Novel
The Mysteries of Paris
Les Mystères de Paris
Eugène Sue · 1843
Opening lines
Un tapis-franc, en argot de vol et de meurtre, signifie un estaminet ou un cabaret du plus bas étage.
A tapis-franc, in the slang of theft and murder, means a tavern or cabaret of the lowest kind.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
One evening, in a cabaret in the Cité district, a stranger in a workman's smock, who speaks the argot of thieves, stands up to the Chourineur, a former butcher and murderer, and wrests from his brutality a young girl, the Goualeuse, who is also called Fleur-de-Marie. The man is Rodolphe, Grand Duke of Gerolstein, who roams the slums of Paris incognito to help the victims and lead back to good those who can be saved.
Context
The novel appeared in serial form in the Journal des débats from 19 June 1842 to 15 October 1843, and Charles Gosselin published an edition in volumes. Its success was immediate and reached all classes of readers. The author received thousands of letters, which gave him advice or asked him for social solutions, and the story, at first picturesque, turned during its serial publication towards a depiction of poverty and prisons.
Who it is for
A very long novel, written to appear in serial form: its twists and recapitulations come from this mode of publication.
Prizes and reception
It founded the genre of urban “mysteries”, imitated in London and in America, and raised the circulation of the newspaper that published it.
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