Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Read Online
Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-thief (Penguin Classics)
ARSÈNE LUPIN, GENTLEMAN-THIEF
MAURICE LEBLANC was born in Rouen, France in 1864. He began his writing career with realistic works in the manner of his heroes Flaubert and Maupassant, producing such novels as La Femme in 1887. He is remembered today, however, for his dozens of inventive and amusing stories and novels about the masterful thief Arsène Lupin, a burglar and confidence man who eventually also becomes a detective. Leblanc created Lupin in 1905 for a series requested by a magazine editor. There were five collections of Lupin stories: Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar (1906), Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes (1908), The Confessions of Arsène Lupin (1912), The Eight Strokes of the Clock (1922), and Arsène Lupin Intervenes (1928). Leblanc wrote several Lupin novels; the best are The Hollow Needle (1908) and 813 (1910). Leblanc’s sister was Georgette Leblanc, the popular actress who was mistress and later wife of the playwright Maurice Maeterlinck. Leblanc was also a playwright, co-authoring the first stage version of Lupin adventures, which launched a century of theatrical and cinematic adaptations. Leblanc was awarded the ribbon of the French Legion of Honor. He died in Perpignan in 1941.
MICHAEL SIMS is the author of Adam’s Navel: A Natural and Cultural History of the Human Form, which was a New York Times Notable Book and a Library Journal Best Science Book, and Darwin’s Orchestra: An Almanac of Nature in History and the Arts. He has written for many publications, including the Los Angeles Times Book Review, New Statesman, and American Archaeology. For Penguin Classics he also edited The Annotated Archy and Mehitabel. His Web site is www.michaelsimsbooks.com.
Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief
Introduction and Notes by
MICHAEL SIMS
BookishMall.com
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Mairangi Bay, Auckland 1310, New Zealand
(a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published in Penguin Books 2007
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Introduction copyright © Michael Sims, 2007
All rights reserved
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Leblanc, Maurice, 1864–1941.
[Arsène Lupin, gentleman-cambrioleur. English]
Arsèene Lupin, gentleman-thief / Maurice Leblanc ; introduction and notes by Michael Sims.
p. cm.—(Penguin classics)
I. Sims, Michael, 1958– II. Title. III. Series.
PQ2623.E24A77213 2007
843 .912—dc22 2006047479
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
ISBN: 978-0-14-192982-8
Contents
Introduction: The Musical Sound of Breaking the Law
Suggestions for Further Reading
ARSÈNE LUPIN, GENTLEMAN-THIEF
The Mysterious Railway Passenger
Sherlock Holmes Arrives Too Late
Introduction
The Musical Sound of Breaking the Law
“The criminal is the creative artist, the detective only the critic.”
This observation by a character in one of G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown stories sums up the attitude of the most entertaining felon in literature—Arsène Lupin. Created by Maurice Leblanc during the first decade of the twentieth century, uniting the traditions of gentleman rogue and heroic adventurer, this witty confidence man and burglar is the Sherlock Holmes of criminals. In several stories (the first of which is included in this collection), Leblanc borrowed Holmes for a few clashes with Lupin, who outwits the great detective at every turn—and even steals his watch.
Lupin is a rogue, not a villain. The poor and the innocent have nothing to fear from him; often they profit from his spontaneous generosity. Parvenu and predator, however, tremble as they double-check their safe deposit boxes at the Credit Lyon-nais. The gendarmerie flounder behind like baying hounds, with one Inspector Ganimard serving as Lupin’s particular foil. Poor Ganimard finds himself the butt of newspaper stories extolling Lupin’s intelligence over his own—and then, in “The Red Silk Scarf,” finds Lupin teasingly lobbing him clues toward solving a crime. The reader can rest assured that Lupin hasn’t suddenly developed a sense of civic duty; he will profit from the solution.
This hybrid adventure marks Lupin’s turn toward detective work, which would occupy the bulk of the last two of the five collections that Leblanc wrote about him. The present volume includes several stories from this later period, but emphasizes the early adventures, during which Lupin remains the prince of thieves. Although almost every one of the short Lupin adventures deserves republication, the present volume admits only the creme de la creme from each collection, resulting in the first “best of” overview of Lupin in English.
1 comment