Maurice Leblanc

Born in 1864, Maurice Marie Emile Leblanc grew up in Scotland, having been sent there for safety during the Franco-German War of 1870. Upon returning to France to complete his studies in Rouen as a teenager, he met noted authors Gustave Flaubert and Guy de Maupassant, inspiring a desire to become a writer. He headed to Paris in 1888 and began his career as a journalist and storyteller with his first novel, “Une femme” published in 1893. He continued to write books and plays through the turn of the century, including the autobiographical “L’Enthousiasme.” In 1905, however, a seemingly simple short story commission would prove to be his legacy. Requested to write a “Sherlock Holmes-like” tale for the magazine Je Sais Tout, he produced the first Arsène Lupin short story, which instantly captured the public’s interest. He was immediately commissioned to write more tales featuring the character, and within two years, collected the first novel, ARSENE LUPIN, GENTLEMAN THIEF.  A second collection of short stories followed, and his success was firmly established. He received a Legion of Honor award in 1908 while continuing to invent new adventures for his popular anti-hero. He tried to repeat the success with new characters, but none matched the popularity of Lupin. He even tried to kill Lupin in a 1910 story, “813”, but ultimately revived him in a follow-up tale not long after. In 1939, as Nazi Germany threatened to invade, he took refuge in Perpignan, where he died of pneumonia in 1941. So revered as a national treasure, his body was exhumed from Perpignan and reburied in Paris at the Montparnasse cemetery in 1947.