Émile Gaboriau

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Émile Gaboriau

Étienne Émile Gaboriau (born November 9, 1832 in Saujon , today Département Charente-Maritime , † September 28, 1873 in Paris ) was a French writer . He was a pioneer of the detective novel and his main character Inspector Lecoq is considered to be the predecessor of Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective Sherlock Holmes .

Life

Gaboriau has worked in various professions: employee of a lawyer , hussar in Africa . At first he entered the army for seven years , but soon canceled the contract to return to Paris, where he earned his living writing chronicles . Later, as Paul Féval's secretary , he discovered journalism .

Literary work

Gaboriau's first novel "The Lerouge Affair" met with a great response. Lecoq appeared in the book for the first time, initially as a security agent and later on to become a famous inspector . This figure is a model for the ingenious detective, who is able to solve all puzzles thanks to an incorruptible mind and logical conclusions. In contrast to Sherlock Holmes , Lecoq's investigations are based on more realistic circumstances and on the latest findings of the era in the field of forensic research. The figure of Lecoq was based on the person of Eugène François Vidocq (1775-1857), who was both a thief and a policeman during his lifetime and who mixed fact and fiction together in his memoirs .

First published as a serial in 1863 in the daily newspaper "Le Pays", Gaboriau's novel "The Lerouge Affair" hardly attracted any attention, but when it was reprinted in the daily newspaper "Le Soleil" in 1866 it was immensely popular. After this success, Gaboriau worked on the features section of the newspaper Le Petit Journal . In 1872 he staged a play based on this novel in collaboration with Jules Émile Baptiste Holstein .

Gaboriau's crime novels revolve around social tension and political intrigue . The descriptions of the milieu in the novels are based on those of “ naturalistic ” works. In this respect, too, his influence on the French detective novel is not without significance.

Works (selection)

  • The Lerouge affair. A detective novel ("L'affaire Lerouge"). Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt / M. 2004, ISBN 3-458-34771-2 (former title Der Fall Lerouge or Die Witwe Lerouge ).
  • File 113. Detective novel (“Le Dossier N ° 113”). Verlag das neue Leben, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-360-00236-9 (new edition of the Leipzig 1900 edition).
  • Other people's money. Detective novel ("L'Argent des autres"). Ensslin & Laiblin, Reutlingen 1910.
  • La clique dorée . Edition Dentu, Paris 1872.
  • Les Esclaves de Paris . Édition Manucius, Paris 2006 (2 vol.).
  1. Le chantage . ISBN 2-84578-053-2 .
  2. Le secret de Paris . ISBN 978-2-84578-057-6 .
  • Hell life. Roman ("La Vie Infernale"). Verlag Ritter, Berlin 1871 (former title Life as Hell ).
  • Inspector Lecoq. A classic detective novel ("Monsieur Lecoq"). Heyne Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-453-10733-0 (former title Detektiv Lecoq ).
  • Le petit vieux des Batignolles . Édition Levi, Paris 1991, ISBN 2-86746-070-0 (published posthumously).
  • The rope around the neck. Roman ("La Corde au Cou"). Rowohlt, Reinbek 1992, ISBN 3-499-40094-4 (former title The virtuous Countess or The rope around the neck ).
  • The crime of Orcival. Detective novel ("Le crime d'Orcival"). Verlag das neue Berlin, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-360-00298-9 (new edition of the Zurich edition 1942).

Film adaptations

literature

Books
  • Roger Bonniot: Émile Gaboriau ou la naissance du roman policier . Vrin, Paris 1985, ISBN 2-7116-9277-9 .
  • Peter Nusser : The detective novel . Metzler, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3476-14191-0 (Metzler Collection; 191).
  • Ellen Schwarz: The fantastic detective novel. Investigation of parallels between “roman policier”, “conte fantastique” and “gothic novel” . Tectum-Verlag, Marburg 2001, ISBN 3-8288-8245-5 .
Essays
  • Jean-Paul Colin (Ed.): Émile Gaboriau. Pére du roman policier d'hier et d'aujourd'hui . In: Cahier de l'imaginaire , Vol. 3 (1984), Issue 11/12.
  • Albert Gier : The rope around the neck of the Second Empire. Émile Gaboriau, “La dégringolade” . In: Michael Einfalt (ed.): Intellectual honesty. Literature, history, culture, festschrift for Joseph Jurt . Winter, Heidelberg 2005, ISBN 3-8253-5030-4 , pp. 225-233.


See also : French writers

Web links

Wikisource: Émile Gaboriau  - sources and full texts (French)
Commons : Émile Gaboriau  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ - Sur les traces d'Emile Gaboriau. Retrieved September 21, 2018 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Gaboriau, Émile
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French author
DATE OF BIRTH November 9, 1832
PLACE OF BIRTH Saujon , France
DATE OF DEATH September 28, 1873
Place of death Paris