Most maintain a sustained delirium that is easily addictive. Rarely does the pace slacken in these books. Sometimes the resolutions were brilliant, other times merely brilliantly funny. They completed 32 Fantomas novels in just two years and enjoyed winding the other up by leaving the heroes or their villain in impossible situations. While the two men would collaborate on a basic outline, their habit was to write alternating chapters. Although creating dime novels that recalled the penny dreadfuls of the past, the Fantomas series is far more than mere hack work.

The books were the work of two journalists, Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain. The character’s centennial next year will be marked with celebrations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia in an effort to bring greater recognition to the character and its impact on 20th Century art. Inspired by Gino Sterace’s lurid cover art for the first book, surrealists such as Rene Magritte and Juan Gris, composer Kurt Weil, and poets such as Guillaume Apollinaire and Max Jacob soon incorporated the character in their work.įantomas’ appeal to the art world was as strong as the popularity of the books among the working class. The avant-garde adopted the character as one of their own.

The book was an instant sensation whose appeal transcended all barriers of French society. While the murders are frequently described in surprisingly grisly detail for their day, they are quickly followed by delightfully sublime escapes or revelations handled with such a deftly light touch that it is impossible not to find the villainous character fun in spite of his many crimes.įantomas made his debut in the 1911 novel, Fantomas. The series is unique in its successful blend of black comedy and absurdist humor within the traditional murder mystery genre.įantomas himself is a criminal anarchist who robs and murders for the sheer joy of creating chaos. Only seven of the original 43 classic French pulp novels are currently in print in English. Fantomas is criminally unknown in the United States.

Souvestre fantomas