative,
rythmes, style en général) les plus propres à cet effet  ? On s’interrogera par exemple sur
l’usage de la variation et de la répétition, mais l’on pourra également examiner la place qui
peut être accordée à l’humour, ou inversement au pathétique.
• Le héros : le héros consolateur est-il celui à qui l’on s’identifie (comment fonctionne par
exemple l’identification au super-héros  ?) ou au contraire celui dont l’altérité (ou les
malheurs) nous soulagent ?
• L’idéologie : à propos de la littérature populaire, Eco emploie le terme de « démagogique »
– elle est également souvent qualifiée de réactionnaire – ce qui incite à interroger le lien
établi entre consolation et politique (y compris sur le plan diachronique, en abordant les
variations du besoin selon les périodes historiques), et la posture adoptée par l’auteur : quels
sont les objectifs (affichés, inconscients) de son texte, tant à son propre usage qu’à celui des
lecteurs, voire à celui d’éventuels commanditaires ?
Obliquement, il s’agira donc également d’aborder en partie la question du plaisir du texte.
Les communications pourront porter sur la littérature narrative dans son ensemble, «  grande
littérature » (sans omettre des textes a priori peu « consolateurs », qui offrent l’intérêt du paradoxe
et donc d’angles différents) comme littérature populaire – française et étrangère (y a-t-il des
invariants, universels  ?), mais aussi littérature de jeunesse, dont un pan important remplit les
mêmes fonctions (avec quelle spécificité ?). Ponctuellement, on pourra ouvrir la comparaison avec
d’autres arts (peinture, musique), puisqu’il s’agit là d’une question qui concerne l’art en général.

Programme
Jeudi 21/01 :
- 9h : Accueil des participants
9h30 – 10h : Introduction : F. Marcoin (Université d’Artois)
10h – 10h30  : J. Migozzi (Université de Limoges)  : Etat des lieux théorique, historique et
méthodologique
11h – 11h30 : F. Suard (Université Paris X Nanterre) : Influence au Moyen Age du De consolatione
de Boèce
11h30 – 12h : J-M. Vercruysse (Université d’Artois) : la consolation chrétienne à la fin de l’empire
14h – 14h30 : P. Moran (ENS Ulm) : La mort du héros récurrent : rappel au principe de réalité ou
ultime consolation ? Du Lancelot-Graal à la paralittérature contemporaine
14h30 – 15h : C. Roussel (Université de Clermont-Ferrand): le chagrin et la pitié dans les dernières

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chansons de geste
15h30 – 16h : N. Cremona (ENS Ulm) : Les histoires tragiques (Poissenot)
16h – 16h30  : B. Gendrel (ENS Ulm)  : Le miroir ou le rêve  : deux exemples de consolation
romanesque chez Jacques Vingtras
Vendredi 22/01 :
9h – 9h30 : D. Couegnas (Université de Nantes) : dénouement romanesque et consolation
9h30 – 10h : N. Jaeck (Université de Bordeaux) : sur Dickens
10h30 – 11h : M. Petit (Anthropologue, CNRS) : L’expérience du lecteur « lointain » (lectures en
Amérique du Sud)
11h – 11h30 : C-H. Joubert (compositeur, ancien directeur de l’Institut de Pédagogie Musicale et
Chorégraphique de la Villette) : ‘Assurément, la musique n’est pas capable de consoler’ (Philodème
de Gadara, philosophe épicurien)
Repas et bilan

Journal of European Popular Culture

The Journal of European Popular Culture is a new peer-reviewed journal published by Intellect
(http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=177/).
Edited by Professor Graeme Harper (graeme.harper@bangor.ac.uk), the journal investigates
the creative cultures of Europe, present and past. Exploring European popular imagery, media,
new media, film, music, art and design, architecture, drama and dance, literature and the writing
arts, fine art and more, the journal is also of interest to those considering the influence of
European creativity and European creative artefacts worldwide.
The journal seeks lively submissions on all aspects of European cultural and creative activity.
The journal is interested in contemporary practices, but also in historical, contextual, biographical
or theoretical analyses relating to past cultural activities in Europe. Papers or exploratory critical or
creative pieces relating to European media, literature and the writing arts, film, music, new media,
art and design, architecture, drama and dance or fine art are all very welcome.

About this Newsletter

The EPOP Project Newsletter provides news about the development of the project activities and circulates
information on research and events concerning the history of European popular culture. The newsletter is published
monthly. To be removed from our mailing list, just click reply, and put ‘remove’ in the subject line. We will
immediately remove your email address from our mailing-list. This publication reflects the views only of its authors,
and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information
contained therein.

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