Nau, John-Antoine
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
Pseudonym of US-born poet and author Eugène Léon Édouard Torquet (1860-1918), in France from 1866, his life from this point until his death being unusually peripatetic. His only published novel, La Force Ennemie (1903; trans Michael Shreve as Enemy Force 2010), which won the first Prix Goncourt in 1903, is of sf interest. Embedding its central premise in a jungle-jim of imagery from the surreal edge of Fantastika, the tale depicts the ordeals of its protagonist who, locked in an insane asylum, has been possessed by an Alien from Aldebaran (see Identity Transfer); he eventually escapes, travelling across the world in search of a lost love in places the real author had himself visited, perhaps for similar reasons. It is possible that other works by Nau, if they reach publication, might also be of interest. [JC]
Eugène Léon Édouard Torquet
born San Francisco, California: 19 November 1860
died Tréboul, Finistère, France: 17 March 1918
works
- La Force Ennemie (Paris: Editions de la Plume, 1903) [binding unknown/]
- Enemy Force (Encino, California: Hollywood Comics/Black Coat Press, 2010) [trans by Michael Shreve of the above: pb/Nick Tripiciano]
links
previous versions of this entry