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    The Phantom of the Opera
    The Phantom of the Opera
    The Phantom of the Opera
    Ebook315 pages5 hours

    The Phantom of the Opera

    By Gaston Leroux and David Stuart Davies

    3.5/5

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    Based on the translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos. With an Introduction by David Stuart Davies.

    ‘… the shadow turned round; and I saw a terrible death’s-head, which darted a look at me from a pair of scorching eyes. I felt as if I were face to face with Satan…’

    Erik, the Phantom of the Paris Opera House, is one of the great icons of horror literature. This tormented and disfigured creature has made his home in the labyrinthine cellars of this opulent building where he can indulge in his great passion for music, which is a substitute for the love and emotion denied him because of his ghastly appearance.

    It is in the Opera House that he encounters Christine Daaé whom he trains in secret to become a great singer. Erik’s passionate obsession with a beautiful woman beyond his reach is doomed and leads to the dramatic tragic finale.

    Gaston Leroux’s novel is a marvellous blend of detective story, romance and spine-tingling terror which has fascinated readers ever since the work was first published.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWordsworth Editions
    Release dateMay 1, 2012
    ISBN9781848705135
    Author

    Gaston Leroux

    Gaston Leroux was born in Paris in 1868. He grew up on the Normandy coast, where he developed a passion for fishing and sailing. Upon reaching adulthood, he qualified as a lawyer, but, upon his father's death, his received a large inheritance, and left the law to become a writer. He first found fame as an investigative reporter on L'Echo de Paris, and travelled the world in a variety of disguises, reporting on a wide range of topics from volcanic eruptions to palace revolutions. In 1907, he changed career once again, and started work as a novelist, finding critical and commercial success with works such as The Mystery of the Yellow Room (1907) and The Phantom of the Opera (1911). Leroux continued to be a prolific writer until his death in 1927 - the result of complications following an operation.

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    Reviews for The Phantom of the Opera

    3.5/5

    98 ratings82 reviews

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    • 3/5
      It's an ok read, but I suggest seeing the stage play instead.
    • 3/5
      Very enjoyable as an audiobook.
    • 4/5
      I find it impossible to separate the audiobook from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. The novel, naturally, has more detail than the musical, but Webber did such a fantastic job of staying close to the original source material that even if I got busy and only half paid attention to the audiobook, I was never lost. If you are a fan of the musical, you will definitely enjoy this.
    • 4/5
      An iconic love/ghost story... a deformed man haunts the Paris Opera House and mentors/ensnares a gifted, beautiful soprano. Tough sledding for non-readers but still worth reading. The Broadway musical will heighten its appeal.
    • 5/5
      Another classic which has been made into a musical. Like Les Miserables, this is an excellent book and an excellent musical. However, the musical Phantom differs significantly from the book Phantom. In fact, after reading the book, then reading synopses of the musical, I had a feeling I was going to be disappointed in the musical. Not so. The musical was excellent as well. Even though the musical was somewhat different than the book, the book is still required reading before seeing the musical, or you will, guaranteed, be totally lost during several parts. If you see this on Broadway, an added bonus is reserving your seats early enough that you can get seats in the first few rows (about 3 months in advance we had no problem getting second row center seats). If you do this, you will be right close to under the falling chandelier (if you don't know what I'm talking about, then get busy reading the book.) Spend the extra money; you won't regret it.
    • 5/5
      Very exciting!
    • 3/5
      Love triangle with a ghost. Kept me occupied
    • 4/5
      “I want to have a wife like everybody else and to take her out on Sundays. I have invented a mask that makes me look like anybody. People will not even turn round in the streets. You will be the happiest of women. And we will sing, all by ourselves, till we swoon away with delight. You are crying! You are afraid of me! And yet I am not really wicked. Love me and you shall see! All I wanted was to be loved for myself. If you loved me I should be as gentle as a lamb; and you could do anything with me that you pleased.”

      Poor, unhappy Erik.

      As many people know, the Phantom of the Opera's plot is like the fairytale Beauty and the Beast with tragic ending instead of a happy one. The beast, the Opera Ghost, named Erik lived under a Opera House. He haunted it with his craftsmanship of trickery and illusions. Christine Daae, on the other hand, was an opera singer who were lured by the Opera Ghost; she believed that Erik was the Angel of Music. Raoul de Chagny was her lover.

