|
Gaston Leroux, the celebrated French author was born on
6th. May 1868 in Paris, France. He was delivered on the way when his parents
were travelling from Le Mans to
Normandy where they resided. The boy was christened Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux.
He spent his childhood in St. Valery- en Caux, a coastal
village in Normandy where he developed a great fondness for fishing, swimming and sailing.
He was educated at the college of Eu, a grammar school in
Normandy. Leroux was a bright student and won a number of prizes at school. He
was very fond of literature from a very young age and started writing plays and
stories while still in school. He was a great fan of authors like Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle, Alexander Dumas and
Victor Hugo and tried to emulate their writing styles. His ambition
as a child was to become a writer but his father was not for it as in those days
most authors didn’t make a good living. Instead he was keen that his son
became a lawyer, which Gaston did become in order to please his father.
In 1889, he got his law degree from Paris. In the same year his father
expired leaving him a considerable inheritance of one million francs. But Leroux
was not careful with his money and managed to squander it in less than a year’s
time on extravagances like food, drink and gambling. He had a friendly
disposition and was a sought after companion on account of his geniality and
wit.
As his money began to run out, he realized that he had to
work and could not continue his extravagant lifestyle without any money. The
legal profession did not appeal
to him and he gave it up in order pursue his first love, writing. He became a
reporter with the Echo de Paris, a newspaper in which he
had earlier published some of his poetry. His knowledge of the arts helped him
become a fine drama critic and his knowledge of law aided him in covering
courtroom trials. He was married at this time to Marie Lefranc, whom he divorced
later. He made a very fine reporter and was renowned in France at the turn of
the century as ‘the eternal reporter.’ This was probably because of his
fearlessness and undaunted nature, which enabled him to cover all sorts of risky
events.
Then he was given a job with Le Martin as a roving
correspondent and traveled
almost all over the world and covered events in far off places like Asia,
Africa, Egypt, Morocco and Korea. He was not afraid to go to a place of danger and
many times covered events at the cost of risking his life. Sometimes he even
disguised himself in order to be inconspicuous and be able to cover events
better. He covered some of the most important events of his century. In Morocco
he once disguised himself as an Arab to report the crisis of 1905 and even
covered the first stage of the Russian revolution. His articles were so exciting
and colorful that the circulation of his paper increased manifold and he became
a celebrity in his own right.
In 1902 he fell in love with Jeanne Cayette and lived with
her until 1917, when they were finally married. He had already begun writing
novels. In 1903, his first novel, The seeking of the morning treasures, was
published and well received. In
1907 he gave up reporting altogether and became a full time novelist
with the release of his book ‘ The Mystery of the Yellow Room’. His most
renowned famous work the ‘Phantom of the Opera’ was first released in 1910
and became so popular that it appeared the following year in a British and
American edition as well. Since then the book has fascinated readers with its unique plot and setting and remains a
great favorite even today.
|
