Arsène Lupin

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For the anime character, see Arsène Lupin III.

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, stage play and comic book adaptations.

Contents

[edit] Overview

A contemporary of 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 notorious 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. His was initially called Arsène Lopin after a local politician, who protested.

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 seen Mirbeau's comedy Scrupules (1902), whose main character is a gentleman thief.

[edit] Bibliography

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 The Last Love of Arsene Lupin (unpublished) Le Dernier Amour d'Arsène Lupin

[edit] By other writers

  • by Boileau-Narcejac:
    1. Le Secret d’Eunerville (1973)
    2. La Poudrière (1974)
    3. Le Second visage d’Arsène Lupin (1975)
    4. La Justice d’Arsène Lupin (1977)
    5. Le Serment d’Arsène Lupin (1979)

[edit] Notable pastiches

  • Arsène Lupin and Sherlock Holmes have been the basis for a popular Japanese manga series, Detective Conan. Lupin resembles Kaitou Kid, while Sherlock Holmes represents Conan Edogawa.
  • In the Adventure of The Doraemons, the robot cat The Mysterious Thief Dorapent resembles Lupin.

[edit] Arsène Lupin and Sherlock Holmes

Arsène Lupin and Sherlock Holmes were bound to meet and, in an unprecedented act of literary pastiche and cross-over, Leblanc introduced Holmes 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 prodigious battle for the secret of the Hollow Needle in L'Aiguille creuse.

Sherlock Holmes, this time with his real name and accompanied with 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 of other characters such as Watson and Lestrade) is attempting to discover and stop Lupin from stealing five English valuable items. Lupin wants to steal the items in order to "humiliate" England, but he also admires Holmes and thus challenges him to try and stop him.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Films

Arsène Lupin 2004 movie poster

[edit] Television

  • Arsène Lupin, 26 60 min. episodes (1971, 1973-74) with Georges Descrières (Lupin).
  • L'Île aux trente cercueils, six 60 min. episodes (1979) (the character of Lupin, who only appears at the end of the novel, was removed entirely).
  • Arsène Lupin joue et perd, six 52 min. episodes (1980) loosely based on 813 with Jean-Claude Brialy (Lupin).
  • Le Retour d'Arsène Lupin, twelve 90-min episodes (1989-90) and Les Nouveaux Exploits d'Arsène Lupin, eight 90-min episodes (1995-96) with François Dunoyer (Lupin).
  • Lupin (Philippine TV series), Philippines (2007) with Richard Gutierrez (Lupin).

[edit] Stage

[edit] Animation

  • Lupin III, the grandson of Arsène Lupin, a character created by Monkey Punch for a series of manga, anime television shows, and movies based in Japan and around the world. Hayao Miyazaki directed one of the most acclaimed films of the series, The Castle of Cagliostro, and several television episodes.
  • Les Exploits d'Arsène Lupin aka Night Hood, produced by Cinar & France-Animation, 26 26 min. episodes (1996)
  • Soul Eater episode 3, the introduction of Death The Kid and the Thompson Sisters initially depicts them chasing Arsène Lupin so that the sisters could claim and devour his soul. When Death The Kid begins panicking about the lack of symmetry with the sisters and their appearances, Lupin escapes down a manhole and is not seen for the rest of the episode.

[edit] Comics

  • Arsène Lupin, written by Georges Cheylard, art by Bourdin. Daily strip published in France-Soir in 1948-49.
  • Arsène Lupin, written & drawn by Jacques Blondeau. 575 daily strips published in Le Parisien Libéré from 1956-58.
  • Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmès: La Dame blonde, written by Joëlle Gilles, art by Gilles & B. Cado, published by the authors, 1983.
  • Arsène Lupin, written by André-Paul Duchateau, artist Géron, published by C. Lefrancq.
    1. Le Bouchon de cristal (1989)
    2. 813 - La Double Vie d'Arsène Lupin (1990)
    3. 813 - Les Trois crimes d'Arsène Lupin (1991)
    4. La Demoiselle aux yeux verts (1992)
    5. L'Aiguille creuse (1994)
  • Arpin Lusène is featured as a character in the Donald Duck & Co stories The Black Knight (1997), Attaaaaaack! (2000) and The Black Knight GLORPS again! (2004) by Don Rosa.
  • In Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier, Lupin is featured as a member of Les Hommes Mysterieux, the French analogue of Britain's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
  • Kaito Kid from the manga series Magic Kaito and Detective Conan is often compared to Arsene Lupin. Also, Arsene Lupin is mentioned in the Detective Encyclopedia at the end of the manga Case Closed Volume 4.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

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