38-412: Maurice Marie Émile Leblanc ( / l ə ˈ b l ɑː n / ; French: [ləblɑ̃] ; 11 December 1864 – 6 November 1941) was a French novelist and writer of short stories, known primarily as the creator of the fictional gentleman thief and detective Arsène Lupin , often described as a French counterpart to Arthur Conan Doyle 's creation Sherlock Holmes . The first Arsène Lupin story appeared in
76-498: A Jewish lamp. After reading the appeal, Sholmes is shocked to read a second letter, this time by Lupin and arriving on the same day's post, which warns him not to intervene. Sholmes is outraged by Lupin's audacity and resolves to go to Paris. At the Gare du Nord, Sholmes is accosted by a young lady, who again warns him not to intervene, and finds that the Echo de France, Lupin's mouthpiece newspaper,
114-500: A great public success. Two years later, the book Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar was released, containing the first nine stories depicting the character that were published in the French magazine Je sais tout . By 1907, Doyle or his representatives had threatened legal action over the unauthorized use of the character, and Leblanc's following collection of stories was titled Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes . Maurice Leblanc received
152-599: A guest-starring role in the battle for the secret of the Hollow Needle in L'Aiguille creuse . Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmès was published in the United States in 1910 under the title "The Blonde Lady" which used the name "Holmlock Shears" for Sherlock Holmes, and "Wilson" for Watson . It is also stated in this book that Arsene Lupin is a vegetarian for "hygiene" reasons though he is not averse to eating meat to avoid being eccentric or stand-out when in company while on
190-465: A mathematics professor. The desk is subsequently stolen, as it turns out, by Arsène Lupin. Later, both Lupin and the professor realize that a lottery ticket, left inadvertently in the desk, is the winning ticket, and Lupin proceeds to ensure he obtains half of the winnings while executing a near-impossible escape with a blonde lady. After the theft of the Blue Diamond, again by a blonde lady, Ganimard made
228-531: A series of short stories that was serialized in the magazine Je sais tout , starting in No. 6, dated 15 July 1905. Clearly created at editorial request, it is possible that Leblanc had also read Octave Mirbeau 's Les 21 jours d'un neurasthénique (1901), which features a gentleman thief named Arthur Lebeau, and he had seen Mirbeau's comedy Scrupules (1902), whose main character is a gentleman thief. By 1907, Leblanc had graduated to writing full-length Lupin novels, and
266-408: A son Claude Oulmann (1902-1994), who was subsequently authorized by decree to bear the name of Leblanc. Maurice had health problems and sank into a depression, which was compounded by Marguerite's divorce from her first husband taking time to go through the courts. Leblanc and Wormser did not marry until 31 January 1906. The "Association des Amis d'Arsène Lupin" (Association of Friends of Arsène Lupin)
304-442: Is a failure, causing him to give up the theater for a while. In 1901, he published L'Enthousiasme , an autobiographical novel. In 1905, Pierre Lafitte, the director of the monthly Je sais tout , commissioned a short story from Leblanc, that was to be in the vein of A.J Raffles by Ernest William Hornung and the adventures of Sherlock Holmes . The resulting "L'Arrestation d'Arsène Lupin" (The Arrest of Arsène Lupin) proved to be
342-488: Is a fictional gentleman thief and master of disguise created in 1905 by French writer Maurice Leblanc . The character was first introduced in a series of short stories serialized in the magazine Je sais tout . The first story, "The Arrest of Arsène Lupin", was published on 15 July 1905. The character has also appeared in a number of books by other writers as well as numerous film, television, stage play, and comic book adaptations. Five authorized sequels were written in
380-432: Is proclaiming his arrival. Sholmes proceeds to investigate the crime and finds out the true reason for Lupin's appeal not to intervene. A 1910 film serial entitled Arsène Lupin contra Sherlock Holmes adapted Leblanc's stories. German copyright laws allowed the producers to return "Sholmes" to the proper "Sherlock Holmes" who was portrayed by Viggo Larsen . In the 2015 video game The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures ,
418-708: Is the object of an epic battle in L’Île aux trente cercueils ; the secret of the Fountain of Youth , a mineral water source hidden beneath a lake in the Auvergne, is the goal sought by the protagonists in La Demoiselle aux yeux verts ; finally, in La Comtesse de Cagliostro , Lupin's arch-enemy and lover is none other than Joséphine Balsamo , the alleged granddaughter of Cagliostro himself. Leblanc introduced Sherlock Holmes to Lupin in
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#1732844540262456-446: Is the second collection of Arsène Lupin stories written by Maurice Leblanc , featuring two adventures following a match of wits between Lupin and Herlock Sholmes. The character "Herlock Sholmes" is a transparent reference to Sherlock Holmes of Arthur Conan Doyle 's detective stories, who appeared in "Sherlock Holmes Arrives Too Late", one of the eight stories in the first collection, Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar . The collection
494-530: The Legion of Honor on January 17, 1908, presented by then Under-Secretary of State for Fine Arts, Étienne Dujardin-Beaumetz [ fr ] . While a supporter of French radical socialists and free-thinker in his early age, Leblanc became more bourgeois around the time of the First World War . Leblanc would start to grow weary of writing Arsène Lupin stories. As early as 1910, he tried to kill his hero in
532-670: The 1920s was an actor and star operatic soprano. During the Franco-German War of 1870 , his father sent Maurice to Scotland. Upon his return to France, he completed his studies in Rouen. The young Maurice received his first education in a free institution, the Patry pension. Then, from 1875 to 1882, completed his secondary studies at the Lycée Corneille. As a teenager, he frequently encountered Gustave Flaubert and Guy de Maupassant . Refusing
570-520: The 1930s. Leblanc also wrote two notable science fiction novels: Les Trois Yeux [ fr ] (1919), in which a scientist makes televisual contact with three-eyed Venusians , and Le Formidable Evènement (1920), in which an earthquake creates a new landmass between England and France. Leblanc was awarded the Légion d'Honneur for his services to literature, and died in Perpignan in 1941. He
608-644: The 1970s by the celebrated mystery writing team of Boileau-Narcejac . Arsène Lupin is a literary descendant of Pierre Alexis Ponson du Terrail 's fictional character Rocambole , whose adventures were published from 1857 to 1870. Like Rocambole, Lupin is often a force for good while operating on the wrong side of the law. Lupin shares similarities with E. W. Hornung 's gentleman thief A. J. Raffles , whose stories were published from 1898 to 1909. Both Raffles and Lupin have inspired later characters such as Louis Joseph Vance 's The Lone Wolf (created in 1914) and Leslie Charteris 's The Saint (created in 1928). Lupin
646-777: The Saint-Martin cemetery in Perpignan in 1947, he was reburied on 14 October of the same year at the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris, alongside his wife Marguerite and other members of his family (notably his step-brother René Renoult ). At the end of 1888, Maurice Leblanc decided to leave Rouen for Paris where he married, on 10 January 1889, Marie-Ernestine Flannel (1865-1941). They divorced in 1895. By Marie-Ernestine Flannel he fathered Louise Amélie Marie Leblanc (1889-1974). Maurice later fell in love with Marguerite Wormser (1865-1950) who already had
684-412: The career that his father intended for him at a card factory, Maurice instead headed to Paris in 1888, to pursue writing. First a journalist, then novelist and storyteller. His first novel, Une femme (A Woman), published in 1893 was very successful, and was followed by other works, such as Des couples (The Couples), Voici des ailes (Here are wings) and his only play, La pitié , released in 1902, which
722-436: The character of Sherlock Holmes with the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , the name "Herlock Sholmes" was used for the character of the same name in the international release of the video game series The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (2015–2021) in honour of Leblanc, with the characters of John and Iris Watson having their surnames changed to "Wilson". In the pastiche "Larsen Hupin dans les pas de Charles Kolms" (2021),
