Pierre Souvestre (1 June 1874 – 26 February 1914) was a French lawyer,

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and organizer of motor races. He is mostly remembered today for his co-creation with

Marcel Allain Marcel Allain (15 September 1885 – 25 August 1969) was a French writer mostly remembered today for his co-creation with Pierre Souvestre of the fictional arch-villain and master criminal Fantômas. Career The son of a bourgeois family, ...

of the fictional arch-

villain A villain (also known as a " black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character ...

and master criminal

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 appear ...

Early life

He was born in

Plomelin Plomelin (; ''Ploveilh'' in Breton) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. It lies near the Odet river, about southwest of Quimper. International relations Plomelin is twinned with the village of Crym ...

, a commune in

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

, the son of a

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

of Brittany who resigned from his post to settle in Paris. Souvestre studied law at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly.

Career

He became a lawyer, then a journalist, and a businessman. He owned a garage in Liverpool from 1898, then a second in Paris from 1905. A ''delegate'' of the ''Automobile Club de France'' (fr), he organized motor races, contributed to the newspaper ''L'Auto'' (fr), and wrote technical books, including the 1907 book, ''A.C.F. History of the Automobile'', and the ''French-English Automobile Dictionary'' in 1910. In 1909, already a published author, Souvestre co-wrote, with his friend and assistant Allain, their first novel, ''Le Rour''. ''

Investigating Magistrate In an inquisitorial system of law, the examining magistrate (also called investigating magistrate, inquisitorial magistrate, or investigating judge) is a judge who carries out pre-trial investigations into allegations of crime and in some cases ma ...

'' Germain Fuselier, later to become a recurring character in the

series, appears in this first novel. In February 1911, Allain and Souvestre began 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 pub ...

at the request of Joseph-Arthème Fayard (fr), a publisher, who wanted to create a new monthly pulp magazine. Allain and Souvestre also jointly wrote the spy series ''Naz-en-l'air''. After his death, Allain continued the ''Fantômas'' saga alone.

Private life

Souvestre took in Marcel Allain when Allain was driven from his home by his father. Souvestre died of a congestion of the lungs. Souvestre's former girlfriend, Henriette Kistler, married Marcel Allain on 27 September 1926. Kistler died in 1956.

Poetry

* Kidding (1894)

Conte

* Collage (1894) * The Misfortunes of Madame Rambuad (1896)

Automobile publications

* Sporty silhouettes (1903) * ''A.C.F. History of the Automobile'' (1907) * The car, how to use it, its maintenance (1908) * French-English Automobile Dictionary (1910)

Other work by Allain and Souvestre

* ''Le Rour'' (1908)

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) * 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)

The ''Naz-en-l'air'' books by Allain and Souvestre

;1912 * ''Naz-en-l'air'' (1912) * ''Le Secret de Naz-en-l'air'' (1912) * ''L'Ongle cassé'' (1912) * ''Les Tueuses d'hommes'' (1912) ;1913 * ''Le Mystérieux Clubman'' (1913) * ''Le Roi des flics'' (1913) * ''Évadé de bagne'' (1913) * ''Espions de l'air'' (1913) * ''Crimes d'empereur'' (1913) * ''Haine de bandit'' (1913) * ''L'Échéance fatale'' (1913)

Theater works by Allain and Souvestre

* ''Gigolo'', drama in five acts, Paris, Schaub-Barbré (1913), with Marcel Allain * ''Naz-en-l'air'', drama in five acts, Paris, Schaub-Barbré (1913), with Marcel Allain

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Souvestre, Pierre 1874 births 1914 deaths People from Finistère 19th-century French novelists 20th-century French novelists French journalists French crime fiction writers Writers from Brittany French male novelists 19th-century French male writers 20th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers