阅读卡斯顿·勒鲁 Gaston Leroux在小说之家的作品!!! |
卡斯顿·勒鲁(1868-1927),本世纪初知名的法国新闻记者兼小说家。勒鲁在世时就是极成功而受欢迎的票房作家,共著有长篇小说、报道文学三十余种,现在读者还记得的或者市面上还流传的,可能只剩下三种,一种就是多次改编为电影、戏剧而历久不衰的《歌剧魅影》,另外两种则都是推理小说史上的经典之作:《黄色房间的秘密》与《黑衣女子的香气》。事实上,《歌剧魅影》原来的故事也不乏推理悬疑解谜的元素,和《黄》与《黑》二书同属一类,但后改编都着重在“夜半歌声”的恐怖与悬疑,或者强调的刻骨铭心,故事中的推理元素反而隐退不彰,反倒不太有人谈到《歌剧魅影》与《黄色房间的秘密》、《黑衣女子的香气》两者的关系了。
推理小说的发展初期,法国自成一系,并不逊色于侦探小说的故乡英国。早在福尔摩斯出现江湖之前,一位使后来的推理小说成形的法国作家已经风靡全欧了,这位作家不是别人,就是以《勒沪菊命案》等作品闻名于世的法国作家加伯黎奥(1833-1873)。被人们称为“长篇推理小说之父”的英国作家威尔基·柯林斯(1824-1889)极可能都还受了他的影响(他们活跃的时间几乎同时)。
加伯黎奥对巴黎的警察工作方式非常了解,对各种犯罪现象的社会知识也极其丰富,他写的犯罪办案小说,实际上是造就今日推理小说型貌的重要里程碑。有趣的是,正是因为他对真实警察办案的深刻了解,他一开始并不敢创造一位神探式的警察(因为那和一般老百姓的感受太不相同了),在《勒沪菊命案》里,办案的警察是来自巴黎保安局的探长吉弗赫尔,但真正推理破案的却是一位业余的退休当铺老板塔巴黑。到了后来的侦探小说,加伯黎奥才真正塑造了一位聪明的警探勒寇克,这位侦探也在小说史上开始其不是鱼肉乡民的酷吏形象,而是“为社会无辜百姓而办案”的“勒青天”,从此侦探小说才走向正直正义之路。
福尔摩斯出现江湖之后,他在小说中把“勒寇克”和“杜宾”(爱伦坡小说中的神探)都嘲笑了一顿,说他们的推理能力不值一哂;但这句嘲笑也得到报应,等到法国人写“亚森罗宾”的时候,没事也要嘲笑福尔摩斯的推理能力是不值一看的。
卡斯顿·勒鲁在写推理小说的时候,写福尔摩斯的柯南道尔也还在活跃之中;勒鲁是位跑法庭新闻的新闻记者,深知阅读大众的口味,他意识到社会犯罪题材的新兴吸引力,遂将气力转向推理小说的写作,第一部《黄色房间的秘密》就大获成功,也因为故事中设计的“密室谋杀”构想而成为推理小说史的经典之作;《黄》作结尾时,作者留下一个伏笔,讲到一位黑衣女子擦身而过,传来一阵似曾相识的香气,这个场景就成了下一部作品的起点,这种“好莱坞续集电影”式的“抢钱”手法,也是开世纪风气之先,让我们不禁赞叹“太阳之下无新事”了。
In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, 1910), which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, such as the 1925 film starring Lon Chaney; and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical.
Biography
Gaston Leroux was born in Paris in 1868. He went to school in Normandy and studied law in Paris, graduating in 1889. He inherited millions of francs and lived wildly until he nearly reached bankruptcy. Subsequently in 1890, he began working as a court reporter and theater critic for L'Écho de Paris. His most important journalism came when he began working as an international correspondent for the Paris newspaper Le Matin. In 1905, he was present at, and covered, the Russian Revolution.
Another case he was present at involved the investigation and in-depth coverage of the former Paris Opera (presently housing the Paris Ballet). The basement contained a cell that held prisoners of the Paris Commune[citation needed] .
He suddenly left journalism in 1907, and began writing fiction. In 1909, he and Arthur Bernède formed their own film company, Société des Cinéromans to publish novels simultaneously and turn them into films. He first wrote a mystery novel entitled Le mystère de la chambre jaune (1908; The Mystery of the Yellow Room), starring the amateur detective Joseph Rouletabille. Leroux's contribution to French detective fiction is considered a parallel to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's in the United Kingdom and Edgar Allan Poe's in the United States.
Leroux died in Nice, France on April 15, 1927 of a urinary tract infection.[citation needed]
[edit]Novels
[edit]The Adventures of Joseph Rouletabille
Le mystère de la chambre jaune (The Mystery of the Yellow Room, 1907)
Le parfum de la dame en noir (The Perfume of the Lady in Black, 1908)
Rouletabille chez le Tsar (The Secret of the Night, 1913)
Rouletabille à la guerre (1914) consisting of
Le château noir
Les étranges noces de Rouletabille
Rouletabille chez Krupp (1917)
Le crime de Rouletabille (1921)
Rouletabille chez les Bohémiens (1922)
The Mystery of William Shakespeare. The Mystery of Josh Bush
[edit]Other Novels
Le petit marchand de romme de terre frites (1897)
Un homme dans la nuit (* Les trois souhaits (* Une petite tête (1902)
La double vie de Théophraste Longuet (1903)
Le roi mystère (1908)
L'homme qui a vu le diable (1908)
Le lys (1909)
Le fauteuil hanté (1909)
La reine de Sabbat (1910)
Le fantôme de l'Opéra (The Phantom of the Opera, 1911)
Balaoo (Balaoo, 1911)
Le dîner des bustes (1911)
La hache d'or (1912)
L' épouse du soleil (1912)
Première aventures de chéri-Bibi (1913)
La colonne infernale (1916)
Confitou (1916)
L' homme qui revient de loin (1916)
Le capitaine Hyx - La bataille invisible (1917)
Le coeur cambriolé (1920)
Le sept de trèfle (1921)
La poupée sanglante - La machine à assassiner (1923)
Le Noël du petit Vincent-Vincent (1924)
Not'olympe (1924)
Les ténébreuses: La fin d'un monde & du sang sur la Néva (1924)
Hardis-Gras ou le fils des trois pères (1924)
La coquette punie ou la farouche aventure (1924)
La femme au collier de velours (1924)
La mansarde en or (1925)
Les Mohicans de Babel (1926)
Les chasseurs de danses (1927)
Mister Flow (1927)
Pouloulou (1990, posthumous)