Les Mains d'Orlac
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| - | [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/{{PAGENAMEE}}] [May 2007] | + | '''''Les Mains d'Orlac''''' (''The Hands of Orlac'') is a is a novel of the [[fantastique]] by the French writer [[Maurice Renard]], first published in 1920. It is an early example of the [[body horror]] theme in fiction. |
| - | In [[1920]], Renard wrote the classic ''Les Mains d'Orlac'' [The Hands of Orlac], in which a virtuoso pianist receives the transplanted hands of a murderer and turns into a killer himself. The book was twice adapted to film as ''[[Mad Love (1935 film)|Mad Love]]'' and ''The Hands of Orlac''. | + | |
| - | '''Maurice Renard''', [[France|French]] writer born [[28 February]] [[1875]] à [[Châlons-en-Champagne|Châlons-sur-Marne]], died [[18 November]] [[1939]] in [[Rochefort (Charente-Maritime)|Rochefort]]. | + | == Plot == |
| - | ==Overview== | + | In the novel, the pianist Stephen Orlac suffers a railway accident that gives him serious head injuries and deprives him of his hands. The famous and controversial transplant doctor Cerral gives him new hands, transplanted from a freshly guillotined assassin. Afterward, Orlac begins to wonder if he has become a [[Mr. Hyde]] who has inherited the criminal proclivities of his donor via his hands. |
| - | Maurice Renard was the author of the archetypal [[mad scientist]] novel ''Le Docteur Lerne - Sous-Dieu'' [Dr. Lerne - Undergod] ([[1908]]), which he dedicated to [[H. G. Wells]]. In it, a Doctor Moreau-like mad scientist performs [[organ transplants]] not between men and animals, but also between plants and even machines. | + | |
| - | Renard’s [[1912]] novel, ''Le Péril Bleu'' [The Blue Peril], which many consider to be his masterpiece, postulates the existence of unimaginable, invisible creatures who livd in the upper strata of the atmosphere and fish for men the way men captured fish. These aliens, dubbed “Sarvants” by the human scientists who discover them, feel threatened by our incursions into space the way men would be threatened by an invasion of crabs, and retaliate by capturing men, keeping them in a space zoo and studying them. Eventually, when the Sarvants come to the realization that men are intelligent, they release their captives. ''Le Péril Bleu'' predates [[Charles Fort]]’s ''[[Book of the Damned]]'' ([[1919]]) and retains a humanistic and tolerant rather than fearful and xenophobic philosophy. | + | He seems to suffer from hallucinations and sinks into depression. His wife attempts to save him, but the couple is caught in a spiral of conspiracy, mystery and crime. |
| - | In [[1920]], Renard wrote the classic ''Les Mains d'Orlac'' [The Hands of Orlac], in which a virtuoso pianist receives the transplanted hands of a murderer and turns into a killer himself. The book was twice adapted to film as ''[[Mad Love (1935 film)|Mad Love]]'' and ''The Hands of Orlac''. | + | == Adaptations == |
| - | ''L'Homme Truqué'' [The Phony Man] ([[1923]]) features the graft of “electroscopic” eyes onto a man blinded during [[World War I]]. The result is the strange description of a world perceived through artificial senses. | + | The story has been adapted into film and television many times, with notable adaptations including: |
| + | * ''[[The Hands of Orlac (1924 film)|Orlac’s Hände]]'' (''The Hands of Orlac''), a 1924 Austrian silent horror film | ||
| + | * ''[[Mad Love (1935 film)|Mad Love]]'', a 1935 American horror film | ||
| + | * ''[[The Hands of Orlac (1960 film)|The Hands of Orlac]]'', a 1960 French-British film | ||
| + | * ''[[Hands of a Stranger]]'', a 1962 American horror film | ||
| - | ''L'Homme Qui Voulait Être Invisible'' [The Man Who Wanted To Be Invisible] ([[1923]]) deals with the issue of invisibility; in it, Renard exposes the scientific fallacy inherent in Wells’ famous novel. Since, in order to function, the human eye must perform as an opaque dark room, any truly invisible man would also be blind! | + | The story was also an inspiration for the 1976 ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''[[The Hand of Fear]]''. |
| - | + | {{GFDL}} | |
