Marcel Allain (; 15 September 1885 – 25 August 1969) was a French

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

mostly remembered today for his co-creation with Pierre Souvestre of the

fictional Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

arch-

villain A villain (also known as a " black hat", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...

and master

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

Fantômas Fantômas () is a fictional character created by French writers Marcel Allain (1885–1969) and Pierre Souvestre (1874–1914). One of the most popular characters in the history of French crime fiction, Fantômas was created in 1911 and appeared ...

Career

The son of a bourgeois family, Allain studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

before becoming a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. He then became the assistant of Souvestre, who was already a well-known figure in literary circles. In 1909, the two men published their first novel, ''Le Rour''. Investigating Magistrate Germain Fuselier, later to become a recurring character in the Fantômas series, appears in the novel. Then, in February 1911, Allain and Souvestre embarked upon the ''Fantômas''

book series A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publ ...

at the request of publisher Arthème Fayard, who wanted to create a new monthly

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the Pulp (paper), wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their ...

. The success was immediate and lasting. After Souvestre’s death in February 1914, Allain continued the ''Fantômas'' saga alone, then launched several other series, such as ''

Tigris The Tigris ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian Desert, Syrian and Arabia ...

'', '' Fatala'', '' Miss Téria'' and '' Férocias'', but none garnered the same popularity as ''Fantômas''. In total, Allain wrote more than 400 novels in his prolific career. On 27 September 1926, Allain married Souvestre’s girl-friend, Henriette Kistler. She died in 1956.

Other work by Allain and Souvestre

* ''Le Rour'' (1908)

Bibliography of the Fantômas books

By Allain and Souvestre

;1911 * 1. ''Fantômas'' (1911; transl. 1915; retransl. 1986) * 2. ''Juve contre Fantômas'' (1911; transl. 1916; retransl. 1987) * 3. ''Le Mort qui Tue'' (1911; transl. 1917) * 4. ''L'Agent Secret'' (1911; transl. 1917) * 5. ''Un Roi Prisonnier de Fantômas'' (1911; transl. 1919) * 6. ''Le Policier Apache'' (1911; transl. 1924) * 7. ''Le Pendu de Londres'' (1911; transl. 1920) * 8. ''La Fille de Fantômas'' (1911; transl. 2006) () * 9. ''Le Fiacre de Nuit'' (1911) * 10. ''La Main Coupée'' (1911; transl. 1924) ;1912 * 11. ''L'Arrestation de Fantômas'' (1912) * 12. ''Le Magistrat Cambrioleur'' (1912) * 13. ''La Livrée du Crime'' (1912) * 14. ''La Mort de Juve'' (1912) * 15. ''L'Evadée de Saint-Lazare'' (1912) * 16. ''La Disparition de Fandor'' (1912) * 17. ''Le Mariage de Fantômas'' (1912) * 18. ''L'Assassin de Lady Beltham'' (1912) * 19. ''La Guêpe Rouge'' (1912) * 20. ''Les Souliers du Mort'' (1912) * 21. ''Le Train Perdu'' (1912) * 22. ''Les Amours d'un Prince'' (1912) * 23. ''Le Bouquet Tragique'' (1912) ;1913 * 24. ''Le Jockey Masqué'' (1913) * 25. ''Le Cercueil Vide'' (1913) * 26. ''Le Faiseur de Reines'' (1913) * 27. ''Le Cadavre Géant'' (1913) * 28. ''Le Voleur d'Or'' (1913) * 29. ''La Série Rouge'' (1913) * 30. ''L'Hôtel du Crime'' (1913) * 31. ''La Cravate de Chanvre'' (1913) * 32. ''La Fin de Fantômas'' (1913)

By Allain alone

* 33. ''Fantômas est-il ressuscité?'' (1925; transl. 1925) * 34. ''Fantômas, Roi des Recéleurs'' (1926; transl. 1926) * 35. ''Fantômas en Danger'' (1926; transl. 1926) * 36. ''Fantômas prend sa Revanche'' (1926; transl. 1927) * 37. ''Fantômas Attaque Fandor'' (1926; transl. 1928) * 38. ''Si c'était Fantômas?'' (1933) * 39. ''Oui, c'est Fantômas!'' (1934) * 40. ''Fantômas Joue et Gagne'' (1935) * 41. ''Fantômas Rencontre l'Amour'' (1946) * 42. ''Fantômas Vole des Blondes'' (1948) * 43. ''Fantômas Mène le Bal'' (1963)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allain, Marcel 1885 births 1969 deaths Writers from Paris 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French male writers French crime fiction writers French fantasy writers French male novelists French male non-fiction writers 20th-century French journalists