Champsaur, Félicien
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1858-1934) French author, mostly of heated romances, who began to publish work of genre interest with an Apes as Human tale, "La Légende du singe" ["The Legend of the Ape"], for La Jeune France in 1878; with another tale, "Le dernier homme" ["The Last Man"] (see Last Man), it was assembled as Les Deux singes ["The Two Apes"] (coll 1885). The collection was included with Les Ailes de l'Homme: Paris à New York en avion (1917; cut and rev 1927; omni, trans Brian Stableford using both versions of the novel, as The Human Arrow 2011). The novel itself is set in the Near Future, and describes the Invention of a superior aircraft, a Rocket plane piloted by the protagonist to New York: his dreams of a better future (the first part of the tale as published had been drafted before World War One) prove illusory. Ouha, Roi des Singes (1923; trans Brian Stableford as Ouha, King of the Apes 2012) shows the clear influence of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan stories. La Pharaonne, roman occulte (1929; trans Brian Stableford as Pharaoh's Wife 2013) is a relatively weak tale set in Egypt involving Reincarnation.
Homo deus, le satyre invisible ["Homo Deus, the Invisible Satyr"] (1923) and its sequel Tuer les vieux, jouir! ["Kill the Old, Enjoy!"] (1925) – both translated by Brian Stableford as Homo-Deus (omni 2014) – form an early Superman series featuring a protagonist with various powers, including that of Invisibility; the markedly darker tone of the sequel seems clearly meant to portray the aftermath of World War One. Nora, la guenon devenue femme ["Nora, the Monkey Turned into Woman"] (1929; trans Brian Stableford as Nora, the Ape-Woman 2015) uses the monkey gland theories of Serge Voronoff to depict a Black singer, easily identifiable as Josephine Baker (1906-1975), in Apes as Human terms: this execrable racism see Race in SF, despite intratextual demurs, may have rendered the book unpublishable until recently, in the context of Stableford's comprehensive survey of French sf. [JC]
Félicien Champsaur
born Turriers, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France: 10 January 1858
died Paris: 22 December 1934
works
- Les Deux singes ["The Two Apes"] (Paris: publisher not found, 1885) [binding unknown/]
- Les Ailes de l'Homme: Paris à New York en avion (Paris: La Renaissance du livre, 1917) [binding unknown/]
- Les Ailes de l'Homme: Paris à New York en avion (Paris: La Nouvelle Revue Critique, 1927) [cut and rev version of the above: pb/]
- The Human Arrow (Encino, California: Hollywood Comics/Black Coat Press, 2011) [omni: trans by Brian Stableford of Les Deux singes and the above title: introduction by Stableford: presenting both versions of Les Ailes de l'Homme: pb/JeamTag]
- Les Ailes de l'Homme: Paris à New York en avion (Paris: La Nouvelle Revue Critique, 1927) [cut and rev version of the above: pb/]
- Ouha, Roi des Singes (Paris: Fasquelles, 1923) [binding unknown/]
- Ouha, King of the Apes (Encino, California: Hollywood Comics/Black Coat Press, 2012) [trans by Brian Stableford of the above: pb/Gary McClusky]
- Homo deus, le satyre invisible ["Homo Deus, the Invisible Satyr"] (Paris: P Ferenczi and Sons, 1923) [binding unknown/]
- Tuer les vieux, jouir! ["Kill the Old, Enjoy!"] (Paris: P Ferenczi and Sons, 1925) [binding unknown/]
- Homo-Deus (Encino, California: Hollywood Comics/Black Coat Press, 2014) [omni: trans by Brian Stableford of the above two: pb/Yoz]
- La Pharaonne, roman occulte ["'Pharaoh's Wife: an Occult Novel"] (Paris: P Ferenczi and Sons, 1929) [binding unknown/]
- Pharaoh's Wife (Encino, California: Hollywood Comics/Black Coat Press, 2013) [trans by Brian Stableford of the above: introduction by the translator: pb/Mike Hoffman]
- Nora, la guenon devenue femme ["Nora, the Monkey Turned into Woman"] (Paris: P Ferenczi and Sons, 1929) [binding unknown/]
- Nora, the Ape-Woman (Encino, California: Hollywood Comics/Black Coat Press, 2015) [trans by Brian Stableford of the above: introduction by the translator: pb/Mike Hoffman]
- Le Crucifé ["The Crucified"] (1930) [book publication of this title not confirmed: binding unknown/]
- L'Attirante (Paris: Ferenczi, 1931) [binding unknown/]
- The Alluring (Encino, California: Hollywood Comics/Black Coat Press, 2019) [trans by Brian Stableford of the above: pb/Mike Hoffman]
links
previous versions of this entry