Ficelle (pronounced fis-elle or fis-elle-ah (French))
(1) A variant
of baguette (a type of French bread), similar in composition and appearance
except much thinner.
(2) String
or twine (in French), used literally & figuratively.
(3) In
literary theory, a confidant (a confidante if a female), whose role within the text
is to elicit information, conveyed to the reader without narratorial
intervention
1880s: From
the French ficelle (string; twine), from
the Old French ficel, & ficelle (small cord; thread), probably
from the Vulgar Latin filicella, from
fibrilla, a diminutive form of fibra (fiber; filament) from fīlum (thread). The French phrase ficelles du metier (tricks
of the trade) appears of the in the form apprendre
les ficelles du metier which translates best as “to learn the ropes”. The French verb ficeler translates as “to tie up, to truss”. In French, as well as the literal meanings
(of string and certain breads), ficelle
also has figurative uses. It can be used
to refer to a subtle trick or stratagem but it’s most popular as an allusion to
“string pulling”, suggesting “behind the scenes” manipulation or “back channel”
deals. In English, it evolved to enjoy
two niches: (1) in literary theory and (2) in culinary and artisanal bakery use. Ficelle is a noun & verb; the noun plural
is ficelles.
In literary
theory, a ficelle is the confidant character whose role within the text is to
elicit information, conveyed to the reader without narratorial intervention. The term was introduced by the author Henry James (1843–1916) who used the
word in the sense it appeared in French théâtre
de marionnettes (marionette theatre) to refer to the strings with which the
puppeteer manipulated their puppets.
What James wanted was a word to inhabit the literary grey area between
the confidant and the narrator, his idea being the character in a novel who is presented
as the friend of another but whose purpose as a literary device was to be the “friend
of the reader”, imparting vital information without the disruptive intervention
of a narrator.
The society masseuse Mrs Heaney in the tragi-comedy of manners The Custom of the Country (1913) by US novelist & interior decorator Edith Wharton (1862–1937) was a ficelle. Acting as a kind of mentor and even a surrogate mother to Ms Spragg, she uses her keen (but remote) observation of New York’s high society to live a kind of vicarious existence in those circles through the young protagonist, but Wharton’s literary purpose was to use her to flesh out the text with facts helpful to the reader’s understanding. The classic ficelle however was James's own Maisie Farange in What Maisie Knew (1897) the naive but preternaturally wise child in whom the warring parents, step-parents and lovers casually confide, and through whose eyes the story is told. There can be overlap in the literary roles of confidant, narrator and ficelle (Lindsay Lohan’s Cady Heron in Mean Girls (2004) has elements of all three) but according to literary theory (1) a ficelle usually is a confidant but must not be a narrator, (2) a confidant can be a narrator if not a ficelle. In the literary tradition Cady Heron was an untypical protagonist in that most confidants have only a marginal role in the plot, their main function to listen to the intimate feelings and intentions of the protagonist; someone like Horatio in William Shakespeare’s (1564–1616) Hamlet (circa 1600) or the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s (1859–1930) Dr Watson who was the “sounding board” for Sherlock Holmes.
The
narrator has a longer tradition and was one of the features of Greek theatre
and both Plato (circa 427-348 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC) defined three
types: (1) the speaker or poet (or any kind of writer) who uses his own voice, (2) one who assumes the voice
of another person or persons, speaking in a voice not his own and (3) one who
uses a mixture of his own voice and that of others. In both drama and fiction there are countless
examples of each technique but authors could combine the modes, all three
appearing in John Milton’s Paradise
Lost: Milton begins in his own voice in the first person to invoke
the “Heavenly Muse” but later the impression is created that the Muse (ie the
Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit) responds to Milton's formal invocation,
thus beginning the main
narrative. When first Satan speaks, the
third voice is introduced and it’s not until Book III Milton returns to his “own
voice” although of course, as the author, all is Milton’s own. TS Eliot (1888–1965) in his essay The Three Voices of Poetry (1954) interpreted
the notion as it could be mapped onto modern verse: “The first voice is the
voice of the poet talking to himself - or to nobody. The second is the voice of the poet addressing
an audience, whether large or small. The
third is the voice of the poet when he attempts to create a dramatic character
speaking in verse when he is saying not what he would say in his own person, but
only what he can say within the limits of one imaginary character addressing
another imaginary character.”
Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970; President of France 1959-1969) in 1962 famously observed of his nation: “How can you govern a country which has two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheese?” and he’d probably be amused to learn that by 2024 some 1,600 distinct types had been identified. There aren’t quite than many types of baguette but there are still a few including the “artisan baguette”, “moulded baguette”, “floured baguette”, “chocolate baguette”, “multicereal baguette”, “whole wheat baguette, “baguette a l’ancienne” (old-fashioned), “Viennoise baguette”, “Sourdough baguette”, “Baguette de Seigle”, “Baguette en épis” (corn baguette) and the “ficelle”. The difference between the classic baguette of the popular imagination is essentially the size and shape. A typical baguette is 610-710 mm (24-26 inches) in length with a slender, elongated shape, the crust crispy crust and the centre airy. The ficelle is both narrower and shorter (usually around 300-400 mm (12-16 inches) long and renowned for its chewier texture and slightly thinner crust, characteristics which make it less versatile than a baguette but they are popular for making gourmet rolls or as an alternative to crackers when serving dips or spreads. Something like the ficelle may genuinely have been the original form of the modern baguette but the name was adopted only late in the nineteenth century to distinguish them from the larger creations which had become popular; it was an allusion to a “piece of string”, the diminutive ficelle long and narrow by comparison with what had become the “standard” baguette.
The origin of the baguette (as it's now understood) is truly a mystery and there are so many tales that it's recommended people choose to believe which ever most appeals to the. In France, a true baguette (Baguette artisanale) is made from ingredients and with a method defined in law while the famous shape is a convention. Typically, baguettes have a diameter between 50-75 mm (2-3 inches) and are some 610-710 mm (24-26 inches) in length although the 1 m (39 inch) baguette is not unusual, popular especially with the catering trade. It’s a little misleading to suggest the baguette was invented because for centuries loaves in the shape existed in many places around the world and recipes for the mixing of dough were constantly subject to changes imposed by the success of harvests, economics, supply-chain disruptions and simple experimentation. The baguette instead evolved and its popularity was a thing of natural selection; it survived because people preferred the taste, texture and convenience of form while other breads faded from use. It seems clear that the long, stick-like direct ancestors of the baguette began to assume their recognizably modern form in French towns and cities in the eighteenth century although doubtless there was much variation between regions and probably even between bakers in the same place. The daily bread being the classic market economy, bakers would be influenced by losing sales to a more popular shop and so would adjust their mixes or techniques to attract customers back. In this way a standardized form would have emerged and, in the French way, by 1920 the assembly had passed a law codifying the critical parameters (weight, size and price), formalizing the popular name baguette. In 2003, the jocular slang "freedom bread" emerged to describe the baguette, an allusion to the "Freedom Fries" which replaced "French Fries" in US government staff canteens while there was tension between the White House and the Élysée Palace over France's attitude to the proposed invasion of Iraq.
Lindsay Lohan in promotion for @lilybakerjewels, 2020. The Rainbow Baguette Ring (centre) using stones cut in a true “baguette” rectangle whereas the Rainbow Bracelet used squares.
Globalization and modern techniques of mass production however intruded on many aspects of French lives and bakeries weren’t immune from the challenge of the cheap “baguette” sold by supermarkets. Even among the boulangerie (a French bakery in which the bread must, by law, be baked on-premises) there were some who resorted to less demanding methods of production to compete. As a matter of cultural protection, the assembly in 1993 enacted Le Décret Pain (The Bread Decree) which stipulates that to be described as pain maison (homemade bread), a bread needs to be wholly kneaded, shaped, and baked at the place of sale. To limit the scope of the supermarkets (some of which were importing frozen, pre-prepared dough), rules also defined what pain traditionnel français (traditional French bread) may be made from and banning any pre-made components from baguettes. Also retained was the relevant provision of the 1920 labor legislation which prohibits the employment of people in bread and pastry making between ten in the evening and four in the morning. So, when visiting a boulangerie, it’s recommended to ask for a baguette de tradition française (usually as baguette de tradition) which is made from wheat flour, water, yeast, and common salt (reflecting modern practice, one may contain up to 0.5% soya flour, up to 2% broad bean flour and up to 0.3% wheat malt flour) and the dough must rest between 15-20 hours at a temperature between 4-6o C (43-46o F). The less exalted baguettes ordinaires, are made with baker's yeast and a less exacting specification.
The French Ministère de la Culture’s (Ministry of Culture) L'inventaire national du Patrimoine culturel immatériel (National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage) in 2018 added the baguette to its index and in 2022, the artisanal know-how and culture of the baguette was added to UNESCO’s (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Already preserving the information about some 600 traditions from more than 130 countries, UNESCO noted the addition by saying it celebrated the French way of life, something of which the baguette, as a central part of the French diet for at least 100 years, was emblematic. With some 16 million consumed in France every day, the “…the baguette is a daily ritual, a structuring element of the meal, synonymous with sharing and conviviality", a statement from UNESCO read, concluding it was “…important that these skills and social habits continue to exist in the future."
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