| - | In the controversial ''Le Singe'' [The Monkey] ([[1925]]), written with [[Albert Jean]], Renard imagined the creation of artificial lifeforms through the process of “radiogenesis”, a sort of human electrocopying process. The novel was ferociously attacked by the Catholic press, which saw it as sacrilegious, and blacklisted by public libraries. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ''Un Homme chez les Microbes: Scherzo'' [A Man Amongst The Microbes: Scherzo] ([[1928]]) was one of the first scientific novels on the theme of [[Resizing (fiction)|miniaturization]], and one of the first to introduce the concept of a micro-world where atoms were microscopic solar systems with planets, etc. Renard’s hero submits himself willingly to a shrinking process that eventually ran out of control. As in [[Richard Matheson]]’s [[1956]] classic, ''[[The Incredible Shrinking Man]]'', the hero is then attacked by various insects, etc., before eventually arriving on an electron-size planet, where scientifically-advanced people are able to reverse the process and send him home. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Finally, ''Le Maître de la Lumière'' [The Light Master] ([[1947]]) anticipated [[Bob Shaw]]’s notorious ''[[slow glass]]'' by introducing the concept of a glass that condenses time. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | Because of his understanding and knowledge of the genre, Maurice Renard could have been a major literary breakthrough figure, comparable to [[Arthur C. Clarke]] or [[Isaac Asimov]]. Instead, because of conservative pressures and the French context, he remained a minor writer, known only to specialists. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | ==Selected Bibliography== | + | |
| - | * Fantômes et Fantôches [Ghosts And Puppets] (As Vincent Saint-Vincent) (1905) | + | |
| - | * Le Docteur Lerne, Sous-Dieu [Doctor Lerne, Undergod] (1908; transl. as New Bodies for Old, 1923) | + | |
| - | * Le Voyage Immobile [The Motionless Journey] (1909; transl. as The Flight Of The Aerofix, 1932) | + | |
| - | * Le Péril Bleu [The Blue Peril] (1912) | + | |
| - | * M. D'Outremort [Mr. Beyonddeath] (1913) | + | |
| - | * Les Mains d'Orlac (1920; transl. as The Hands Of Orlac, 1929) | + | |
| - | * L'Homme Qui Voulait Être Invisible [The Man Who Wanted To Be Invisible] (1923) | + | |
| - | * Le Singe [The Monkey] (With [[Albert Jean]]) (1924; transl. as Blind Circle, 1928) | + | |
| - | * L'Invitation à la Peur [The Invitation to Fear] (1926) | + | |
| - | * Lui? Histoire d'un Mystère [Him? Tale Of A Mystery] (1927) | + | |
| - | * Un Homme chez les Microbes: Scherzo [A Man Amongst The Microbes: Scherzo] (1928) | + | |
| - | * Le Carnaval du Mystère [The Merry-Go-Round Of Mystery] (1929) | + | |
| - | * La Jeune Fille du Yacht [The Young Girl From The Yacht] (1930) | + | |
| - | * Celui Qui n'a pas Tué [He Who Did Not Kill] (1932) | + | |
| - | * Le Maître de la Lumière [The Light Master] (1933) | + | |
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Les Mains d'Orlac (The Hands of Orlac) is a is a novel of the fantastique by the French writer Maurice Renard, first published in 1920. It is an early example of the body horror theme in fiction.
Plot
In the novel, the pianist Stephen Orlac suffers a railway accident that gives him serious head injuries and deprives him of his hands. The famous and controversial transplant doctor Cerral gives him new hands, transplanted from a freshly guillotined assassin. Afterward, Orlac begins to wonder if he has become a Mr. Hyde who has inherited the criminal proclivities of his donor via his hands.
He seems to suffer from hallucinations and sinks into depression. His wife attempts to save him, but the couple is caught in a spiral of conspiracy, mystery and crime.
Adaptations
The story has been adapted into film and television many times, with notable adaptations including:
- Orlac’s Hände (The Hands of Orlac), a 1924 Austrian silent horror film
- Mad Love, a 1935 American horror film
- The Hands of Orlac, a 1960 French-British film
- Hands of a Stranger, a 1962 American horror film
The story was also an inspiration for the 1976 Doctor Who serial The Hand of Fear.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Les Mains d'Orlac" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
