| FANTOMAS is the Emperor of Crime, the Lord of Terror, the Genius of Evil, the nihilistic anti-hero of a series of sublime pulps, books brimming with motifs of the 'marvelous': nuns, coffins, severed hands, daggers, masks, bells that bleed, corpses, poison flowers, gloves of human skin, lunatics and labyrinths.
A master of disguise, the “unseizable” Fantômas inhabits shadows; no-one knows his true identity or appearance. His penchant is for criminal atrocities and random acts of “beautiful-compulsive” violence, human carnage on a mass scale, outrageous theft, arson and destruction, virtuoso displays of terrorism and chaos compounded by the brutality of the Paris street-gangs under his command.
FANTOMAS: THE CORPSE WHO KILLS (Le Mort Qui Tue, 1911), the third and perhaps most inventive book in this astonishing series, was acclaimed by the Surrealists for its dream-like imagery, wanton cruelty, and gallows-black humour. It was filmed by Louis Feuillade in 1913. This new edition includes an illustrated introduction on Fantômas and the Surrealists, by editor Candice Black.
Solar Research Archive presents classic texts which influenced the members and affiliates of the Surrealist Group.
'Enfantomastic'
–James Joyce |
