Jean de la Hire
Encyclopedia
Jean de La Hire was a prolific French
author of numerous popular adventure
, science fiction
and romance novel
s.
Adolphe d'Espie was born on 28 January 1878 in Banyuls-sur-Mer
, Pyrénées-Orientales
. He was a scion of an old French noble family dating back the reign of Saint Louis
, which gave the ancient city of Toulouse
a Capitoul during the Middle Age
. He was a soldier during World War I
. He died during 1956 at Nice
as a result of a congestion of the lungs due to chronic pulmonary problems from having been gassed during that war.
At the age of twenty, the only son of the last Comte d'Espie chose the pseudonym "Jean de la Hire", clearly indicating the admiration he dedicated to La Hire
, legendary comrade of Joan of Arc
, claiming to be his descendant. As numerous young ambitious provinciaux eagerly wanting literary fame and fortune, he migrated to Paris
with the support of his uncle, the then already famous sculptor Aristide Maillol
. But his debuts were not very successful and, after he was not awarded the Prix Goncourt
, he abandoned classic literature and decided to author more popular novels of the roman populaire genre
.
During his lifetime, he authored more than 300 novels and short-stories, some published with more than 100,000 issues, the most popular being his super-science works - and among them the Nyctalope
series. Most of them - mainly in the dime novels style
: detective novels, adventures, romances, western stories, etc. - were published as series in popular newspapers, magazines and quarterlies.
es of so-called pulp fiction: The Nyctalope
. The Nyctalope appeared first in L'Homme Qui Peut Vivre dans l'Eau (The Man Who Could Live Underwater) (1908) and continued to be published until the mid-1950s, when its books were reprinted by La Hire's son-in-law as rewritten editions.
The Nyctalope's adventures were of the science fiction style:
In L'Homme Qui Peut Vivre dans l'Eau, mad scientist
Oxus grafted a shark
’s gill
s onto a man, enabling him to breathe underwater. In Le Mystère des XV (The Mystery Of The XV) (1911), Oxus tried to conquer the planet Mars
. In Lucifer (1920), the villainous Glo von Warteck tried to command the world using “Omega Rays” to enslave mankind. In Le Roi de la Nuit [The King Of The Night] (1923), the Nyctalope flew to Rhea, an unknown satellite of Earth.
La Hire was also the author of La Roue Fulgurante (The Fiery Wheel) (1908), a classic "space opera
" in which five Earthmen are abducted in the eponymous “fiery wheel” (a flying saucer
) and taken to Mercury
by aliens
who look like columns of light.
La Hire's other works included Le Corsaire Sous-Marin (The Underwater Corsair) (1912–13), a 79-issue feuilleton
derivative of Jules Verne
, Joe Rollon, l'Autre Homme Invisible (Joe Rollon, The Other Invisible Man) (1919), a variation on H.G. Wells' story and Les Grandes Aventures d'un Boy Scout (The Great Adventures Of A Boy-Scout) (30 issues, 1926), a serial that features the adventures of boy scout Franc-Hardi in underground realms, other planets, etc.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
author of numerous popular adventure
Adventure
An adventure is defined as an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing and or participating in extreme sports...
, science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and romance novel
Romance novel
The romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Through the late...
s.
Adolphe d'Espie was born on 28 January 1878 in Banyuls-sur-Mer
Banyuls-sur-Mer
Banyuls-sur-Mer is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.-Geography:Banyuls-sur-Mer is neighbored by Cerbère, Port-Vendres, Argelès-sur-Mer and Collioure. The region is known for its wines, such as the sweet wine Banyuls. An aquatic museum with aquarium is located in...
, Pyrénées-Orientales
Pyrénées-Orientales
Pyrénées-Orientales is a department of southern France adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. It also surrounds the tiny Spanish enclave of Llívia, and thus has two distinct borders with Spain.- History :...
. He was a scion of an old French noble family dating back the reign of Saint Louis
Louis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
, which gave the ancient city of Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
a Capitoul during the Middle Age
Middle age
Middle age is the period of age beyond young adulthood but before the onset of old age. Various attempts have been made to define this age, which is around the third quarter of the average life span of human beings....
. He was a soldier during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He died during 1956 at Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
as a result of a congestion of the lungs due to chronic pulmonary problems from having been gassed during that war.
At the age of twenty, the only son of the last Comte d'Espie chose the pseudonym "Jean de la Hire", clearly indicating the admiration he dedicated to La Hire
La Hire
Étienne de Vignolles, called La Hire, was a French military commander during the Hundred Years' War. His nickname of La Hire would be that the English had nicknamed "the Hire-God" . He fought alongside Joan of Arc in the campaigns of 1429...
, legendary comrade of Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
, claiming to be his descendant. As numerous young ambitious provinciaux eagerly wanting literary fame and fortune, he migrated to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
with the support of his uncle, the then already famous sculptor Aristide Maillol
Aristide Maillol
Aristide Maillol or Aristides Maillol was a French Catalan sculptor and painter.-Biography:...
. But his debuts were not very successful and, after he was not awarded the Prix Goncourt
Prix Goncourt
The Prix Goncourt is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year"...
, he abandoned classic literature and decided to author more popular novels of the roman populaire genre
Genre fiction
Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre....
.
During his lifetime, he authored more than 300 novels and short-stories, some published with more than 100,000 issues, the most popular being his super-science works - and among them the Nyctalope
Nyctalope
The Nyctalope is the name of a lesser-known fictional superhero who appears in a book series of novels written by French writer Jean de La Hire, a prolific author of popular adventure series, many of which include science fiction elements...
series. Most of them - mainly in the dime novels style
Dime novel
Dime novel, though it has a specific meaning, has also become a catch-all term for several different forms of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S...
