JANIN, Jules Gabriel, French critic: b. Saint Etienne, department of the Loire, 16 Feb. 1804; d. Paris, 20 June 1874. He was educated at Saint Etienne and at the College Louis-le Grand; studied law and became a private tutor in the Latin quarter of Paris; and then turned to literature becoming editor, novelist, journal ist and critic. He soon became a contributor to several papers, notably the Liberal opposition paper Le Figaro. and the government paper Quotidienne, and in 1836 became connected as dramatic critic with the Journal des Dibats, in the columns of which he wrote for nearly 40 years. He possessed a wonderful piquancy of style and an airy grace of sentiment and wit, which made him a delightful retailer of small talk, but as a critic, however, he was utterly in consistent through lack of any general prin ciples of judgment, and said the first thing that entered his mind, though fortunately his lack of judgment was linked with amiability. He was an indefatigable worker and was in con stant demand by the publishers of Paris to re view books, write prefaces, and do other literary work. Of his published works, one or two of
which are remarkable both in substance and style, the following are noteworthy: 'L'ane Mort et la Femme Guillotinee> (18N), which went through several editions; 'Histoire de la litterature dramatique en France' (6 vols., 1858), a selection of his weekly fesoilletons, altered and remodeled so as to present a sketch of the history of the French stage and dramatic artists during nearly a quarter of a century; 'Rachel et la tragedie,' a biographical and critical work upon that great tralic artist, with photographic illustrations (1859 , and a translation of 'Horace' into French (6th ed., 1885). His (CEuvres de Jules Janin' (12 vols., 1875-78), and 'Correspondence' (1877) ap peared after his death. He became a member of the French Academy in 1870.