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Arsène Lupin

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Arsène Lupin is the name of a fictional gentleman thief 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.

Overview

A contemporary of Arthur Conan Doyle, Maurice Leblanc (1864-1941) was the creator of the character of gentleman thief Arsène Lupin who, in France, 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.

Arsène Lupin is a literary descendant of Pierre Alexis Ponson du Terrail's Rocambole. Like him, he is clearly 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.

Bibliography

  1. Arsène Lupin, gentleman cambrioleur (Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Burglar) (1907) (coll. 9 stories) (online. [1])
  2. Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmès(Arsene Lupin vs. Herlock Sholmes) (1908) (coll. 2 stories) (American edition ISBN 1932983147)
  3. L'Aiguille creuse (The Hollow Needle) (1909) (American edition ISBN 0974071196)
  4. 813 (1910)
  5. Le Bouchon de cristal (The Crystal Stopper) (1912)
  6. Les Confidences d'Arsène Lupin' '(The Confidences Of Arsene Lupin aka The Confessions of Arsene Lupin) (1913) (coll. 9 stories)
  7. L'Éclat d'obus ([The Shell Shard) (1916) (mostly appears in a cameo added retroactively).
  8. Le Triangle d'or (The Golden Triangle) (1918)
  9. L’Île aux trente cercueils (The Island Of Thirty Coffins) (1919)
  10. Les Dents du tigre (The Teeth Of The Tiger) (1921) (earlier English edition in 1914)
  11. Les Huit Coups de l'horloge (The Eight Strokes Of The Clock) (1923) (coll. 8 stories)
  12. La Comtesse de Cagliostro (The Countess Of Cagliostro) (1924)
  13. La Demoiselle aux yeux verts (The Damsel With Green Eyes) (1927)
  14. L'Agence Barnett et Cie. (The Barnett & Co. Agency) (1928)
  15. La Demeure mystérieuse (The Mysterious Mansion) (1929)
  16. La Barre-y-va (1931)
  17. La Femme aux deux sourires (The Woman With Two Smiles) (1933)
  18. Victor de la Brigade mondaine (Paris-Soir) (1933)
  19. La Cagliostro se venge (The Revenge Of The Countess Of Cagliostro) (1935)
  20. Les Milliards d'Arsène Lupin (The Billions Of Arsene Lupin) (1939)
  21. Le Dernier Amour d'Arsène Lupin (The Last Love of Arsene Lupin) (reportedly unpublished ms.)
  • Dorothée, Danseuse de Corde (1923) is not an Arsène Lupin novel, but its eponymous heroine solves one of Lupin's four fabulous secrets.

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)

Notable Pastiches

  • The Adventure of the Clothes-Line by Carolyn Wells in The Century (1915)
  • The Silver Hair Crime by Nick Carter in New Magnet Library No. 1282 (1930)
  • Aristide Dupin who appears in Union Jack Nos. 1481, 1483, 1489, 1493 and 1498 (1932)in the Sexton Blake collection by Gwyn Evans
  • La Clé est sous le paillasson by Marcel Aymé (1934)
  • Gaspard Zemba who appears in The Shadow Magazine (December 1, 1935) by Walter Gibson
  • Arsène Lupin vs. Colonel Linnaus by Anthony Boucher in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Vo. 5, No. 19 (1944)
  • L’Affaire Oliveira by Thomas Narcejac in Confidences dans ma nuit (1946)
  • Le Gentleman en Noir by Claude Ferny (c. 1950) (two novels)
  • International Investigators, Inc. by Edward G. Ashton in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (1952)
  • Le Secret des rois de France ou La Véritable identité d’Arsène Lupin by Valère Catogan (1955)
  • In Compartment 813 by Arthur Porges in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (June 1966)
  • Arsène Lupin, gentleman de la nuit by Jean-Claude Lamy (1983)
  • Auguste Lupa in Son of Holmes (1986) and Rasputin’s Revenge (1987) by John Lescroart
  • Various stories in Tales of the Shadowmen, Vol. 1, The Modern Babylon, ed. by Jean-Marc Lofficier (2005) (ISBN 1932983268)
  • Various stories in Tales of the Shadowmen, Vol. 2, Gentlemen of the Night, ed. by Jean-Marc Lofficier (2006) (ISBN 1932983600)
  • Arsène Lupin and Sherlock Holmes have been the basis for a popular Japanese manga series, Detective Conan. Lupin resembles Kaito Kid, while Sherlock Holmes represents Conan Edogowa.
  • In the Adventure of The Doraemons, the robot cat The Mysterious Thief Dorapent resemable Lupin.

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 arrive trop tard in Je Sais Tout No. 17, 15 June 1906. In it, Holmes meets a young Lupin for a brief time, unaware that he is, in fact, Lupin. After legal objections from Conan Doyle, the name was changed to "Herlock Sholmès" when the story was collected in bookform in Volume 1.

Holmes returned in two more stories collected in Volume 2, Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmès, and then in a guest-starring role in the prodigious battle for the secret of the Hollow Needle in L'Aiguille creuse.

He is mentioned once in 813.

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 alledged granddaughter of Cagliostro himself.

Films

File:ArseneLupin2004poster.JPG
Arsène Lupin 2004 movie poster
  • Arsène Lupin (B&W., UK, 1915) with Gerald Ames (Lupin).
  • The Teeth of the Tiger (B&W., US, 1919) with David Powell (Lupin).
  • Les Dernières aventures d'Arsène Lupin (B&W., France/Hungary, 1921).
  • Arsène Lupin, Détective (B&W., 1937) with Jules Berry (Lupin).
  • Arsenio Lupin (B&W., Mexico, 1945) with R. Pereda (Lupin).
  • Nanatsu-no Houseki (B&W., Japan, 1950) with Keiji Sada (Lupin).
  • Tora no-Kiba (B&W., Japan, 1951) with Ken Uehara (Lupin).
  • Kao-no Nai Otoko (B&W., Japan, 1955) with Eiji Okada (Lupin).
  • Signé Arsène Lupin (B&W., 1959) with Robert Lamoureux (Lupin).

Television

  • 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).

Stage

File:Lupin (Cosmo).jpg
A/L -The Youth of Phantom Thief Lupin-
  • Arsène Lupin by Francis de Croisset and Maurice Leblanc. 4-Acts play first performed on October 28, 1908, at the Athenée in Paris.
  • Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmès by Victor Darlay & Henri de Gorsse. 4-Acts play first performed on October 10, 1910, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. (American edition ISBN 1932983163)
  • Le Retour d'Arsène Lupin by Francis de Croisset and Maurice Leblanc. 1-Act Play first performed on September 16, 1911, at the Théâtre de la Cigale in Paris.

Animation

  • Les Exploits d'Arsène Lupin aka Night Hood, produced by Cinar & France-Animation, 26 26 min. episodes (1996)
  • Lupin III, a manga and anime series of films and television based on the adventures of Arsene Lupin's grandson.

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.
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