What do you think?
Rate this book
The Master of Light
Often hailed as the best French science fiction writer of the early 20th century, Maurice Renard coined the term "Scientific Marvel Fiction" to pen a series of gripping, ground-breaking stories that owe as much to Edgar Allan Poe as they do to H.-G. Wells. Until now, Renard was best known to the English-speaking public for his thrice-filmed thriller, The Hands of Orlac. This is a series of five volumes, translated and annotated by Brian Stableford, devoted to presenting the classic works of this pioneering giant of French science fiction. The Master of Light (1933), anticipating Bob Shaw's notorious "slow glass" concept, is the tales of a vendetta and a murder mystery solved thanks to luminite, a glass-like substance which slows down light as it passes through, and through which one can actually witness the past.
300 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1933
4 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Maurice Renard
138 books18 followersMaurice Renard est un écrivain français né le 28 février 1875 à Châlons-sur-Marne et mort le 18 novembre 1939 à Rochefort.
L'enfance de Maurice est rythmée par des séjours d'été à Hermonville, où ses grands-parents possèdent le château Saint-Rémy (détruit en 1918), et où la famille occupe dans le vaste parc un petit pavillon, le clos Saint-Vincent.
En 1894, il obtient son baccalauréat en lettres et en philosophie. En 1899, il s'installe à Paris et fait des études de droit qu'il abandonne bientôt pour se consacrer à la littérature.Sous le pseudonyme de Vincent Saint-Vincent , il publie son premier recueil de contes Fantômes et fantoches en 1905.
En 1903, il épouse Stéphanie La Batie.quatre Des hôtes illustres fréquentent son salon : Colette, Pierre Benoit, Henry de Montherlant entre autres. Le premier roman de Renard paraît en 1908, Le docteur Lerne, dédié à H.G. Wells, sur le thème du savant fou, suivi par Le voyage immobile en 1909. Il publie Le Péril bleu en 1912, roman remarqué par Louis Pergaud. Il fonde la revue poétique La vie française et publie Monsieur d'Outremort et autres histoires singulières en 1913.
Il participe à la Première Guerre mondiale de 1914 à début 1919 comme officier de cavalerie. Son roman Les Mains d'Orlac paraît en feuilleton en 1920, il sera adapté plusieurs fois au cinéma (Mad Love aux USA en 1935). Publication de L'homme truqué en 1921, d'Un homme chez les microbes en 1928. Maurice Renard divorce en 1930 et se remarie. À partir de 1935, Renard publie de nombreuses nouvelles et des feuilletons dans divers quotidiens et devient vice-président de la Société des gens de lettres.
Il meurt des suites d'une opération chirurgicale à Rochefort en 1939. Il repose à l'île d'Oléron, au cimetière de Dolus d'Oléron où il possédait une petite maison où il vivait le plus souvent.
L'enfance de Maurice est rythmée par des séjours d'été à Hermonville, où ses grands-parents possèdent le château Saint-Rémy (détruit en 1918), et où la famille occupe dans le vaste parc un petit pavillon, le clos Saint-Vincent.
En 1894, il obtient son baccalauréat en lettres et en philosophie. En 1899, il s'installe à Paris et fait des études de droit qu'il abandonne bientôt pour se consacrer à la littérature.Sous le pseudonyme de Vincent Saint-Vincent , il publie son premier recueil de contes Fantômes et fantoches en 1905.
En 1903, il épouse Stéphanie La Batie.quatre Des hôtes illustres fréquentent son salon : Colette, Pierre Benoit, Henry de Montherlant entre autres. Le premier roman de Renard paraît en 1908, Le docteur Lerne, dédié à H.G. Wells, sur le thème du savant fou, suivi par Le voyage immobile en 1909. Il publie Le Péril bleu en 1912, roman remarqué par Louis Pergaud. Il fonde la revue poétique La vie française et publie Monsieur d'Outremort et autres histoires singulières en 1913.
Il participe à la Première Guerre mondiale de 1914 à début 1919 comme officier de cavalerie. Son roman Les Mains d'Orlac paraît en feuilleton en 1920, il sera adapté plusieurs fois au cinéma (Mad Love aux USA en 1935). Publication de L'homme truqué en 1921, d'Un homme chez les microbes en 1928. Maurice Renard divorce en 1930 et se remarie. À partir de 1935, Renard publie de nombreuses nouvelles et des feuilletons dans divers quotidiens et devient vice-président de la Société des gens de lettres.
Il meurt des suites d'une opération chirurgicale à Rochefort en 1939. Il repose à l'île d'Oléron, au cimetière de Dolus d'Oléron où il possédait une petite maison où il vivait le plus souvent.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 20, 2015
Maurice Renard can write. And very well. The ideas are there. The plotting and pacing are there. He's simply damn good and hopefully the recent English translations of his work will help to finally get the accolades from English-speakers that he deserves. Other early s.f. writers (yes, I'm talking about even Verne and Wells) have nothing on him.
The Master of Light mixes Romeo and Juliet romance, mystery, historical fiction and science fiction seamlessly and entertainingly. There's even a dash of prehistoric times.
Recommended.
The Master of Light mixes Romeo and Juliet romance, mystery, historical fiction and science fiction seamlessly and entertainingly. There's even a dash of prehistoric times.
Recommended.
January 23, 2023
Well, that was sheer joy. And I was wrong about something - I thought I would be ranking this a bit lower than both The Blue Peril, and Doctor Lerne. Not exactly; The Blue Peril is still my top Renard experience to date, but this one gets ahead of Doctor Lerne, partly because I figured out a lot of stuff in Doctor Lerne as it went along but failed to see any of the tricks in The Master of Light, and partly because we get something charming, not a tad pervy.
Brian Stableford wastes no time, in his Afterword, in summing up the key flaws in The Master of Light; that's fine, but I see them myself. I know exactly what's wrong with this novel. Even before the novel had begun, Stableford's Introduction had discussed how Renard had had to adapt his plot to a publisher's demands, based one what the public was interested in reading those days, in terms of serial-fiction's success and attendant profits for those putting the stuff out there. Thus, whatever Renard had been planning under the title Master of Light back in 1920 was probably different than what actually got sold for publication way up in 1930s. A female readership is important...and this "Scientific Marvel Fiction" Renard had been writing and championing in essays - as inspired in part by Wells - was not catching on all that successfully with the teeming masses.
The Master of Light is thus a Mystery, a Science Fiction novel, and a Romance, all in one. I expect it will be one of the wildest, most offbeat, most wonderfully-conceived long fictions I read all year (coming right after Death on the Down Beat...meaning if I spot a purple porcupine, or a piece of the Atlantic Ocean floating overhead, in the next 24 hours, it will now seem normal). Late in the book, most of our main characters are clustered around some luminite - a slate-like substance with some of the properties of glass...except that light travels slow through luminite, meaning images "passing through" it, to our eyes, are late. So, the key folks in the novel are gathered around luminite waiting to see a 100 year old murder. Or, at least see a clue? This result would help sort out a feud between two families and give forbidden love a chance.
I did at one point have a dreadful epiphany, along with the thought "If the luminite shows that monkey shoot the guy, this book sucks". Given my 4.5 star rating, rounded up to 5, you know that either the monkey didn't do it, or somehow I was perfectly fine with the monkey being the murderer. I would say, think outside the box...but the whole novel has broken out of the box, so take a hint.
As far as any accusations about a deus ex machina dropping at the finale...well I wish all such d-e-m's came with such an amusing but disturbing look at human selfishness and betrayal morphing into "oh, well, this late in the game, my reason for betraying you for ages has evaporated, so now I'll be noble.". Ugh. People!
If the Mystery is outrageous at times, the Romance is a bit contrived, the SF concepts are detachable...well, I say it does not matter. It's the combination of everything that's swirling around in this book that make it a wonderful and unique reading experience. The Blue Peril is awesome; The Master of Light is charming and fun.
Brian Stableford wastes no time, in his Afterword, in summing up the key flaws in The Master of Light; that's fine, but I see them myself. I know exactly what's wrong with this novel. Even before the novel had begun, Stableford's Introduction had discussed how Renard had had to adapt his plot to a publisher's demands, based one what the public was interested in reading those days, in terms of serial-fiction's success and attendant profits for those putting the stuff out there. Thus, whatever Renard had been planning under the title Master of Light back in 1920 was probably different than what actually got sold for publication way up in 1930s. A female readership is important...and this "Scientific Marvel Fiction" Renard had been writing and championing in essays - as inspired in part by Wells - was not catching on all that successfully with the teeming masses.
The Master of Light is thus a Mystery, a Science Fiction novel, and a Romance, all in one. I expect it will be one of the wildest, most offbeat, most wonderfully-conceived long fictions I read all year (coming right after Death on the Down Beat...meaning if I spot a purple porcupine, or a piece of the Atlantic Ocean floating overhead, in the next 24 hours, it will now seem normal). Late in the book, most of our main characters are clustered around some luminite - a slate-like substance with some of the properties of glass...except that light travels slow through luminite, meaning images "passing through" it, to our eyes, are late. So, the key folks in the novel are gathered around luminite waiting to see a 100 year old murder. Or, at least see a clue? This result would help sort out a feud between two families and give forbidden love a chance.
I did at one point have a dreadful epiphany, along with the thought "If the luminite shows that monkey shoot the guy, this book sucks". Given my 4.5 star rating, rounded up to 5, you know that either the monkey didn't do it, or somehow I was perfectly fine with the monkey being the murderer. I would say, think outside the box...but the whole novel has broken out of the box, so take a hint.
As far as any accusations about a deus ex machina dropping at the finale...well I wish all such d-e-m's came with such an amusing but disturbing look at human selfishness and betrayal morphing into "oh, well, this late in the game, my reason for betraying you for ages has evaporated, so now I'll be noble.". Ugh. People!
If the Mystery is outrageous at times, the Romance is a bit contrived, the SF concepts are detachable...well, I say it does not matter. It's the combination of everything that's swirling around in this book that make it a wonderful and unique reading experience. The Blue Peril is awesome; The Master of Light is charming and fun.
May 31, 2020
Una novela elegante. Bien escrita y que te va llevando de forma lenta. "El señor de la luz" cuenta una historia de amor con todos los clichés del género. Roza lo romántico pero al mismo tiempo mezcla con algo de ciencia ficción histórica y policial al remontarse a cien años atrás y a un crimen no resuelto. Por supuesto, tiene cierto tono naif pero se lo perdonamos porque está bien escrita. Tampoco apasiona ni deja huella pero cumple con su función que es entretener. Ya por eso, merece la pena.
August 15, 2021
Extraordinario. Maravillosa traducción de Aira
April 1, 2018
La lumière des esprits et le courage du cœur résolvant le non résolu d'une manière intelligente et tres tres drôle !
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews