Châlons-en-Champagne
Châlons-en-Champagne () is a city in the Grand Est region of France. It is the capital of the department of Marne, despite being only a quarter the size of the city of Reims.
Formerly called Châlons-sur-Marne, the city was officially renam ...
– 18 November 1939,
Rochefort-Sur-Mer
Rochefort ( oc, Ròchafòrt), unofficially Rochefort-sur-Mer (; oc, Ròchafòrt de Mar, link=no) for disambiguation, is a city and commune in Southwestern France, a port on the Charente estuary. It is a subprefecture of the Charente-Maritime de ...
) was a French writer.
Career
Renard authored the archetypal
mad scientist
The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as " mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabashedly amb ...
novel ''
Le Docteur Lerne, sous-dieu
''Le Docteur Lerne, sous-dieu'' ("Doctor Lerne, Demi-God") is a fantasy novel by the French writer Maurice Renard, published in 1908.
Inspired by ''The Island of Doctor Moreau'' by H. G. Wells, Renard adds a significant twist: the narrator himse ...
organ transplants
Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be transpo ...
not only between men and animals, but also between plants and even machines.
Renard's novel, '' The Blue Peril'' (''Le Péril Bleu'', 1910) postulates the existence of unimaginable, invisible creatures who lived in the upper strata of the atmosphere and fish for men the way men captured fish. These aliens, dubbed "Sarvants" by the human scientists who discover them, feel threatened by our incursions into space the way men would be threatened by an invasion of crabs, and retaliate by capturing men, keeping them in a space zoo and studying them. Eventually, when the Sarvants come to the realization that men are intelligent, they release their captives. ''Le Péril Bleu'' predates
Charles Fort
Charles Hoy Fort (August 6, 1874 – May 3, 1932) was an American writer and researcher who specialized in anomalous phenomena. The terms "Fortean" and "Forteana" are sometimes used to characterize various such phenomena. Fort's books sold w ...
's '' Book of the Damned'' (1919) and retains a humanistic and tolerant rather than fearful and xenophobic philosophy.
Renard wrote the novel ''
Les Mains d'Orlac
''Les Mains d'Orlac'' ( en, italic=yes, The Hands of Orlac) is a French fantasy/horror novel written by Maurice Renard, first published in 1920. It is an early example of the body horror theme in fiction.
Plot
The pianist Stephen Orlac suffer ...
'' ("The Hands of Orlac", 1920), in which a virtuoso pianist receives the transplanted hands of a murderer and turns into a killer himself. The book has inspired four film versions as ''
The Hands of Orlac ''The Hands of Orlac'' may refer to:
* ''Les Mains d'Orlac'', a novel by Maurice Renard
and several adaptations of that novel:
* The Hands of Orlac (1924 film), ''The Hands of Orlac'' (1924 film), an Austrian film
* The Hands of Orlac (1935 film) ...
'' (''Orlacs Hände'', 1924) with
Conrad Veidt
Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (; 22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German film actor who attracted early attention for his roles in the films ''Different from the Others'' (1919), '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920), and ''The Man Who Laugh ...
Colin Clive
Colin Clive (born Colin Glenn Clive-Greig; 20 January 1900 – 25 June 1937) was a British stage and screen actor. His most memorable role was Henry Frankenstein, the creator of the monster, in the 1931 film ''Frankenstein'' and its 1935 sequel ...
and
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...
, ''
The Hands of Orlac ''The Hands of Orlac'' may refer to:
* ''Les Mains d'Orlac'', a novel by Maurice Renard
and several adaptations of that novel:
* The Hands of Orlac (1924 film), ''The Hands of Orlac'' (1924 film), an Austrian film
* The Hands of Orlac (1935 film) ...
'' (1960) with
Mel Ferrer
Melchor Gastón Ferrer (August 25, 1917 – June 2, 2008) was an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He achieved prominence on Broadway before scoring notable film hits with ''Scaramouche'', ''Lili'' and ''Knights of the Round ...
and
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...
, and ''
Hands of a Stranger
''Hands of a Stranger'' is a 1962 American horror film directed by Newt Arnold and is unofficially the fourth film adaptation of '' The Hands of Orlac''.
Plot
When the hands of pianist Vernon Paris are destroyed in a taxicab accident, he recei ...
'' (1962) directed by Newt Arnold.
''L'Homme Truqué'' ("The Phony Man", 1923) features the graft of "electroscopic" eyes onto a man blinded during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The result is the strange description of a world perceived through artificial senses.
