From the Editor

And so it begins: in the current issue of Nineteenth-Century French Studies we are pleased to launch a new dialogic format, entitled Incipit. David F. Bell and Catherine Witt accepted the charge of reflecting on the present and future state of nineteenth-century French studies. We hope that their initial essays and the exchange that followed will stimulate further conversations addressing the wide array of questions raised.

Their dialogue—drawing on Arendt, Benjamin, Butler, Frederick Cooper, Hegel, Charcot, Mallarmé, Kant, Proust, mla job announcements, Derrida, Margaret Cohen, Gallica, Dante, Craig Mod, Balzac, the nih, Toril Moi, Baudelaire, Médias 19, Aristotle, John Durham Peters, and Michelet, to name but a few—is exemplary for its breadth and for its ability to contribute to the journal’s tradition of publishing important work devoted to a wide range of topics in the long nineteenth century. In this respect it is consistent with this issue’s regular submissions, where readers will find similar depth of analysis in Isabelle Guillaume on wolves, K. Adele Okoli on colonialist reverie, Elizabeth Berkebile McManus on illusions, Hope Christiansen on mentorship, Janice Best on censure in vaudeville, Briana Lewis on regulation and redemption in Les Misérables, and Marcos Flamínio Peres on Brazilian echoes of Balzac.

Whether commissioned or submitted, single-author or collaborative, the contributions in this issue exemplify the journal’s ongoing commitment to inquiry in all its forms, and in all areas of nineteenth-century French studies and related fields.

SW