760-412: The connection to Lupin and an appeal was made to Herlock Sholmes to match wits with Lupin. Inadvertently, Lupin and his biographer met with the newly arrived Sholmes and his assistant, Dr. Wilson , in a Parisian restaurant, and they shared a cautious détente before Lupin sets off to lay his traps. Despite Lupin's efforts, Sholmes is able to unveil the identity of the blonde lady and Lupin's involvement in
798-466: The crimes linked to her. Lupin succeeds in trapping Sholmes, however, and sends him off to Southampton in a boat, but Sholmes manages to escape back to Paris and engineer the arrest of Lupin. After Sholmes leaves, however, Lupin outfoxes his French captors and manages to bid farewell to Sholmes and Wilson at the Gare du Nord . "The Jewish Lamp" opens with another appeal to Herlock Sholmes for help in recovering
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#1732844540262836-508: The detective investigates at the same time as the gentleman thief. In the pastiche The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – The Gentleman Burglar (2024), Holmes and Lupin team up to solve intricate riddles and journey across France and beyond to uncover the long-lost treasure of the House of Bourbon. Ars%C3%A8ne Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes ( French : Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmès )
874-451: The existing story, Holmes' name was simply changed to Herlock Sholmès in future chapters and publications. The name Herlock Sholmès (or Sholmes in English) had been in use in parodies of Doyles' works by other authors since at least 1894. The first American edition of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar , translated by George Morehead, restored the character's name back to Sherlock Holmes, while
912-528: The items in order to humiliate Britain, but he also admires Holmes and thus challenges him to try to stop him. In a novella The Prisoner of the Tower, or A Short But Beautiful Journey of Three Wise Men by Boris Akunin published in 2008 in Russia as the conclusion of "Jade Rosary Beads" book, Sherlock Holmes and Erast Fandorin oppose Arsène Lupin on 31 December 1899. Due to longstanding copyright issues related to
950-419: The job. Sherlock Holmes, this time with his real name and accompanied by familiar characters such as Watson and Lestrade (all copyright protection having expired), also confronted Arsène Lupin in the 2008 PC 3D adventure game Sherlock Holmes Versus Arsène Lupin . In this game Holmes (and occasionally others) are attempting to stop Lupin from stealing five valuable British items. Lupin wants to steal
988-557: The main character 's persona is Arsène. During the game, the main character resides in the attic of Café Leblanc. Most recently, the main character of the Netflix series Lupin , released in January 2021, used Lupin as an inspiration for his own grand theft. Inspired by one of the Lupin books, he tries to avenge his father's wrongful accusation of stealing a necklace years earlier. He decides to steal
1026-470: The novel 813 , but would resuscitate the character in The Crystal Stopper . In 1918, Maurice Leblanc bought a half-timbered Anglo-Norman house in Étretat (which he would name Clos Lupin ), where he wrote 19 novels and 39 short stories. Faced with the imminent war with Nazi Germany , he left Clos Lupin in 1939 and took refuge in Perpignan , where he died of pneumonia in 1941. Disinterred from
1064-520: The places mentioned in the intrigues of Leblanc in Normandy: Étretat and "the treasure of the kings of France", Tancarville , the underground passage of Jumièges leading to the medieval treasure of the abbeys, etc. The Japanese character Lupin III , first appearing in manga series Lupin III in 1967, was written as the grandson of Arsène Lupin. As this was done without permission from Leblanc's estate, this
1102-571: The reviews and sales were so good that Leblanc effectively dedicated the rest of his career to working on the Lupin stories. Like Conan Doyle, who often appeared embarrassed or hindered by the success of Sherlock Holmes and seemed to regard his success in the field of crime fiction as a detraction from his more "respectable" literary ambitions, Leblanc also appeared to have resented Lupin's success. Several times he tried to create other characters, such as private eye Jim Barnett, but he eventually merged them with Lupin. He continued to pen Lupin tales well into