: detective novels, adventures, romances, western stories, etc. - were published as series in popular newspapers, magazines and quarterlies.
Overview
Jean de La Hire is remembered nowadays mainly for having created one of the first literary superheroSuperhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
es of so-called pulp fiction: The Nyctalope
Nyctalope
The Nyctalope is the name of a lesser-known fictional superhero who appears in a book series of novels written by French writer Jean de La Hire, a prolific author of popular adventure series, many of which include science fiction elements...
. The Nyctalope appeared first in L'Homme Qui Peut Vivre dans l'Eau (The Man Who Could Live Underwater) (1908) and continued to be published until the mid-1950s, when its books were reprinted by La Hire's son-in-law as rewritten editions.
The Nyctalope's adventures were of the science fiction style:
In L'Homme Qui Peut Vivre dans l'Eau, mad scientist
Mad scientist
A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...
Oxus grafted a shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
’s gill
Gill
A gill is a respiratory organ found in many aquatic organisms that extracts dissolved oxygen from water, afterward excreting carbon dioxide. The gills of some species such as hermit crabs have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are kept moist...
s onto a man, enabling him to breathe underwater. In Le Mystère des XV (The Mystery Of The XV) (1911), Oxus tried to conquer the planet Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
. In Lucifer (1920), the villainous Glo von Warteck tried to command the world using “Omega Rays” to enslave mankind. In Le Roi de la Nuit [The King Of The Night] (1923), the Nyctalope flew to Rhea, an unknown satellite of Earth.
La Hire was also the author of La Roue Fulgurante (The Fiery Wheel) (1908), a classic "space opera
Space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap...
" in which five Earthmen are abducted in the eponymous “fiery wheel” (a flying saucer
Flying saucer
A flying saucer is a type of unidentified flying object sometimes believed to be of alien origin with a disc or saucer-shaped body, usually described as silver or metallic, occasionally reported as covered with running lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly either...
) and taken to Mercury
Mercury (planet)
Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
by aliens
Extraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
who look like columns of light.
La Hire's other works included Le Corsaire Sous-Marin (The Underwater Corsair) (1912–13), a 79-issue feuilleton
Feuilleton
Feuilleton was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criticism, a chronicle of the latest fashions, and epigrams, charades and other literary trifles...
derivative of Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
, Joe Rollon, l'Autre Homme Invisible (Joe Rollon, The Other Invisible Man) (1919), a variation on H.G. Wells' story and Les Grandes Aventures d'un Boy Scout (The Great Adventures Of A Boy-Scout) (30 issues, 1926), a serial that features the adventures of boy scout Franc-Hardi in underground realms, other planets, etc.
Selected bibliography (excluding the Nyctalope)
- La Roue Fulgurante (The Fiery Wheel) (1908)
- Le Corsaire Sous-Marin (The Underwater Corsair) (79 issues, 1912–13)
- Au-Delà des Ténèbres (Beyond Darkness) (1916)
- Joe Rollon, l'Autre Homme Invisible (Joe Rollon, The Other Invisible Man) (wtitten under the pseudonymPseudonymA pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Edmond Cazal) (1919) - Le Labyrinthe Rouge (The Red Labyrinth) (1920)
- Raca (1922)
- La Prisonnière du Dragon Rouge (The Prisoner Of The Red Dragon) (1923)
- Les Dompteurs de Forces (The Tamers Of Forces) (1924)
- La Captive du Soleil d'Or (The Captive Of The Golden Sun) (1926)
- Les Grandes Aventures d'un Boy Scout (The Great Adventures Of A Boy-Scout) (30 issues, 1926)
- Le Zankador (1927)
- Les Aventures de Paul Ardent (The Adventures Of Paul Ardent) (6 issues, 1927–28)
- Les Ravageurs du Monde (The Ravagers Of The World) (1929)
- L'Oeil de la Déesse (The Eye Of The Goddess) (1929)
- Le Roi des Catacombes (The King Of The Catacombs) (1929)
- Les Hommes Sans Yeux [The Eyeless Men] (1930)
- Le Cercueuil de Nacre (The Mother-Of-Pearl Coffin) (1930)
- Kaitar (1930)
- Les Amazones (1930)
- Le Fils du Soleil (The Son Of The Sun) (1931)
- Sous l'Oeil de Dieu (Under God's Eye) (1932)
- Les Chasseurs de Mystères (The Hunters Of Mysteries) (1933)
- Le Secret des Torelwoch (The Secret Of Torelwoch) (1934)
- Le Maître du Monde (The Master Of The World) (1934)
- Le Regard Qui Tue (The Killing Eyes) (1934)
- La Mort de Sardanapale (1935)
- L'Énigme de l'Oeil Sanglant (The Mystery Of The Bloody Eye) (1935)
- Le Volcan Artificiel (The Artificial Volcano) (1936)
- Le Mort-Vivant (The Living Dead) (1936)
- L'Antre aux Cent Démons (The Lair Of A Hundred Demons) (1935)
- Les Envoûtées (The Spellbound) (1935)
- Le Démon de la Nuit (The Night Demon) (1937)
- Le Million des Scouts (22 issues, 1937–38)
- La Guerre! La Guerre! (War! War!) (written as Commandant Cazal) (5 issues, 1939)