Jules Lermina

Jules Lermina

Jules Lermina (27 March 1839 – 23 June 1915) was a French writer. He began his career as a journalist in 1859. He was arrested for his socialist political opinions, and received Victor Hugo's support.

Biography

Jules Lermina was born in Paris. He published a number of Edgar Allan Poe-inspired collections, Histoires Incroyables [Incredible Tales] (1885), Nouvelles Histoires Incroyables [New Incredible Tales] (1888) and a short novel, L'Élixir de Vie [The Elixir of Life] (1890) (translated by Brian Stableford and included in Panic in Paris). Le Secret des Zippelius [The Secret of the Zippelius] (1893) (translated by Brian Stableford as The Secret of Zippelius (2011) ISBN 978-1-935558-88-0) featured the controlled disintegration of water. His two-volume La Bataille de Strasbourg [The Battle of Strasbourg] (1895) was one of the first novels on the theme of the yellow peril.

In L'Effrayante Aventure [Panic in Paris] (1910) (translated by Brian Stableford, ISBN 978-1-934543-83-2), Lermina used Bulwer-Lytton's vril-force to create a vril-powered flying machine. The novel also features the resurrection of prehistoric creatures frozen in ice in caverns under Paris. Mystère-Ville (1905) (translated by Brian Stableford as Mysteryville, ISBN 978-1-935558-27-9), written under the pseudonym of William Cobb, and illustrated by Albert Robida, was about Protestants who had fled France and created a secret, futuristic city in a hidden Chinese valley.

Lermina also penned a proto-Tarzan novel, To-Ho le Tueur d'Or (1905) (translated by Georges T. Dodds as To-Ho and the Gold Destroyers ISBN 978-1-935558-34-7, two sequels to the popular classic The Count of Monte-Cristo: Le Fils de Monte-Cristo (1881) (that in English was divided in two books: The Wife of Monte Cristo and The Son of Monte Cristo), and Le Trésor de Monte-Cristo [The Treasure of Monte-Cristo] (1885); and Les Mystères de New York [The Mysteries of New York] (1874), also written under the pseudonym of William Cobb. He also created the indomitable Toto Fouinard, whose adventures were serialized in 1908–09.

Works

Novels

• Madame Sept-quatre (1873)
• Les Mystères de New-York (1874)
• Gris-gris (1874; with Marc Fournier)
• Marien (1875)
• La Roche du Diable (1875)
• Les Loups de Paris (1876; 2 vols.)
• Le Prince Mouffetard (1877)
• La Succession Tricoche et Cacolet (1877; 2 vols.)
• Les Mariages maudits (1880)
• Le Fils de Monte-Cristo (1881)
• Les Chasseurs de Femmes (1881)
• La Haute Canaille (1881)
• La Criminelle (1881)
• Le Livre d'amour (1882)
• Ralph le Rouge: aventures d'un Parisien en Floride (1883; 2 vols.)
• Vive la République! histoire d'un gamin de Paris, 1848-1851-1871 (1883)
• Les Hystériques de Paris (1885)
• Le Trésor de Monte-Cristo (1885)
• Le Cœur des femmes: Marie-Louise (1889)
• À brûler, histoires incroyables (1889)
• À tes pieds! A. V. (1889)
• L'Élixir de vie (1890)
• Martyres d'amour (1890)
• Reine (1891)
• Le Tour du monde de deux orphelines (1892)
• Alise (1893)
• Abel (1894)
• Amours et aventures de Cyrano de Bergerac (1894)
• Terres de glace et terres de feu (1894; 3 vols.)
• L'Énigme (1895)
• La Bataille de Strasbourg (1895; 2 vols.)
• La Deux Fois Morte (1895)
• Le Clou (1895)
• Dix mille lieues sans le vouloir (1903)
• Calvaire d'amour (1912)
• L'Effrayante Aventure (1913)
• Trottinette (1916)

Novellas and short stories

• Les Mille et une femmes (1879; 2 vols.)
• Histoires incroyables (1885; 2 vols.)
• La Vie joyeuse, nouveaux contes drolatiques (1885)
• Nouvelles histoires incroyables (1888)
• La Magicienne (1892)

Historical and political works

• La Révolution (1868)
• Alphonse Baudin (1868)
• Histoire anecdotique illustrée de la révolution de 1848 (1868; with E. Spoll and E. Faure)
• Histoire de la misère, ou le Prolétariat à travers les âges (1869)
• Fondation de la République française 1789-1848-1870. histoire de cent ans (1882; 3 vols.)
• La France martyre, documents pour servir à l'histoire de l'invasion de 1870 (1887)
• Jeanne d'Arc, grand roman national (1888)
• Question sociale. Ventre et cerveau (1894)
• Les Crimes du cléricalisme : I. L'Église sanglante. II. L'Église ignorante (1900)
• L'ABC du libertaire (1906)

Translated into English

• The Chase (1880)
• The Son of Monte-Cristo (1884)
• Devlin the Barber (1888)
• "A Duel." In: Romance, Vol. I (1891; translated by Sophie Earl)
• "Monsieur Mathias." In: San Francisco News Letter, Vol. XLIII (1891; translated by Virginia Elans Thibault)
• "The Ghost of an Apple-Tree." In: Romance, Vol. XIII (1894; translated by Sophie Earl)
• Three Exploits of M. Parent (1894)
• "The Deceased M. Sylvain." In: The Argonaut, Vol. XXXIV (1894; translated by L.S. Vassault)
• "The Amateur Diver." In: Parisian Illustrated Review, Vol. X (1901)
• "Titane." In: The Argonaut, Vol. LXXVII (1910)

External links

• Jules Lermina at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Works by Jules Lermina at Project Gutenberg
• Works by Jules Lermina at Hathi Trust