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saareman 's review for:
Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief
by Lorenzo Garza, Maurice Leblanc
Mon ami d'enfance - The Best of Lupin
Review of the Penguin Books paperback (2007) translations selected from various French language originals (1906, 1911, 1922)
I remember first reading some of Maurice Leblanc's Lupin stories in my younger days when I literally picked up and read anything with Sherlock Holmes in the title. My first Lupins were therefore in [b:Cosmopolitan Crimes : Foreign Rivals of Sherlock Holmes|1735784|Cosmopolitan Crimes Foreign Rivals of Sherlock Holmes|Hugh Greene|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1372513205l/1735784._SY75_.jpg|1733315] (1972). After that, it was slim pickings in the library or the bookstores in my neighbourhood. This was well before the years of inter-branch library transfers & holds or internet availability of course. I remembered Lupin regardless, primarily for the audacity and the magnitude of his heists and escapades. But also for his banter which even stretched so far as to regularly label his police nemesis Inspector Ganimard as mon ami d'enfance (friend of my youth) while Lupin again and always manages to make his escape.
So with the recent Lupin revival instigated by the new French Netflix series, I looked around for what was currently available in English translation. The anthology Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief was the easiest to obtain. It is incorrectly labelled in Goodreads as Arsène Lupin #1, as it is not actually a full translation of the French original #1 [b:Lupin - nouvelle édition de "Arsène Lupin, gentleman cambrioleur" à l'occasion de la série Netflix|56785398|Lupin - nouvelle édition de "Arsène Lupin, gentleman cambrioleur" à l'occasion de la série Netflix (Films-séries TV)|Maurice Leblanc|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1611345905l/56785398._SY75_.jpg|88524758] (Gentleman Burglar) (1906/2021) (the latter is the latest 2021 French edition released as a TV-tie-in).
Gentleman Thief has 6 stories from Gentleman Burglar (1906), 4 stories from [b:The Confessions of Arsène Lupin|141193|The Confessions of Arsène Lupin|Maurice Leblanc|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924958l/141193._SY75_.jpg|136167] (1911) and 3 stories from [b:The Eight Strokes of the Clock|141191|The Eight Strokes of the Clock (Arsène Lupin, #11)|Maurice Leblanc|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347552791l/141191._SX50_.jpg|136165]. All told, I think there are 11 original books of Lupin novels and short story collections. Hopefully if the TV-series is popular enough in English (I don't really like the dubbed version, but each to their own taste) we'll see some English reprints as well in the future.
Gentleman Thief can somewhat be read as a novel as there are continuing threads in the plotlines from story to story and the overall "best of" selection takes the character arc from his early sneak thief days to his final manifestation as a "gentleman detective" living under an assumed name.
In any case, I was happy to renew my Lupin acquaintance and hope to find more of the stories in translation.
Trivia and Link
I read Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief due to the recent French Netflix reboot series Lupin, dans l’ombre d’Arsène (Lupin, In the Shadow of Arsène) (2021) which features a present day protagonist who is inspired by the fictional Lupin and with some of the story lines borrowed from the Leblanc tales, primarily The Queen's Necklace which is available in both Gentleman Thief and the original Gentleman Burglar..
Review of the Penguin Books paperback (2007) translations selected from various French language originals (1906, 1911, 1922)
I remember first reading some of Maurice Leblanc's Lupin stories in my younger days when I literally picked up and read anything with Sherlock Holmes in the title. My first Lupins were therefore in [b:Cosmopolitan Crimes : Foreign Rivals of Sherlock Holmes|1735784|Cosmopolitan Crimes Foreign Rivals of Sherlock Holmes|Hugh Greene|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1372513205l/1735784._SY75_.jpg|1733315] (1972). After that, it was slim pickings in the library or the bookstores in my neighbourhood. This was well before the years of inter-branch library transfers & holds or internet availability of course. I remembered Lupin regardless, primarily for the audacity and the magnitude of his heists and escapades. But also for his banter which even stretched so far as to regularly label his police nemesis Inspector Ganimard as mon ami d'enfance (friend of my youth) while Lupin again and always manages to make his escape.
So with the recent Lupin revival instigated by the new French Netflix series, I looked around for what was currently available in English translation. The anthology Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief was the easiest to obtain. It is incorrectly labelled in Goodreads as Arsène Lupin #1, as it is not actually a full translation of the French original #1 [b:Lupin - nouvelle édition de "Arsène Lupin, gentleman cambrioleur" à l'occasion de la série Netflix|56785398|Lupin - nouvelle édition de "Arsène Lupin, gentleman cambrioleur" à l'occasion de la série Netflix (Films-séries TV)|Maurice Leblanc|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1611345905l/56785398._SY75_.jpg|88524758] (Gentleman Burglar) (1906/2021) (the latter is the latest 2021 French edition released as a TV-tie-in).
Gentleman Thief has 6 stories from Gentleman Burglar (1906), 4 stories from [b:The Confessions of Arsène Lupin|141193|The Confessions of Arsène Lupin|Maurice Leblanc|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924958l/141193._SY75_.jpg|136167] (1911) and 3 stories from [b:The Eight Strokes of the Clock|141191|The Eight Strokes of the Clock (Arsène Lupin, #11)|Maurice Leblanc|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347552791l/141191._SX50_.jpg|136165]. All told, I think there are 11 original books of Lupin novels and short story collections. Hopefully if the TV-series is popular enough in English (I don't really like the dubbed version, but each to their own taste) we'll see some English reprints as well in the future.
Gentleman Thief can somewhat be read as a novel as there are continuing threads in the plotlines from story to story and the overall "best of" selection takes the character arc from his early sneak thief days to his final manifestation as a "gentleman detective" living under an assumed name.
In any case, I was happy to renew my Lupin acquaintance and hope to find more of the stories in translation.
Trivia and Link
I read Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief due to the recent French Netflix reboot series Lupin, dans l’ombre d’Arsène (Lupin, In the Shadow of Arsène) (2021) which features a present day protagonist who is inspired by the fictional Lupin and with some of the story lines borrowed from the Leblanc tales, primarily The Queen's Necklace which is available in both Gentleman Thief and the original Gentleman Burglar..