      The author succeeded in interlocking his story to the real facts and events in real life. At the beginning, for a moment there, I was beginning to believe the story was real. But, I remember this book is under fiction. haha. I had a lull moment in the middle part which caused me to do something else and not finish this book at once. I picked the momentum again by reading ChapterXX (That's why I do not easily give up on books). I like the part of the Persian until the end of the book.
    • 3/5
      Ok classic book
    • 4/5
      I felt this book was a little disappointing. I wasn't really interested in any of the characters until the end of the novel and even at that point I only really liked Raoul and the Persian. Christine was just so stupid and the Phantom was so annoying with his whole "I'm ugly; pity me!" There wasn't any point in the book where I really wanted to read it until the end as it was building up towards the climax. Then just I was starting to feel like this book was actually going to be great, Gaston Leroux gave it an awful ending. I'm only going to give this book 3.5 stars and I would only recommend to fans of Gothic Literature or movie.
    • 5/5
      I had always been a big fan of The Phantom of the Opera (both the play and the movies) hadn't read the book until recently. I thought I knew everything there was to know, but the book blew me away. Nothing like I expected, and I loved every moment. I loved the story before, and I grew to love it even more.
    • 5/5
      I didn't know the musical was based on a true story. It's the original true crime novel.
    • 5/5
      Delightful. I was a fan of the play first, of course, but the book adds so much more dimension to a story that is already beautiful and tragic. I loved learning more about Eric (the phantom), where he came from and how terrifyingly clever he was. Much more frightening than the musical. I'm trying to re-read it in French, but I keep getting side-tracked.
    • 3/5
      I found this hilariously over the top, for the most part, helped by the fact that in one of the versions I read, all emphasis was done by capitalisation. It just made me think of Erik as a troll on the internet, honestly...

      It's interesting how much more popular I'm told the musical is, than the book. And the book did badly originally, if I remember that rightly. There is something very dramatic about the book that might be best dealt with on the stage. And, of course, you can't hear the enchantment of Erik's singing, in the book.