''L'Homme Qui Voulait Être Invisible'' ("The Man Who Wanted To Be Invisible", 1923) deals with the issue of invisibility; in it, Renard exposes the scientific fallacy inherent in Wells' famous novel. Since, in order to function, the human eye must perform as an opaque dark room, any truly invisible man would also be blind!
In ''Le Singe'' ("The Monkey", 1925), written with Albert-Jean, Renard imagined the creation of artificial lifeforms through the process of "radiogenesis", a sort of human electrocopying or
cloning
Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical or virtually identical DNA, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction. In the field of biotechnology, cl ...
process. The
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
press ferociously attacked the novel,perceiving it as sacrilegious, and blacklisted by public libraries.
''Un Homme chez les Microbes: Scherzo'' ("A Man Amongst The Microbes: Scherzo", 1928) was one of the first scientific novels on the theme of
miniaturization
Miniaturization ( Br.Eng.: ''Miniaturisation'') is the trend to manufacture ever smaller mechanical, optical and electronic products and devices. Examples include miniaturization of mobile phones, computers and vehicle engine downsizing. In ele ...
, and one of the earliest to introduce the concept of a micro-world where atoms were microscopic solar systems with planets. Renard's hero submits himself willingly to a shrinking process that eventually ran out of control. As in
Richard Matheson
Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres.
He is best known as the author of '' I Am Legend'', a 1954 science ficti ...
's screenplay for ''
The Incredible Shrinking Man
''The Incredible Shrinking Man'' is a 1957 American science fiction film directed by Jack Arnold based on Richard Matheson's 1956 novel ''The Shrinking Man''. The film stars Grant Williams as Scott and Randy Stuart as Scott's wife Louise. Wh ...
'' (1957), the hero is then attacked by insects, before eventually arriving on an electron-size planet, where scientifically advanced people are able to reverse the process and send him home.
Finally, ''Le Maître de la Lumière'' (The Light Master", 1933) anticipated
Bob Shaw
Robert Shaw (31 December 1931 – 11 February 1996) was a science fiction writer and fan from Northern Ireland, noted for his originality and wit. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 1979 and 1980. His short story "Light of Other Days" ...
's "
slow glass
Slow light is the propagation of an optical pulse or other modulation of an optical carrier at a very low group velocity. Slow light occurs when a propagating pulse is substantially slowed by the interaction with the medium in which the propagati ...
" by introducing the concept of a glass that condenses time.
Brian Stableford
Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...
as ''Doctor Lerne'', 2010, (previously translated in 1923 as ''New Bodies For Old'', published by The Macaulay Company in New York)
* ''Le Voyage Immobile'' he Motionless Journey(1909) transl. as ''The Flight of the Aerofix'' (1932); translated by Brian Stableford and included in ''A Man Among the Microbes'', 2010, q.v.
* Le Péril Bleu he Blue Peril(1912) translated by Brian Stableford as ''The Blue Peril'', 2010,
* M. D'Outremort r. Beyonddeath(1913) translated by Brian Stableford and included in ''The Doctored Man'', 2010, q.v.
* ''
Les Mains d'Orlac
''Les Mains d'Orlac'' ( en, italic=yes, The Hands of Orlac) is a French fantasy/horror novel written by Maurice Renard, first published in 1920. It is an early example of the body horror theme in fiction.
Plot
The pianist Stephen Orlac suffer ...
'' (1920; transl. as ''The Hands of Orlac'', 1929)
* L'Homme Truqué he Doctored Man(1921) translated by Brian Stableford as ''The Doctored Man'', 2010,
* L'Homme Qui Voulait Être Invisible he Man Who Wanted To Be Invisible(1923) translated by Brian Stableford and included in ''The Doctored Man'', 2010, q.v.
* Le Singe he Monkey(With Albert-Jean) (1924; transl. as Blind Circle, 1928)
* L'Invitation à la Peur he Invitation to Fear(1926)
* Lui? Histoire d'un Mystère im? Tale of a Mystery(1927)
* Un Homme chez les Microbes: Scherzo Man Amongst The Microbes: Scherzo(written 1908, pub. 1928) translated by Brian Stableford as ''A Man Among the Microbes'', 2010,
* Le Carnaval du Mystère he Merry-Go-Round of Mystery(1929)
* La Jeune Fille du Yacht he Young Girl From The Yacht(1930)
* Celui Qui n'a pas Tué e Who Did Not Kill(1932)
* Le Maître de la Lumière he Light Master(1933) translated by Brian Stableford as ''The Master of Light'', 2010,