The French poet Delille (1738-1813) made his major works famous long before their publication.

What is it about?

One of the most surprising aspects of the glory enjoyed by Delille during his lifetime is the fact that most of his works were famous long before they were published, thanks to the early disclosure of fragments of these texts, either in printed form or during Delille's numerous public readings. This strategy testifies to the ability of the writer and his publishers to mobilize, from the late Enlightenment to the Premier Empire, a media system allowing them to raise and regulate expectations. By arguing that Delille should be perceived as a man of the written word and as an exceptional performer of his own verse, the paper also shows that after his death, the oblivion that affected this second facet of his activities played a crucial role in making his reputation inexplicable to posterity.

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Why is it important?

The article examines the potential synergies and conflicts between different regimes of poetry dissemination (oral reading of fragments, pre-publications in the press, and final publication), while offering a quantitative study of Delille's public performances as they can be reconstructed after over two centuries.