1140-583: The same necklace from the Louvre by mimicking the style of Arsène Lupin. Parts of the final episode of Part One were filmed in the town of Étretat . This location is significant because Maurice Leblanc lived in the commune. Some of the works were written at his residence there. The building is now the Clos Lupin Museum. Ars%C3%A8ne Lupin Arsène Lupin ( French pronunciation: [aʁsɛn lypɛ̃] )
1178-413: The second book, also translated by Morehead, was published as Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes . The British translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos changed his name to Holmlock Shears. The two English collections contain the following chapters or stories: 1) "The Blond Lady" (novel) 2) "The Jewish Lamp" (tale) The first story, "The Blonde Lady", opens with the purchase of an antique desk by
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1216-542: The second, The Jewish Lamp , appeared in September and October 1907. The collection of these two stories was published with modifications in February 1908, and in 1914, another edition appeared with further modifications. The English translations appeared in 1910. The first two chapters were published using the name Sherlock Holmes , but Arthur Conan Doyle stopped the continued use of his character by 1907. In order to not abandon
1254-603: The short story "Sherlock Holmes Arrives Too Late" in Je sais tout No. 17, 15 June 1906. In it, an aged Holmes meets a young Lupin for the first time. After legal objections from Arthur Conan Doyle, the name was changed to "Herlock Sholmès" either because of literary copyright on the character, or, as Maurice Leblanc's son claims, because Conan Doyle asked his father for this change. Sholmès returned in two more stories collected in Volume 2, " Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmès ", and then in
1292-490: Was buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery . Georgette Leblanc was his sister. Maurice Leblanc was the second child of Émile Leblanc, 34-year-old ship-owner merchant, and of Mathilde Blanche (née Brohy) daughter of rich dyers, aged 21 and was delivered by Achille Flaubert, Gustave Flaubert 's brother. He had an elder sister Jehanne (born in 1863) and a younger sister Georgette Leblanc (born in 1869) who from 1883 until
1330-451: Was featured in 17 novels and 39 novellas by Leblanc, with the novellas or short stories collected into book form for a total of 24 books. The number becomes 25 if the 1923 novel The Secret Tomb is counted: Lupin does not appear in it, but the main character Dorothée solves one of Arsène Lupin's four fabulous secrets Several Arsène Lupin novels contain some fantasy elements: a radioactive "god-stone" that cures people and causes mutations
1368-562: Was founded in 1985 by the philosopher François George [ fr ] . Its members are sometimes known as "lupinophiles". Leblanc's work inspired Gaston Leroux (creator of Rouletabille ), as well as Souvestre and Allain (creators of Fantômas ). Arsène Lupin's exploits took place in the capital and in Pays de Caux , which Maurice Leblanc knew well. Being a collector of postcards, he had listed no less than four hundred manors between Le Havre , Rouen and Dieppe . The "lupinophiles" roam
1406-762: Was later the source of a lawsuit, though the copyright on Leblanc's work has since expired. When the anime version was broadcast in France, the character was renamed Edgar, le détective cambrioleur ("Edgar, the Burglar Detective"). The authors of various Lupin the Third properties sometimes draw on Leblanc's novels as inspiration; notably, the film The Castle of Cagliostro was loosely based on La Comtesse de Cagliostro ( The Countess of Cagliostro ). Leblanc and his gentleman-thief character are also referenced in Persona 5 , where
1444-575: Was translated twice into English, as Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes in the US (1910, by George Morehead ), and as Arsène Lupin versus Holmlock Shears in the UK (1910, by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos , printed as The Blonde Lady in the US). The two stories were initially published in the magazine Je sais tout from November 1906. The first story, The Blonde Lady , was published from November 1906 to April 1907, while
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