      It's also interesting how devoid of a hero this book is, at least from my perspective. Christine is central, in that it's her that Erik fixates on, and who Raoul loves. Erik is central, in that he's probably the most fascinating figure of the book, but he's also self-centered and murderous and more like a villain. Raoul is important, but doesn't take much action. The Persian, with his ideas of saving Christine, is perhaps the most heroic, but rather in the background for most of the book. There's not much to hang onto and care about, in terms of characters.
    • 4/5
      My prior exposure to The Phantom of the Opera is almost exclusively tied to the Broadway musical (or the movie musical adaptation of the Broadway play). Apart from that, all I knew about the Phantom came from random references in Scooby Doo or other peripherally related media. Thus I wasn't at all surprised to find the book have significant differences from what I know of the Phantom. Still, I felt a general sense of familiarity to the story and could envision many of the scenes…probably my biggest struggle was to stop internally singing songs from the play as I read the book.As was the case of many of the novels of the time, this book includes significant commentary from the author as he emphasizes that this is a true story that he has happened upon and researched over time. The author assures us that he has personally vetted out the claims of the research materials he has used and that he has personally investigated the locations of the story. This technique always strikes me as a little interesting and makes me laugh a little at the mindset of novelists and readers of a century ago. In spite of the fact that this story is certainly a work of fiction, it is very evident that Leroux conducted at least a moderate degree of research. At the very least, he had a great knowledge of the layout, look and feel of the Paris Opera House. The edition I read included an article in the appendix from a historian who commented on the attention to detail and accuracy. The article commented on the nature of the descriptions of the Opera House in the book as compared with reality. It indicated that there was certain literary license in some areas of the description (particularly with regards to some of the secret passages and such), but for the most part the book presented a true and accurate representation of the Opera House and could serve as a valid reference.Apart from the accuracy of the descriptions, I found the descriptive nature of the text very engaging but not overly so. I wasn't distracted from the descriptions, but I felt like I had a vivid feel for the Opera House (and other locales) and could truly envision the scenes presented. The characters felt a little stereotypical and predictable to me…though part of that could be due to my knowledge of the story as well as the fact that this story is a century old and perhaps when it initially came out, the characters were more unique than they are today.For those who have seen or are familiar with the Broadway play, you'll be familiar with a lot of the general aspects of the story. I can't speak to other film versions of the story. There are quite a few significant differences in the story as well. Probably the biggest difference is that there are many more scenes that happen away from the Opera House. In the play, we go up on the roof at one point and I believe the graveyard scene is supposed to happen away from the Opera House (it's been a while since I saw the play…and my memory is unclear). In the book, we find out where Raul and his brother live. We find out where Christine grew up and lives away from the Opera House. We wander the streets around the city. There's more backstory given to Christine as well as to her earlier interaction with Raul. We hear the folk story around the "Angel of Music" and understand even more why he is so enticing to her. All of these elements helped enrich the book and will certainly throw some interesting light on the play.Where things got a little weird for me in the book was in the character of the Phantom as well as a character not in the play…the Persian. We get an interesting back story on the Phantom's life prior to coming to the Paris Opera House. This story is intriguing though I think a lot of my interest was more in the way the story was laid out. Rather than giving you the whole story at once, which could have been done easily enough, we get hints and allegations throughout that allude to the Phantom having previously "haunted" another large building in similar ways. This was an interesting revelation to me. What was fun though was not only learning more and more about the Phantom (who is given a name in the book…but I'll leave readers to find that out as they read on their own) but also learning about the kingdom he'd built in the Opera House. As a contractor helping work on the construction of the Opera House, he had full access to all the nooks and crannies of the building and was able to make his own modifications as well. Once the construction was finished, he simply stayed behind and continued building his fortress. In addition to the trap doors and secret passageways, the Phantom was a sort of technological illusionist and had built a number of very complex rooms and areas with devious intent. There's a scene near the end of the book where we learn of a room called the Torture Chamber. We stumble into the room (along with other characters) in the dark and it's a while before we fully learn the workings of the room. Initially I envisioned a room with Medieval torture devices…a Rack, a Wheel, an Iron Maiden, Knee Splitters, Cats Paws, and others. Instead the room was a sort of "Sensory Illusion" or "Sensory Overload" chamber. By using light, mirrors, sound recordings, image projection, environmental control (hot/cold/etc) and quickly changing "set pieces" moving in and out, the Phantom used the room to conduct psychological torture on his victims by sending them "virtually" into a variety of locations specially organized to drive a person insane. The concept of this actually being torturous seemed laughable as I read it. However, as you think back to the late 19th and early 20th century when this sort of "magic" was inconceivable, I suppose it is more likely to consider that a person may be driven insane by creative manipulation of their environment. After all, there are reports of audience members being terrified as they watched an early "movie" of a train barreling towards the screen…many jumped out of the way. So even though we know/imagine these effects aren't 100% realistic, when we consider no other basis for evaluation, it could have been terrifying.The Phantom is one of those paradoxical characters…we are made to both pity him and to fear him. He is a misshapen, grotesque misunderstood human being who has been shunned and despised all his life and as a result turned into a recluse. On the flip side, he also took advantage of his reclusive moments to frighten, torture and murder people who got too close to his personal kingdom. While he's very smart, his moral logic was very young and fraught with the childish snap judgements and vengeful ideas that you might hear in a playground argument. When it becomes evident to him that Christine will not likely opt to love him and be his bride, his moral logic gets all the more desperate and he turns to a "if I can't have her, nobody will" mentality. The Phantom gives Christine two choices, in the figures of a scorpion and a grasshopper. He explains that she must either choose to love him, or she and everyone else will die. Turning the scorpion or the grasshopper invokes one of the Phantoms inventions. Once again, the confrontation in this moment felt a little silly but the mechanisms involved did create serious tension…especially when it became clear that either choice has catastrophic consequences in Christine's life (the extent of the "good" choice also being bad isn't crystal clear to her but as a reader, we can quickly deduce what will happen with each choice…in either case, someone is meant to die).As the story draws to its conclusion, the Phantom grows more and more pitiable but never forgivable (since he never exhibits any true remorse or responsibility for his actions). I think in these final chapters/pages, we are meant to be drawn in by his anguish and feel some sort of compassion on him. I can say that I did feel bad about his situation, but he still was certainly not a lovable character. By the same token, I didn't feel that much love for the other love interest (Raul) as he felt like a stereotypical hero…rather flat and predictable. Still, he had redeemable qualities.Overall, I'm glad to have read this classic novel. It's an interesting view into literature and life in the late 19th and early 20th century. The scenes, characters, and descriptions are all well-crafted and very vivid. There are a number of scenes that were a little dry and more boring than informative, but they were easy enough to skim by. I didn't feel the sense of horror and fear that this book may have created when first released, but if I put on the mystical goggles of the early 20th century, I can appreciate the form and function of the plot devices and see how this could have been terrifying to readers. In some way, this story and the way it's presented reminds me of some of the crime dramas on TV these days…insofar as we are not only told the story of kidnapping and murder in a prominent location, but that we also get to see the psychological element of the Phantom and how he became what he is.While it seems to hold up generally over time, the sometimes slower pace and the outrageous plot devices may be a little hard to swallow for many modern readers. But if you have interest in "classic literature" at all, or in the workings of early 1900s Paris, this will likely be an interesting read for you. Otherwise, you may want to stick with the Broadway play or movie.****3.5 out of 5 stars
    • 3/5
      This is the one and only time you will hear me say 'I liked the movie/play better' Because I did. Its still an enjoyable book, very creepy and romantic but I miss the music. Maybe if I listen to the soundtrack while I read it?
    • 4/5
      I was really enjoying this, and then I found out the translation I am reading is inaccurate and abridged! :(

