The Gentleman Thief 怪盜亞森•羅蘋

He is handsome, charming, highly intelligent, and a master of disguise. He steals, but only from the rich, and marries four times. He travels the world using a number of names and his adventures are the talk of Paris. Who is this fascinating celebrity? He is Arsene Lupin, gentleman-criminal-turned-detective and one of France’s best-known and best-loved literary figures.

Created by French writer Maurice Leblanc, Lupin first appeared in 1905 in the French magazine “Je Sais Tout” (I Know Everything). The magazine regularly contained stories featuring the criminal genius, and in 1907 published a collection called “Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Burglar.”

The daring thief’s exploits achieved a level of popularity to match that of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Indeed, Leblanc was himself a great fan of the fictional English detective, and wrote a Holmes-like detective named Herlock Sholmes into several of Lupin’s greatest adventures.

Maurice Leblanc was born in northern France in 1864. His wealthy father, the owner of a successful shipping firm, sent Maurice to be educated in France, Germany and Italy. Leblanc spent some time working for his father, and later began studying law. However, he gave it all up to become a writer.

After spending many years in obscurity, Leblanc finally gained literary fame in his 40s with the creation of Arsene Lupin. In contrast to Sherlock Holmes, the ultimate detective, Lupin was an extreme version of the gentleman criminal, a popular character in fiction and film throughout the 20th century.

Following the success of the first novel, Arsene Lupin kept his creator busy for the next quarter of a century. The last book in the 20-book series, “the Billions of Arsene Lupin,” came out in 1933. Leblanc died in the south of France eight years later.

It may seem surprising that a fictional thief should be so enthusiastically received. Yet Lupin,though often on the wrong side of the law, is definitely a force for good. His true enemies are always evil men whose crimes are far worse than his own. Moreover his crimes are often motivated by good intentions. Later in his career, Lupin actually works with the police, and in one adventure, even leads a murder investigation.

His ongoing battle of wits with Herlock Sholmes accounts for some memorable events. Their rivalry leads to a gun battle which kills the woman with whom Lupin had decided to settle down. Devastated by her death, Lupin returns once more to his life of crime. He eventually has his revenge on Sholmes by solving a riddle that the detective couldn not. By outwitting Sholmes, Arsene Lupin is, once and for all, proved to be the world’s greatest criminal genius.

他英俊迷人，聰明絕頂，是個偽裝高手。他行竊，但只對富人下手，他結過四次婚。他以多個化名環游世界，他的冒險也在巴黎傳頌一時。這個讓人著迷的人是誰呢？他就是亞森·羅蘋，紳士怪盜名偵探，也是法國最有名而且最受喜愛的文學人物之一。

由法國作家莫里斯·勒布朗所塑造的羅蘋在1905年的一本法語雜志《我什么都知道》中首次登場。這本雜志定期在專欄刊登這位犯罪天才的故事，并在1907年編輯出版《怪盜亞森·羅蘋》一書。

這個大膽竊賊的業績受歡迎的程度足以與阿瑟·柯南道爾筆下的福爾摩斯媲美。事實上，勒布朗自己就是這名虛構英國偵探的狂熱崇拜者，而且他將一名神似福爾摩斯的偵探寫入羅蘋的許多精彩冒險故事中，甚至給他取名為“摩爾福斯”。

1864年莫里斯·勒布朗出生在法國北部。莫里斯富有的父親是一家生意興隆的運輸公司老板，他把莫里斯送到法國、德國和意大利接受教育。勒布朗為父親工作了一段時間，后來開始攻讀法律。可是他還是放棄了一切成為了一名作家。

勒布朗多年來一直默默無聞，終于在四十多歲時因創作亞森·羅蘋享譽文壇。不同于福爾摩斯，這位天下第一偵探—羅蘋，以紳士怪盜這個極為不同的造型，成為縱橫20世紀小說界和影壇受歡迎的人物。

第一本小說一炮打響后，亞森·羅蘋使他的創作者忙碌了25年。20本亞森·羅蘋系列叢書中的最后一本《萬變的亞森·羅蘋》于1933年問世。勒布朗于八年后在法國南部逝世。

一個虛構的竊賊竟會受到如此熱烈的反應似乎很讓人感到意外。雖然羅蘋經常犯法，但他絕對是一個促人從善的人。他的真正敵人總是遠比他罪孽還要深重的邪惡之徒。而且他犯罪的動機總是出于善意。在后期的偵探生涯中，羅蘋其實還與警方一同辦案，在一次冒險中，他甚至還主持了對一件謀殺案的調查。