Gustave Le Rouge
Gustave Le Rouge (1867-1938) was a notable French author recognized for his prolific contributions to pulp fiction, characterized by adventurous narratives often rooted in scientific or pseudoscientific themes. Born in Valognes, France, he led a varied early life, initially pursuing studies in philosophy and law before turning to writing. Le Rouge's literary career began while he was still a student, eventually leading to his involvement with various literary reviews in Paris, where he adopted a bohemian lifestyle.
His writing gained notable attention towards the end of the 19th century, with his earliest works including poetry and collaborative novels inspired by Jules Verne's fantastical style. Among his most celebrated works is "Le Mystérieux docteur Cornélius," which features a mad scientist and explores themes of identity and transformation. Le Rouge's life encompassed personal tragedies, including the loss of his first wife, followed by a second marriage to a woman who faced significant health challenges. He passed away in Paris, leaving behind a legacy of imaginative storytelling that continues to intrigue readers interested in early science fiction and adventure literature.
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Gustave Le Rouge
Writer
- Born: July 22, 1867
- Birthplace: Valognes, France
- Died: February 22, 1938
- Place of death: Paris, France
Biography
Gustave Le Rouge was a prolific author of pulp fiction. Following in the tradition of Jules Verne, his work was fantastic and adventuresome and usually had a scientific or pseudoscientific basis.
Le Rouge was born in Valognes, France, in 1867, into a middle- class family; his father was a house painter, his younger brother would become a magistrate, and his grandfather was a longtime mayor of Reville. Le Rouge attended elementary school in Valognes, and then entered college at Cherbourg in 1881. After graduating with a degree in philosophy in 1886, he was a candidate for admission to the Naval College but failed the mathematics portion of the admissions test. He studied law for three years in Caen before receiving his license in 1889.
He moved to Paris and lived a writer’s bohemian life, working at many different jobs and struggling to make enough money to subsist. He worked for a railroad company and a circus and was a singer, puppeteer, actor, and assistant editor of the review L’Epreuve. It was during the Paris period, specifically in 1890, that he met the famous poet Paul Verlaine. After Verlaine’s death, Le Rouge and the poet and draftsman F.-A. Cazals published the memoir Le Derniers jours de Paul Verlaine (1911). Le Rouge also wrote a memoir later in life about Verlaine and other writers entitled Verlainiens et décadents (1928).
Le Rouge’s earliest writing was published during his student years when he wrote for a republican weekly, Le Matin Normand. Once in Paris, he wrote for small literary reviews such as La Revue septentrional, L’Art social, La Revue rouge, and La Revue de un passant, of which he later served as assistant editor from 1896 through 1903. He began writing full-length books at the end of the nineteenth century. One of his first, Le Marchand de nuages, was a collection of poetry published in 1899. In the same year, he collaborated with Gustave Guitton on the Jules Verne-like fantasy Le Conspiration des milliardaires, about the construction of a railroad under the Atlantic Ocean. They would collaborate on three other novels, including Le Sous-marin “Jules Verne” (1902), which was inspired by Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
In 1904, Le Rouge began publishing his own adventure novels. These included such titles as L’Espionne du grand Lama (1905), La Reine des éléphants (1906), and Le Prisonnier de la planète Mars (1908). His masterpiece, Le Mystérieux docteur Cornélius (1912), which was published in eighteen monthly installments, traced the exploits of the brilliant but mad scientist and master criminal Cornelius Kramm. Known as the Sculptor of Human Flesh, Kramm’s “carnoplastie” technique altered the features of individuals to resemble others. A similar novel, Les Aventures de Todd Marvel, détective milliardaire (1923), pitted the wealthy gentleman and amateur detective of the title against Karl Kristian, an insane German surgeon known as the king of transplanting.
In 1902, Le Rouge married Juliette Henriette Torri, a dressmaker and model for the sculptor Emile Bourdelle. She died in 1909. In 1920, he married Francoise Adeline Vialloux, a woman twenty years younger who was severely disfigured by lupus. Le Rouge died of prostate cancer in a Paris hospital on February 24, 1938.