Arsène Lupin

Arsène Lupin is a fictional character who appears in a book series of detective fiction / crime fiction novels written by French writer Maurice Leblanc, as well as a number of non-canonical sequels and numerous film, television such as Night Hood, stage play and comic book adaptations.

Contents

Overview

A contemporary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Maurice Leblanc (1864–1941) was the creator of the character of gentleman thief Arsène Lupin who, in Francophone countries, has enjoyed a popularity as long-lasting and considerable as Sherlock Holmes in the English-speaking world.

There are twenty volumes in the Arsène Lupin series written by Leblanc himself, plus five authorized sequels written by the celebrated mystery writing team of Boileau-Narcejac, as well as various pastiches.

The character of Lupin was first introduced in a series of short stories serialized in the magazine Je Sais Tout, starting in No. 6, dated 15 July 1905. He was originally called Arsène Lopin, until a local politician of the same name protested, resulting in the name change.

Arsène Lupin is a literary descendant of Pierre Alexis Ponson du Terrail's Rocambole. Like him, he is often a force for good, while operating on the wrong side of the law. Those whom Lupin defeats, always with his characteristic Gallic style and panache, are worse villains than he. Lupin is somewhat similar to A. J. Raffles and anticipates characters such as The Saint.

The character of Arsène Lupin might have been based by Leblanc on French anarchist Marius Jacob, whose trial made headlines in March 1905, but Leblanc had also read Octave Mirbeau's Les 21 jours d'un neurasthénique (1901), which features a gentleman thief named Arthur Lebeau, and had seen Mirbeau's comedy Scrupules (1902), whose main character is a gentleman thief.

Bibliography

  1. Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar (Arsène Lupin, gentleman cambrioleur, 1907 coll., 9 stories) (AKA Exploits of Arsène Lupin, Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin)
  2. Arsene Lupin vs. Herlock Sholmes (Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmès, 1908 coll., 2 stories) (AKA The Blonde Lady)
  3. The Hollow Needle (L'Aiguille creuse, 1909)
  4. 813 (813, 1910)
  5. The Crystal Stopper (Le Bouchon de cristal, 1912)
  6. The Confessions of Arsene Lupin (Les Confidences d'Arsène Lupin, 1913 coll., 9 stories)
  7. The Shell Shard (L'Éclat d'obus, 1916) (AKA: Woman of Mystery)
  8. The Golden Triangle (Le Triangle d'or, 1918) (AKA: The Return of Arsène Lupin)
  9. The Island of Thirty Coffins aka The Secret of Sarek (L’Île aux trente cercueils, 1919) (AKA: The Secret of Sarek)
  10. The Teeth Of The Tiger (Les Dents du tigre, 1921)
  11. The Eight Strokes Of The Clock (Les Huit Coups de l'horloge, 1923 coll., 8 stories)
  12. The Countess Of Cagliostro (La Comtesse de Cagliostro, 1924)
  13. The Damsel With Green Eyes (La Demoiselle aux yeux verts, 1927) (AKA: The Girl With the Green Eyes, Arsène Lupin, Super Sleuth)
  14. The Barnett & Co. Agency (L'Agence Barnett et Cie., 1928) (AKA: Jim Barnett Intervenes, Arsène Lupin Intervenes)
  15. The Mysterious Mansion (La Demeure mystérieuse, 1929) (AKA: The Melamare Mystery)
  16. The Mystery of The Green Ruby (La Barre-y-va, 1931)
  17. The Woman With Two Smiles (La Femme aux deux sourires, 1933)
  18. Paris-Soir (Victor de la Brigade mondaine, 1933)
  19. The Revenge Of The Countess Of Cagliostro (La Cagliostro se venge, 1935)
  20. The Billions Of Arsene Lupin (Les Milliards d'Arsène Lupin, 1939)
  21. The Last Love of Arsene Lupin (Le Dernier Amour d'Arsène Lupin, unpublished)

By other writers

Notable pastiches

Arsène Lupin and Sherlock Holmes

Leblanc introduced Sherlock Holmes to Lupin in the short story Sherlock Holmes arrives too late in Je Sais Tout No. 17, 15 June 1906. In it, Holmes meets a young Lupin for the first time. After legal objections from Conan Doyle, the name was changed to "Herlock Sholmes" when the story was collected in book form in Volume 1.

Sholmes returned in two more stories collected in Volume 2, Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmes, and then in a guest-starring role in the battle for the secret of the Hollow Needle in L'Aiguille creuse. Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmes was published in the US in 1910 under the title The Blonde Lady which used the name "Holmlock Shears" for Sherlock Holmes, and "Wilson" for Watson.

In 813, Lupin manages to solve a riddle that Herlock Sholmes was unable to figure out.

Sherlock Holmes, this time with his real name and accompanied by familiar characters such as Watson and Lestrade, also confronted Arsène Lupin in the 2008 PC 3D adventure game Sherlock Holmes versus Arsène Lupin. In this game Holmes (and occasionally others) are attempting to stop Lupin from stealing five British valuable items. Lupin wants to steal the items in order to humiliate Britain, but he also admires Holmes and thus challenges him to try to stop him.

In a novella "The Prisoner of the Tower, or A Short But Beautiful Journey of Three Wise Men" by Boris Akunin published in 2008 in Russia as the conclusion of "Jade Rosary Beads" book, Sherlock Holmes and Erast Fandorin oppose Arsène Lupin on December 31, 1899.

Fantasy elements

Several Arsène Lupin novels contain some interesting fantasy elements: a radioactive 'god-stone' that cures people and causes mutations is the object of an epic battle in L’Île aux trente cercueils; the secret of the Fountain of Youth, a mineral water source hidden beneath a lake in the Auvergne, is the goal sought by the protagonists in La Demoiselle aux yeux verts; finally, in La Comtesse de Cagliostro, Lupin’s arch-enemy and lover is none other than Joséphine Balsamo, the alleged granddaughter of Cagliostro himself.

Films

Television

Stage

Animation

Comics

Video Games

References

  1. ^ Sherlock Holmes Vs Arsene Lupin, Retrieved 2007-06-21

External links