      I guess I'll just have to read it again later. I think I'll wait until the new Mireille Ribière translation comes out in March.
    • 3/5
      I was obsessed with The Phantom of the Opera in the sixth grade, after our otherwise useless music teacher taught a unit on the actual opera. I then read the book for a reading project in regular class.
    • 4/5
      perhaps the reader. i couldn't focus well. maybe the writing style. tom liked this but he read it. so different from the musical!
    • 3/5
      I thought this was good in most parts yet at times I found it either dull or confusing. But the good outweighs the bad.I think the third-person narrator swapping over to first person - allowing the Persian character to take over - was a mistake. I would rather have 'seen' what was going on with the heroine and the villain, rather than 'listening' to what the Persian and the hero could hear. The novel features as much humour as it does Gothic horror, which I enjoyed. I had to smile at the amount of times the hero bursts into tears through his passionate love for the heroine - she seldom cries yet he's easily set off!
    • 4/5
      I borrowed this book from a friend because I really loved the soundtrack about two years ago when I first heard it. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to read the actual book. I read it in the span of a day while traveling on vacation (in the car and on the train). It was a pretty good book, though I felt it was dragged on a bit and I got a bit bored sometimes. But I loved the suspense and I kept wanting to read. I love mysteries about history, so I thought this was a pretty good book.
    • 4/5
      Have you been mystified and enchanted by Andrew Lloyd Weber's "The Phantom of the Opera"? Did you know that the musical was based on a book? Gaston Leroux's "The Phantom of the Opera" is an excellent read for anyone who loves the musical or anyone who loves detective novels. The novel is written almost as a documentary, with the author trying to figure out if the Phantom of the Paris Opera was ideed real or not. He recounts the strange events attributed to the Phantom, and claims that they are all real events because the Phantom is a real man. He was not a ghost or ghoul, but a real man with real emotions.This book is very similar to the musical, but offers more insight into the thoughts of Christine, Raoul, and Erik (the Phantom). It also introduces a few new characters who help smooth out some of the rough/confusing parts of the musical.This novel proved to be an excellent example of our "who's the hero" theme. Raoul is a daring, physical hero who risks life and limb to save the love of his life. Christine is the selfless, internal hero who gives up all of her happiness for the happiness of others. It could be said that Erik is a hero as well, due to his undying love and selfless acts at the end of the novel. There are several heroes in this book, and all are special in their own unique way. It was interesting to see how they faced their various moral dilemmas.I really liked this book. Personally, I had just seen Phantom of the Opera on Broadway in November. I had never known the storyline before then. I was slightly confused about some of the things that happened in the play, so reading this book really cleared things up. The detective/mystery style layout of this book made the book really fun and easy to read. I really enjoyed it and I recommend it to anyone who loves the Phantom or just a good mystery!
    • 4/5
      I appreciate the Opera of the Phantom MANY times more now that the holes in the storyline of the opera are patched up. This is an intriguing mystery, a complex story about human frailty, but mostly, it is a lovely love story.
    • 4/5
      What is interesting about this novel in light of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, is that the novel seems devoid of a hero. Erik, the Phantom, is a murderous psychopath. His muse, Christine, is a fragile wreck, and her lover Raoul is described as childish and whiny by the author. Yet, the gothic tale is very suspenseful, and we almost don't know who to root for. Erik's background is fascinating, and his genius almost overshadows his murderous rampages. The decent beneath the Opera House is very compelling in its mystery and suspense. Leroux's strength is in his scenic descriptions. It is through flashbacks that we best sympathize with the characters, as the author's dialogue does his characters no favors. For fans of the musical, much more is explained between the relationship between Madame Giry and the Phantom, how Christine came to the Opera, and, best of all, how the Phantom constructed his underground lair. His description of the impressive hideaway blows the Broadway scenery right out of the water.
    • 5/5
      Ohhh this is one of the best books i have ever read. i love how the phantom is so madly inlove wiht christe that he will do anything and nothing will stop him from loving the beautiful melodies that spring out of Christine Daae's voice. not even Roul will stop him
    • 4/5
      [ Phantom of the Opera] by [Gaston Leroux] was a Gothic tale centering around the ghost of the Paris Opera House, Eric (as they call him). I have seen the musical twice and much prefer it over the book not because of the scenery, the costumes, or the music, but because of the tale, or the lack of it The book is very very detailed and we have a nice little wrapped up package in the end, where everybody ends up "happy", even Eric; who finds another opera house. I much prefer the "unknown" of the musical. The book also seemed to drag for about 4-5 chapters when telling about the dungeon. I read this and listened to it on audio while driving. The audio was very well done. A good read; not a great read.
    • 5/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I had no idea what to expect as I wasn\'t familiar with any of Leroux\'s other novels and I hadn\'t heard anything about it from anybody else who\'d read it. I fell in love with it from the start. It\'s the perfect Gothic novel. It\'s ingenious, beautiful, and dark. I love it.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. It is more a melodramatic love story than the horror story it is made out to be and it's neither the musical nor the black and white silent so it should not be judged based on them. It is dark and passionate and surprisingly very funny.
    • 5/5
      A movie. Based on an opera. Based on a novel. Based on what may or may not be slightly true events. Always interesting. And it involves music, another passion of mine. Just a painfully beautiful book about the masks we all wear.
    • 5/5
      This book gives us an insight into the depravities and, conversly the beauties of humanity. The ugliness of the phantom is contrasted with the beauty of his music and understandably, Christine feels an undeniably pity for him, whereas the naive Raoul only feels anger towards him. One of the best characters that was left out of the musical version was the Persian, who presents important background into the phantom's life. This book totally made me cry at the end!

    Book preview

    The Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux

    Trayler

    INTRODUCTION

    Gaston Leroux was born in May 1868 in Paris, the son of a wealthy storeowner. He attended school in Normandy and studied law in Paris on his father’s orders, despite the fact that he wanted to be a journalist and a writer. On his father’s death, he inherited nearly a million francs which prompted him to give up the law and spend his time in the pleasurable pursuits of drinking and gambling. Like many individuals released from a strict regime, he overindulged and very soon he had squandered the fortune. Within a year he found himself in a position where he had to find work in order to live and so he took up the post of court reporter and theatre critic for L’Écho de Paris. In 1892 he made his name as France’s first investigative journalist by solving a sensational case before it came to trial. By the age of thirty Leroux was the most celebrated travelling reporter of his day.

