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Joseph Rouletabille #6
Rouletabille at Krupp's
In Rouletabille at Krupp's (1917), Gaston Leroux followed the template created by John Buchan in Greenmantle (1916), in which a heroic secret agent is conscripted to carry out an officially-sanctioned dangerous mission in enemy territory. Here, it's fearless investigative journalist Joseph Josephin, aka Rouletabille, who is sent into the heart of the Kaiser's armaments factories to destroy the gigantic German super-weapon Titania, capable of annihilating Paris itself in a single shot. The novel displays Leroux's fascination with, and talent for, the bizarre. As a reflection of the imaginative concerns of the French in 1917 and the revised policy of wartime propaganda that took full effect in that year, it has a stark specificity and punctiliousness that are unmatched.
228 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1917
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About the author
Gaston Leroux
1,060 books1,082 followersGaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.
In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, 1910), which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, such as the 1925 film starring Lon Chaney, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical. It was also the basis of the 1990 novel Phantom by Susan Kay.
Leroux went to school in Normandy and studied law in Paris, graduating in 1889. He inherited millions of francs and lived wildly until he nearly reached bankruptcy. Then in 1890, he began working as a court reporter and theater critic for L'Écho de Paris. His most important journalism came when he began working as an international correspondent for the Paris newspaper Le Matin. In 1905 he was present at and covered the Russian Revolution. Another case he was present at involved the investigation and deep coverage of an opera house in Paris, later to become a ballet house. The basement consisted of a cell that held prisoners in the Paris Commune, which were the rulers of Paris through much of the Franco-Prussian war.
He suddenly left journalism in 1907, and began writing fiction. In 1909, he and Arthur Bernède formed their own film company, Société des Cinéromans to simultaneously publish novels and turn them into films. He first wrote a mystery novel entitled Le mystère de la chambre jaune (1908; The Mystery of the Yellow Room), starring the amateur detective Joseph Rouletabille. Leroux's contribution to French detective fiction is considered a parallel to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's in the United Kingdom and Edgar Allan Poe's in America. Leroux died in Nice on April 15, 1927, of a urinary tract infection.
In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, 1910), which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, such as the 1925 film starring Lon Chaney, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical. It was also the basis of the 1990 novel Phantom by Susan Kay.
Leroux went to school in Normandy and studied law in Paris, graduating in 1889. He inherited millions of francs and lived wildly until he nearly reached bankruptcy. Then in 1890, he began working as a court reporter and theater critic for L'Écho de Paris. His most important journalism came when he began working as an international correspondent for the Paris newspaper Le Matin. In 1905 he was present at and covered the Russian Revolution. Another case he was present at involved the investigation and deep coverage of an opera house in Paris, later to become a ballet house. The basement consisted of a cell that held prisoners in the Paris Commune, which were the rulers of Paris through much of the Franco-Prussian war.
He suddenly left journalism in 1907, and began writing fiction. In 1909, he and Arthur Bernède formed their own film company, Société des Cinéromans to simultaneously publish novels and turn them into films. He first wrote a mystery novel entitled Le mystère de la chambre jaune (1908; The Mystery of the Yellow Room), starring the amateur detective Joseph Rouletabille. Leroux's contribution to French detective fiction is considered a parallel to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's in the United Kingdom and Edgar Allan Poe's in America. Leroux died in Nice on April 15, 1927, of a urinary tract infection.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 6, 2021
In my quest to find all of the English translations of the Rouletabille stories, I've sadly had to skip Rouletabille At War and move right along to Rouletabille at Krupp's--which is just not Leroux's finest.
It definitely has its own historical moment--being a piece of French Propoganda during WW1, an interesting early version of spy fiction, and some pretty thought provoking ideas of how we'd respond to apocalyptic weaponry prior to the real use of the first nuclear bombs decades later.
However, I had to knock off 2 stars from this rating. This was not my favorite Rouletabille read, and felt so different tonally than his earlier tales. I think the novel floundered from the beginning with its overly heavy exposition, and then the action itself seems scattered, and very little happens in terms of actual events.
The other star got knocked off because the English version I read was in desperate need of an edit--loads of words were frequently missing a random letter or had an extra one inserted at odd spots. It made this a slightly frustrating read, and also made me wonder if some of the language choices were specifically the result of the translation or the original Leroux work.
However, I couldn't rate this one any lower than 3 stars, because I keep coming back to how much I love Rouletabille as a character. After reading a slog of exposition at the start, it was a treat to have him step out of the shadows and ask a question about some minute detail related to sewing-machines rather than the Super Weapon that was the main threat being discussed, and then slinking back into the darkness after getting his one question answered. The moment brought a giant smile to my face. The guy is quirky genius at its finest.
It definitely has its own historical moment--being a piece of French Propoganda during WW1, an interesting early version of spy fiction, and some pretty thought provoking ideas of how we'd respond to apocalyptic weaponry prior to the real use of the first nuclear bombs decades later.
However, I had to knock off 2 stars from this rating. This was not my favorite Rouletabille read, and felt so different tonally than his earlier tales. I think the novel floundered from the beginning with its overly heavy exposition, and then the action itself seems scattered, and very little happens in terms of actual events.
The other star got knocked off because the English version I read was in desperate need of an edit--loads of words were frequently missing a random letter or had an extra one inserted at odd spots. It made this a slightly frustrating read, and also made me wonder if some of the language choices were specifically the result of the translation or the original Leroux work.
However, I couldn't rate this one any lower than 3 stars, because I keep coming back to how much I love Rouletabille as a character. After reading a slog of exposition at the start, it was a treat to have him step out of the shadows and ask a question about some minute detail related to sewing-machines rather than the Super Weapon that was the main threat being discussed, and then slinking back into the darkness after getting his one question answered. The moment brought a giant smile to my face. The guy is quirky genius at its finest.
March 29, 2020
Essouflement de la série. Des deus ex-machina vraiment excessifs
September 4, 2012
прочитав французькою, в якості самостійної роботи паралельно курсу вивчення мови, тож вповні оцінити художню цінність твору складно. але як не читай — чтиво посереднє, навіть серед інших повістей серії. читати можна хіба що для повноти колекції, або ж з метою вивчення французької (аудіоверсії також доступні онлайн і не порушують ліцензійного законодавства за давністю років).
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews