SEVEN ENGLISH EDITIONS, BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS

FANTOMAS - TEXT SELECTIONS

Examples from Fantomas translated ;

1. A Nest of Spies

 

1.1 "At Reims, the compartments disgorged the dragoons pell-mell..."

1.2 "He was a perfect specimen of the unsettled type of human being, savagely enamoured of liberty...." "Clic-clac ! A bullet in his heart, and he remains on the spot."

1.3 "If red's the winner there will be a present for you ! Hurry off now and bring up my trousers !"

1.4 "His adversaries were those who keep in the shade and never come into the open for a face-to-face tussle." - "I greatly need speech with you, monsieur."

1.5 "..bestriding my faithful bike..."

1.6 "He had got me the rogue, and jolly tight too!"

1.7 "An odd thing life ! An odd thing and a repulsive!"

1.8 "So champing his bit, Fandor had stood his ground."

1.9 "Punctual to a tick and in uniform ! "

1.10 "By Jove ! The company is not prodigal of footwarmers, that's certain !"

1.11" Though nothing of a sailor in a nautical sense, Juve took his duckings with equanimity."

1.12 "The old termagent traversed the waiting room to get her ticket punched..."

2. A Limb of Satan

2.1 "Lend me a yellow boy... it's not just for larks, I tell you, it's for biz."

2.2 "Like many Americans, he carried at his buttonhole a miniature U.S.A. flag in enamelled porcelain..."

2.3 "Stay lying down, I tell you !:" he ordered in a furious voice : "have you no nose ?"

2.4 "The offer of partnership thus formulated by the young slut was just the sort of thing to appeal to the old usurer."

2.5 "Fandor was exhausted yet restless from over-fatigue and excitement. His body rested but his tongue clacked..."

3. Slippery as Sin

3.1 "The spurious ragamuffin entered the grocer's shop, and drawing some loose change from his pocket to inspire confidence, asked for quite a number of spices which he wished ground to powder. "

3.2 "He is a bad egg, and as like his mother as two peas," she had assured herself. "He's a hardy plant like myself."

3.3 "The others stared at this queer fish who doubted what all Putney was sure of."

3.4 "What do you say to a sausage, Ralph ?"

3.5 "Charley was about to expatiate on his bargains when Mrs. Davis gave Sigissimons a significant glance."

3.6 `Before dispatching my wire, I must turn conjecture into certitude."

Major texts ; The criminal mind, Beaumome in jail. "The hooligan had been prostrate for a while, grinding his teeth in a dull fury. Then his reckless law-hating temperament asserted itself and he kicked up a shindy fit for Bedlam. Seized by the collar, he had been jerked into a cell, raising Cain the while.... Beaumome laughed and sniggered : he swallowed copious bumpers of delicious gin."

The ambivalence of language , from E.H.Benson, Mapp and Lucia, 1935 Georgie wants to commemorate the apparent death of Lucia and Miss Mapp, swept to see after a flood on the former's kitchen table,later recovered. "The table... he would have a tablet fixed upon it, with a suitable inscription to record the tragic role it had played.... How would Lucia's last words do, "Just wait till we come back." But if this was a memorial table, it must record that Lucia was not coming back. He fetched a writing pad and began again, "This is the table...", but that wouldn't do. It suggested "This is the House that Jack built." " It was upon this table on Boxing Day afternoon, 1930, that Mrs Emmeline Lucas, of Grebe, and Miss Elizabeth Mapp of Mallards - " that too was too prolix. Then, "In memory of Emmeline Lucas and Elizabeth Mapp. They went to sea..." - but that sounded like a nursery rhyme by Edward Lear, or it might suggest to future generations that they were sailors. Then he wondered if poetry would supply anything, and the lines, "And may there be no sadness of farewell when I embark,"occurred to him. But that wouldn't do; people would wonder why she had embarked on a kitchen table......"
 

The Thirty two Fantomas Novels by Allain and Souvestre (French titles)

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