    Gaston Leroux began to write novels in the early 1900s and decided to follow in the footsteps of the masters of detective fiction, Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle, and to try and better their works with his own mystery stories. Between the years 1903 and 1927 he produced two dozen newspaper serials and seven plays. His breakthrough work was Le Mystère de la chambre jaune (The Mystery of the Yellow Room, 1907), which introduced the crime reporter Joseph Rouletabille, a youth with a bullet-shaped head (hence his name). Its plot involved one of the most ingenious of ‘locked room’ murder mysteries. Mademoiselle Stangerson is found in the Yellow Room, lying on the floor in the agonies of death. As her life ebbs away, she cries, ‘Murder! – Murder! – Help!’ The room is locked on the inside with a key and bolt, and the blinds on the only window are also fastened on the inside. Of course the police are baffled, but the young sleuth, using the deductive prowess and ingenuity of a Sherlock Holmes, solves the case. Rouletabille’s friend, Sinclair, chronicles the story and serves as his Dr Watson. The culprit, identified by Rouletabille, is the least suspected person, who in fact turns out to be a notorious criminal. This novel demonstrated Leroux’s facility for melodrama and mystery and it became an immediate bestseller, which prompted the author to write a sequel, again featuring Rouletabille, Le Parfum de la dame en noir (The Perfume of the Lady in Black, 1909). This was not as successful as its predecessor because Leroux tried to introduce too much psychological material concerning the characters and their relationships into the plot, which interfered with the dramatic rhythm of the murder mystery.

    In 1910 Leroux had his greatest literary success with Le Fantôme de l’Opéra (The Phantom of the Opera). This is both a detective story and a dark romantic melodrama and was inspired by Leroux’s passion for and obsession with the Paris Opera House. And there is no mystery as to why he found the building so fascinating because it is one of the architectural wonders of the nineteenth century. The opulent design and the fantastically luxurious furnishings added to its glory, making it the most famous and prestigious opera house in all Europe. The structure comprises seventeen floors, including five deep and vast cellars and sub cellars beneath the building. The size of the Paris Opera House is difficult to conceive. According to an article in Scribner’s Magazine in 1879, just after it first opened to the public, the Opera House contained 2,531 doors with 7,593 keys. There were nine vast reservoirs, with two tanks holding a total of 22,222 gallons of water. At the time there were fourteen furnaces used to provide the heating, and dressing-rooms for five hundred performers. There was a stable for a dozen or so horses which were used in the more ambitious productions. In essence then the Paris Opera House was like a very small magnificent city.

    During a visit there, Leroux heard the legend of a bizarre figure, thought by many to be a ghost, who had lived secretly in the cavernous labyrinth of the Opera cellars and who, apparently, engineered some terrible accidents within the theatre as though he bore it a tremendous grudge. These stories whetted Leroux’s journalistic appetite. Convinced that there was some truth behind these weird tales, he investigated further and acquired a series of accounts relating to the mysterious ‘ghost’. It was then that he decided to turn these titillating titbits of theatre gossip into a novel.

    The building is ideal for a dark, fantastic Grand Guignol scenario. It is believed that during the construction of the Opera House it became necessary to pump underground water away from the foundation pit of the building, thus creating a huge subterranean lake which inspired Leroux to use it as one of his settings, the lair, in fact, of the Phantom. With its extraordinary maze-like structure, the various stage devices primed for magical stage effects and that remarkable subterranean lake, the Opera House is not only the ideal backdrop for this romantic fantasy but it also emerges as one of the main characters of this compelling tale. In using the real Opera House as its setting, Leroux was able to enhance the overall sense of realism in his novel.

    One of the clever aspects of the novel is, of course, the character of Erik, the Phantom himself. He is a man to be both despised and pitied. His motives are selfish and cruel and yet so cunning is Leroux’s portrayal of this creature that the reader can sympathise with him notwithstanding. Erik has become one of the icons of horror literature and horror movies. Leroux’s belief that such a person as Erik actually lived and breathed is conveyed consistently throughout the novel. In his own Introduction he claims: ‘The Opera ghost really existed. He was not, as was long believed, a creature of the imagination.’

    To support this statement, Leroux details the research he carried out, citing his sources to support his claim that the Phantom was flesh and blood. He incorporates excellent references to endorse his chief witnesses so that the novel is presented as the factual account of a genuine enquiry. Leroux knew that if he was able to persuade the reader that what he was reading was not fiction but an historical account, he would add an extra vibrancy to the drama, the passion and above all the horror. Framed in such a fashion, the story appears both more terrifying and more real. Incredible, seemingly supernatural elements are artfully fused with true facts and with references to real people, so that the novel is a dazzling blend of illusion and reality. This approach is repeatedly reinforced by the author’s frequent and informative textual footnotes and his epilogue, which is insistent that what the reader holds in his hand is not a work of full-blooded and fantastic fiction but a record of events which actually happened. Often the style is anecdotal where the author speaks directly to the reader as though he is confiding in him some important piece of information, a technique that adds further veracity to the tale.

    However it is clear that the character and motives of the Phantom have their source and development in Leroux’s imagination. The biography of Erik explains, to a large extent, the nature of his twisted mind. We are told that he was born in a small town not far from Rouen. He was the son of a master mason and ran away at an early age from his father’s house, where his extreme ugliness was a subject of horror and terror to his parents. It is only after years of wandering, suffering the taunts and rejection of everyone he encounters because of his disfigured features, that Erik finds a kind of sanctuary in the cellars and corridors of the Paris Opera House. It isn’t just the cloak of secretive darkness and the protective labyrinths that appeal to him, but the fact that this is an environment in which he can indulge in his great passion: music, which is a substitute for the love and acceptance denied him because of his ghastly appearance. However the lair he creates for himself beneath the Opera House is merely another mask, another attempt to conceal his hideousness from the eyes of the world that rejected him.

    And then something happens which changes his whole life, something which will eventually lead to his own destruction: he encounters the singer Christine Daaé. His obsession with her takes the story into the realms of a fairy tale: it is beauty and the beast with strong elements of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831). Leroux was obviously strongly influenced by this classic tale. Hugo had his magnificent building, his rejected monster, his air of love and loneliness, his beautiful girl; all these elements are present in The Phantom. Even the conclusion is similar – as the Phantom’s body was found in the depths of the Opera House long after the end of the tale, so was Quasimodo’s skeleton later discovered in the vault of Montfaucon.

    Similarly, like the Beast and Quasimodo, Erik’s passionate obsession with a beautiful woman beyond his reach is doomed, and the path that he takes which leads to the inevitable tragic finale is what has engaged readers and audiences since the work was first published. It is Erik’s frustrated and ill-fated love for the pure and wholesome Christine (some critics have said that she is impossibly pure and wholesome) which elicits our pity and sympathy. What also helps to win us over to Erik’s side is the fact that his rival, the handsome, unblemished Raoul, is rather a dull hero. He goes through the motions of rescuing and protecting his beloved damsel in distress without much spark of individuality. By contrast Erik is an amazing fellow. He’s evil of course – an expert at strangulation, which allows him to dispose of many of his enemies – but he is also clever, a great ventriloquist, has seemingly magical powers that allow him to appear and disappear at will and is a wonderful singing teacher, turning Christine into a virtuoso performer. It is no wonder that it is Erik that we remember from this novel, while the other characters tend to fade from our memory.

    And it is Erik that various film and theatrical productions have focussed on over the years. The Phantom of the Opera has joined that pantheon of horror ‘heroes’ which includes Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Wolfman and the Mummy. The dramatic structure of the novel and furious pace of the narrative made it an ideal candidate for the cinema. It was in 1925 that Universal Pictures released the first and possibly the greatest screen version of the story. It was a vehicle for the remarkable Lon Chaney, an actor who had an incredible facility for changing his appearance dramatically to suit each role he played. As Erik, Chaney in fearsome make-up appears as he is described by Leroux, with the head and face of a skull. The terrifying scene in which Chaney is unmasked remains one of the classic moments in horror films. This silent movie, which remained faithful for the most part to its literary source, was spectacular in other ways too. There were elaborate sets of the catacombs and the Opera stage, with various scenes presented in the startling innovation of colour. However, it is Chaney’s portrayal of the Phantom that bestows upon this film its classic status.

    Universal’s remake in 1944, a sumptuous Technicolor version with Claude Rains in the title role, is quite tame by comparison. There were changes to the plot which weakened the power of the story. In this version, Erik is a frustrated composer and violinist in the orchestra at the Opera. He is sacked because arthritis is affecting his playing and his life’s work, a concerto, is stolen from him. In attempting to retrieve his precious manuscript, his face is burnt with acid and so he takes refuge in the bowels of the Opera House. His feelings for Christine, the singer he begins to coach secretly, are merely avuncular rather than passionate, and so the tension and dynamism of the original story are seriously weakened.

    Hammer Films gave us their take on the novel in 1962. The action was moved to London and to a less impressive venue, the fictitious Albany Theatre (in reality it was the modest Wimbledon Theatre). Again the Phantom (played by Herbert Lom) was an ambitious and bitter composer, disfigured by acid. The film lacked the requisite grandeur and passion of the novel.

    Another disappointing movie appeared in 1989 starring Robert Englund, famous for his role as ‘Freddy’ in the Nightmare on Elm Street series. This time Leroux’s novel had a radical reworking. Struck on the head, a singer finds herself back in Victorian England where she falls under the influence of a disfigured musical genius who has sold his soul to the Devil.

    There was also an attempt to update the story in Phantom of the Paradise (1974), a modern satirical take on the novel in rock-opera terms which was set in a pop-music palace with Paul Williams as the Phantom. On the literary front, thriller writer Frederick Forsyth wrote a sequel in 1999. The Phantom of Manhattan tells the story of how Erik escapes death in Paris and sails to New York to begin a new and secret life that leads him to power and wealth.

    However, it is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s tremendously successful 1986 musical version of Leroux’s novel which has brought The Phantom of the Opera into the public consciousness again and revived interest in the original novel. The stage show, which is reasonably faithful to its source material, in turn led to a movie in 2004 which inevitably focused on the music and the romance, seriously missing out on the elements of drama and horror.

    Ultimately, as is often the case with classic novels, the best way to enjoy them is by reading them. Film, stage and television versions can often be entertaining and sometimes illuminating, but in the end there is nothing to beat sitting down in a comfortable chair and absorbing the story as it was first conceived by the author. You now have that treat ahead of you. Enjoy.

    DAVID STUART DAVIES

    AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION

    In which the author of this singular work informs the reader how he acquired the certainty that the Opera ghost really existed

    The Opera ghost really existed. He was not, as was long believed, a creature of the imagination of the artists, the superstition of the managers, or the absurd and impressionable brains of the young ladies of the ballet, their mothers, the box-keepers, the cloak-room attendants, or the concierge. No, he existed in flesh and blood, though he assumed all the outward characteristics of a real phantom, that is to say, of a shade.

    When I began to ransack the archives of the National Academy of Music, I was at once struck by the surprising coincidences between the phenomena ascribed to ‘the ghost’ and the most extraordinary and fantastic tragedy that ever excited the minds of the Paris upper classes; and I was soon led to think that this tragedy might reasonably be explained by the phenomena in question. The events do not date more than thirty years back; and it would not be difficult to find at the present day, in the foyer of the ballet itself, old men of high repute – men upon whose word one could absolutely rely – who would remember as though they happened yesterday the mysterious and dramatic conditions that attended the kidnapping of Christine Daaé, the disappearance of the Vicomte de Chagny and the death of his elder brother, Count Philippe, whose body was found on the bank of the lake that exists in the lower cellars of the Opera on the Rue Scribe side. But none of these witnesses had until that day thought that there was any reason for connecting the more or less legendary figure of the Opera ghost with that terrible story.

    The truth was slow to enter my mind, puzzled by an enquiry that, at every moment, was complicated by events which, at first sight, might be looked upon as superhuman; and more than once I was within an ace of abandoning a task in which I was exhausting myself in the hopeless pursuit of a vain image. At last, I received the proof that my presentiments had not deceived me; and I was rewarded for all my efforts on the day when I acquired the certainty that the Opera ghost was more than a mere shade.

    On that day, I had spent long hours over The Memoirs of a Manager, the light and frivolous work of the over-sceptical Moncharmin, who, during his term at the Opera, understood nothing of the mysterious behaviour of the ghost and who was making all the fun of it that he could at the very moment when he became the first victim of the curious financial operation that went on inside ‘the magic envelope’.

    I had just left the library in despair, when I met the delightful acting-manager of our National Academy, who stood chatting on a landing with a lively and well-groomed little old man, to whom he introduced me gaily. The acting-manager knew all about my investigations and how eagerly and unsuccessfully I had been trying to discover the whereabouts of the examining-magistrate in the famous Chagny case, M. Faure. Nobody knew what had become of him, alive or dead; and here he was back from Canada, where he had spent fifteen years; and the first thing he had done, on his return to Paris, was to come to the secretarial offices at the Opera and ask for a free seat. The little old man was M. Faure himself.

    We spent a good part of the evening together; and he told me the whole Chagny case as he had understood it at the time. He was bound to conclude in favour of the madness of the viscount and the accidental death of the elder brother, for lack of evidence to the contrary; but he was nevertheless persuaded that a terrible tragedy had taken place between the two brothers in connection with Christine Daaé. He could not tell me what became of Christine or the viscount. When I mentioned the ghost, he only laughed. He too had been told of the curious manifestations that seemed to point to the existence of an abnormal being, residing in one of the mysterious corners of the Opera, and he knew the story of ‘the envelope’; but he had seen nothing in the story worthy of his attention as magistrate in charge of the Chagny case; and it was as much as he had done to listen to the evidence of a witness who appeared of his own accord and declared that he had often met the ghost. This witness was none other than the man whom all Paris called ‘the Persian’ and who was well known to every subscriber to the Opera. The magistrate simply took him for a visionary.

    I was immensely interested by this story of the Persian. I wanted, if there were still time, to find this valuable and eccentric witness. My luck began to improve; and I discovered him in his little flat in the Rue de Rivoli, where he had lived ever since and where he died five months after my visit. I was at first inclined to be suspicious; but, when the Persian, with child-like candour, had told me all that he knew about the ghost and handed me his proofs of the ghost’s existence – including the strange correspondence of Christine Daaé – to do as I pleased with, I was no longer able to doubt. No, the ghost was not a myth!

    I have, I know, been told that this correspondence may have been forged from first to last by a man whose imagination had certainly been fed on the most seductive tales; but fortunately I discovered some of Christine’s writing outside the famous bundle of letters; and on a comparison of the two, all my doubts were removed. I also went into the past history of the Persian and found that he was an upright man, incapable of inventing a story that might have defeated the ends of justice.

