| The Werewolf of Paris | |
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Dust-jacket of the first edition of The Werewolf of Paris |
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| Author(s) | Guy Endore |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Horror novel |
| Publisher | Farrar & Rinehart |
| Publication date | 1933 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 325 pp |
| ISBN | NA |
The Werewolf of Paris (1933) is a horror novel by Guy Endore. The novel follows Bertrand Caillet, the main character, who turns into a werewolf.
Contents |
Bertrand is born on a Christmas Eve to a woman who had been molested by a priest. He shares the last name of a family previously known to have produced a werewolf.
Bertrand grows up with strange sadistic and sexual desires which are usually expressed as dreams. Sometimes the dreams are memories of actual experiences in which he had transformed into a wolf.
His step-uncle, Aymar Galliez, who raises the boy (along with his mother and a servant), soon finds out about Bertrand's affliction. Bertrand flees to Paris after an assault on a prostitute, an incestuous union with his mother and a murder in their home village. Aymar tries to find Bertrand by studying the details of local crimes, such as mauling of corpses and various murders.
Bertrand joins the National Guard during the Franco-Prussian War, doing little fighting and finding love from a girl who works at a canteen. However, Bertrand and his love, Sophie, are forced to deal with his affliction. They try to avoid the violent effects of his transformation by cutting into parts of her body and allowing him to suck her blood.
Aymar finds Bertrand in Paris during the Paris Commune, but thinking that love has cured Bertrand, he decides not to take action. Fearing that he'll accidentally kill Sophie, Bertrand goes out one night to feed on someone else. However, he is caught attacking a man after transforming into a wolf. Aymar supports burning Bertrand at the stake, but a court trial sentences him to an infirmary.
Aymar transfers Bertrand to an asylum after the Versaillists have taken back Paris. Unbeknownst to Aymar, Bertrand suffers in a small cell, drugged when he is visited by his uncle. Bertrand eventually commits suicide by jumping from the building with a girl he mistakenly believes is Sophie. Their deaths are similar to a suicide fantasy that Bertrand and Sophie enjoyed; the real Sophie had previously committed suicide on her own, unable to deal with her separation from Bertrand.
Boucher and McComas described the novel as a "superb blend of fantasy and psycho-pathology and history."[1].
After writing The Man From Limbo in 1930, Endore achieved a moderate success for Farrar & Rinehart in 1933, with The Werewolf of Paris going through numerous printings for the clothbound first edition (pictured at right). Extant copies in dustjackets are increasingly rare. It is rumored that Endore, suffering under the impact of the Great Depression, sold the manuscript outright to Farrar & Rinehart for a flat-fee, thus receiving no additional royalties from its subsequent success. Given that Endore's following novel, Babouk, was published elsewhere (Vanguard, 1934), this story could have merit, although that work's revolutionary Haitian subject matter may have proved too controversial for F&R.
After being blacklisted from Hollywood due to his Communist affiliations, Endore left screenwriting and published several other Freudian-tinged mysteries (Methinks the Lady, Detour at Night) and also returned to his love of French history for biographies on the Marquis de Sade, Voltaire, and Rousseau (Satan's Saint, Voltaire! Voltaire!) . His only other popular literary success came with King of Paris (1950s), a historical novel based on the life of Alexandre Dumas.
Despite the fact that Endore worked for Universal Studios, The Werewolf of Paris did not serve as the basis either for Werewolf of London (1935) nor The Wolf Man (1941). Hammer Studios' The Curse of the Werewolf (1962) was the first adaptation of the story. Legend of the Werewolf (1975) was also based on the novel.