Gaston Leroux

Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux ( born May 6, 1868 in Paris, † April 15, 1927 in Nice ) was a French journalist and writer. World famous he is mainly through his novel " The Phantom of the Opera " (Le fantôme de l' opéra, 1910).

Life

After his school days in Normandy, he studied from 1886 to 1889 in Paris jurisprudence. Even then, he wrote articles for various newspapers and in 1887 he published his first novel. After graduating, he worked for a time as a lawyer until his passion for writing prevailed.

He began as a theater critic and crime reporter for " L' Echo de Paris " to work and a sensational article gave him the cooperation with the renowned newspaper " Le Matin ". Between 1896 and 1906 he traveled to various countries in Europe, Africa and Asia as a correspondent, and his sensational reports soon made him a celebrity. He reported, among other things, the Russo -Japanese War and the unrest in Odessa and St. Petersburg and in Morocco.

In 1907, he decided to hang up his reporter activity on the nail and to devote himself to writing novels. In the same year appeared "The Mystery of the Yellow Room ", a classic of French crime fiction which deals with a criminal case in a locked room. The detective in this and six other books is the young reporter Joseph Rouletabille. His second series Chéri - Bibi belongs in the thriller genre.

Its by far the best-known work is "The Phantom of the Opera" from 1910, for which he was inspired by a visit to the underground vaults of the Paris Opera. However, the great success of the story began with the Hollywood version of 1925 and continues to this day, especially by the musical adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

In addition, Leroux had repeatedly written pieces for the stage, but only when his works were filmed in France, he began to be interested in the film industry. In 1916 he wrote his first screenplay for a movie that his neighbor René Navarre, a former Fantômas cast, produced, and with which he will continue to work together. With him and some others, he founded in 1919 and its own film society, but he left after disagreements 1922.

Until his death, he continued to write novels. He died in 1927 from the effects of surgery.

Works

Rouletabille

• The Mystery of the Yellow Room ( Mystery of the chambre jaune, 1907) (Eng. The New Berlin, Berlin, 1978)
• The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Le parfum de la dame au noir, 1908)
• Natasha's secret ( Rouletabille chez le tsar, 1913)
• Rouletabille à la guerre, 1914 The Black Castle (La château noir )
• The dark nights of Rouletabille (Les noces de étranges Rouletabille )

Chéri - Bibi

• Chéri - Bibi, 1913
• La nouvelle aurore, 1919
• Chéri - Bibi, le marchand de cacahouètes, 1925

Other

• Le petit marchand de pommes de terre frites, 1887 (first published novella )
• La double vie de Théophraste Longuet, 1903 ( first book publication)
• The Phantom of the Opera (Le fantôme de l' opéra, 1910)
• The Bloodstained Doll (La poupée sanglante, 1923)

Films (selection)

Film adaptations of The Phantom of the Opera qv