    This, moreover, was the opinion of the more serious people who, at one time or other, were mixed up in the Chagny case, who were friends of the Chagny family and to whom I showed all my documents and set forth all my inferences. In this connection, I should like to print a few lines which I received from General D—:

    Sir – I cannot urge you too strongly to publish the results of your enquiry. I remember perfectly that, a few weeks before the disappearance of that great singer, Christine Daaé, and the tragedy which threw the whole of the Faubourg Saint-Germain into mourning, there was a great deal of talk, in the foyer of the ballet, on the subject of ‘the ghost’; and I believe that it only ceased to be discussed in consequence of the later affair that excited us all so greatly. But, if it be possible – as, after hearing you, I believe – to explain the tragedy through the ghost, then I beg you, sir, to talk to us about the ghost again. Mysterious though the ghost may at first appear, this ghost will always be more easily explained than the gruesome story in which malevolent people have tried to picture two brothers killing each other who had worshipped each other all their lives.

    Believe me, etc.

    Lastly, with my bundle of papers in my hand, I once more went over the ghost’s vast domain, the huge building which he had made his kingdom. All that my eyes saw, all that my mind perceived corroborated the Persian’s documents precisely; and a wonderful discovery crowned my labours in a very definite fashion. It will be remembered that, later, when digging in the substructure of the Opera, preparatory to burying the phonographic records of the artists’ voices, the workmen laid bare a corpse. Well, I was at once able to prove that this corpse was that of the Opera ghost. I made the acting-manager test this proof with his own eyes; and it has now become a matter of supreme indifference to me if the papers pretend that the body was that of a victim of the Commune.

    The wretches who were massacred, under the Commune, in the cellars of the Opera, were not buried on this side; I will tell where their skeletons can be found, in a spot very far removed from that immense crypt, which, during the siege, was stocked with all sorts of provisions. I came upon this track while in the act of looking for the remains of the Opera ghost, which I should never have discovered but for the great stroke of luck described above.

    But we will speak again of the corpse and of what should be done with it. For the present, I must conclude this very necessary introduction by thanking M. Mifroid (who was the commissary of police called in for the first investigations after the disappearance of Christine Daaé); M. Rémy, the late secretary; M. Mercier, the late acting-manager; M. Gabriel, the late chorus-master; and, more particularly, Mme la Baronne de Castelot-Barbezac, who was once the ‘Little Meg’ of the story (and who is not ashamed of it), the most charming star of our admirable corps de ballet, the eldest daughter of the worthy Mme Giry, now deceased, who had charge of the ghost’s private box. All these have been of the greatest assistance to me; and, thanks to them, I shall be able to reproduce those hours of pure love and sheer terror, in their smallest details, before the reader’s eyes.

    And I should be ungrateful indeed if I omitted, while standing on the threshold of this dreadful and veracious story, to thank the present management of the Opera, which has so kindly assisted me in all my enquires, and M. Massager in particular, together with M. Gabion, the acting-manager, and the most amiable of men, the architect entrusted with the preservation of the building, who did not hesitate to lend me the works of Charles Garnier, although he was almost sure that I would never return them to him. Lastly, I must pay a public tribute to the generosity of my friend and former collaborator, M. J.-L. Croze, who allowed me to dip into his splendid theatrical library and to borrow rare editions of books by which he set great store.

    GASTON LEROUX

    PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

    Chapter 1

    Is it the Ghost?

    It was the evening on which Messieurs Debienne and Poligny, the managers of the Opera, were giving a farewell gala performance to mark their retirement. Suddenly the dressing-room of La Sorelli, one of the principal dancers, was invaded by half a dozen young ladies of the ballet, who had come up from the stage after ‘dancing’ Polyeucte. They rushed in amid great confusion, some giving vent to forced and unnatural laughter, others to cries of terror. Sorelli, who wished to be alone for a moment to ‘polish up’ the speech which she was to make to the resigning managers, looked round angrily at the mad and tumultuous crowd. It was little Jammes – the girl with the tip-tilted nose, the forget-me-not eyes, the rose-red cheeks and the lily-white neck and shoulders – who gave the explanation in a trembling voice: ‘It’s the ghost!’

    And she locked the door.

    Sorelli’s dressing-room was fitted up with commonplace, official elegance. A pier-glass, a sofa, a dressing-table and a cupboard or two provided the necessary furniture. On the walls hung a few engravings, relics of the dancer’s mother, who had known the glories of the old Opera in the Rue Le Peletier: portraits of Vestris, Gardel, Dupont, Bigottini. But the room seemed a palace to the chits of the corps de ballet, who were lodged in common dressing-rooms where they spent their time singing, quarrelling, smacking the dressers and hairdressers and buying one another glasses of cassis, beer, or even rum, until the call-boy’s bell rang.

    Sorelli was very superstitious. She shuddered, when she heard little Jammes speak of the ghost, called her a silly little fool and then, as she was the first to believe in ghosts in general and the Opera ghost in particular, at once asked for details: ‘Have you seen him?’

    ‘As plainly as I see you now!’ moaned little Jammes, whose legs were giving way beneath her, and she dropped into a chair.

    Thereupon little Giry – the girl with eyes black as sloes, hair black as ink,

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