Was the belles lettres tradition more prominent in England or France of the 19th century?

Answer 1

Before the rise of the Romantic Movement, rhetoricians taught that all writing should be didactic, that it should instruct by pleasing. However, beginning in the early part of the 19th century, critics, such as the Scottish rhetor Hugh Blair and the English poet William Wordsworth, began to urge authors to write naturally, expressing strong emotions. Thus, the writing of literature merely to please the reader became an end in itself rather than a means to an end.

Most of this overflow of powerful feelings came about as a reaction to the excesses of the French Revolution. The university literature department also developed during the 19th century, thus splitting the study of literature from philosophy. University publications from this period in both the United States and the United Kingdom, for instance, talk about the study of the belles lettres.

As to which country adopted a more belles lettres point-of-view, it's probably a tie perhaps because an industrialized, middle-class reading public in both England and France had the time to induldge in the likes of Madame Bovary or Jane Eyre.

Answer 2

I think belles lettres is more prominent in France.

Answer 3

I don't know but if you can search on yahoo I am sure there is an answer out there