Paraguay in the Parisian weekly L'Illustration: the writing of enlightened exoticism (1853-1870)

Abstract

This article examines the writing conditions of the illustrated news features about Paraguay published between 1853 and 1870 by French weekly L’Illustration. While the accompanying engravings identified the authors of the original sketches or photographs, insisting on their faithful and intervention-free depiction, the sources of the information presented in those news articles were not always explicit. The newspaper employed a combination of direct witness accounts, published sources, and contributions from correspondents that were not always present on-site, and the Parisian staff writers played a significant role in selecting texts from diverse origins, organizing them, and defining an editorial perspective. For the Triple Alliance War (1864-70), specifically, the journal was originally involved in the propaganda war waged by the contenders in Europe, but subsequently took an independent stance towards the armed conflict.