Bingeing on Lupin? Know the author who created the French gentlemanly thief

The character was created in 1905 for a magazine Je sais tout. It success led to full length novels in as many as 17 books and 40 novellas. Leblanc continued writing about Lupin till he passed away in 1941

Most series, of late, have been adapted from a book. And the latest is Netflix’s Lupin in which the protagonist, Assane Diop, roots his life and the way he goes about it on a fictional character: Arsène Lupin.

Diop, the son of an immigrant from Senegal seeks to avenge the death of his father. Even though he had committed suicide, he was falsely implicated in stealing a priceless necklace from his employer’s house. What follows is Diop charting out his revenge route from the fictional character down to his gentlemanly attributes.

With the growing popularity of the series, many are waking up to this gentlemanly thief. This might also be a good time to know about the man behind the character: Maurice Leblanc.

Born on December 11, 1864 Leblanc was famous as a short story writer but his fame mostly rested on being the creator of Lupin. This also led to comparisons with Arthur Conan Doyle. Even though both Lupin and Sherlock Homes are posited at opposite spectrums, they are united by their suavity. This also led to Blanc introducing Holmes in his books alongside Lupin. After an enraged Doyle took recourse in law to prevent it, the French author circumvented it by changing the detective’s name to Herlock Shomes. Books like Arsene Lupin Vs Herlock Sholmes feature both of them.

The character was created in 1905 for a magazine, Je sais tout. Its success led to full length novels in as many as 17 books and 40 novellas. Leblanc continued writing about Lupin till he passed away in 1941.

In an interview with Variety, actor Omar Sy said, “Lupin is so French that you cannot grow up in France and not know who is Arsène Lupin.” He further shared that even though he was not a fan of the novels, working on the series converted him. Speaking about the character and his reasons for doing it, Sy was quoted as saying, “he’s fun, funny, very elegant; there is action. Lupin is just the perfect character to cross [off] everything on the bucket list. You can do everything with that character. It is the perfect role.”

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