The Second Life of Doctor Albin

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The Second Life of Doctor Albin Page 41

by Raoul Gineste


  20 Goguettes were groups of amateur singers who met up in cafés, organized as formal societies, approximately equivalent (as the name implies) to American “glee clubs.”

  21 The reference is not to the contagious disease to which the name “anthrax” remains attached today but to what would nowadays be recognized as a staphyloccocal infection.

  22 The annotation is mistaken; given the time measurably elapsed since Dr. Albin declared himself to be forty-six at the time of making his fatal decision, “Charles Balin” must be forty-eight, perhaps even forty-nine.

  23 La Périchole (1829) is an opéra bouffe by Jacques Offenbach, the story of which features two Peruvian street-singers too poor to afford a marriage licence; it includes the “tipsy aria” of which Rose Gontran here makes opportune use

  24 The École Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, established in 1765, was, and still is, France’s principal college of veterinary medicine.

  25 Then, and still, the leading auctioneers of high quality artefacts in Paris.

  26 The statue of the pioneering anatomist and histologist Xavier Bichat (1771-1802) by David d’Angers was erected in the courtyard of the École de Médecine in 1857.

  27 Arnaud de Villeneuve (1238-c1311) was a physician and alchemist, one of the first founders of modern chemistry, in which capacity he is reputed to have discovered the distillation process that produces brandy from wine, and called the product eau-de-vie. The Church failed to suppress his activities, and condemned his writings in vain; the secret got out.

  28 Auguste Vestris (1760-1842) was a famous French dancer at the Opéra whose name became legendary, although its application to the “elastic rubber man” is surely an insult to his memory.

  29 I have left this name as it appears in the original, as the error might be deliberate, but the reference is certainly to Józef-Maria Hoëne-Wronski (1776-1853), a Polish mathematician and mystic philosopher whose aspiration was to revolutionize human knowledge with a theory of absolute (or ultimate) matter. Like the previous theorist encountered in Bicêtre by Dr. Iblan he was a great enthusiast for Pythagorean number theory. He worked in France for the last thirty years of his life attempting, among other projects, to build a perpetual motion machine and a machine for predicting the future. Most people thought he was a crackpot, the principal exception being the occultist who called himself Éliphas Lévi.

  30 i.e., hydrogen peroxide.

  31 The year in question must be 1836, counting back from the spring of 1883, when Dr. Albin was forty-six.

  32 Anatole Deibler was the public executioner from 1885-1939, having inherited the job from his father at the age of twenty-one.

  33 Given the date recorded on his birth certificate and the previous deduction that the year must have been 1836, Jacques Bilan was still a fortnight short of his fifteenth birthday in early December 1851, when Louis Napoléon carried out his coup, but the public prosecutor can surely be forgiven the slight inaccuracy.

  34 The case in question was a murder committed in August 1882, when an old man named Ducros du Sixte was stabbed to death in his home. The murderer, arrested at the scene, who initially gave his name as Michel Campi but subsequently admitted it to be false, was extremely selective in answering the examining magistrate’s questions and refused to disclose his true identity. His trial, long delayed while the police attempted to discover who he was and why he had committed the murder, eventually went ahead without that information, and he was convicted and sentenced to death anyway. His defending advocate claimed that the accused had confessed his true identity to him, on condition that he had sworn not to reveal it, and it remained a mystery forever. The sensation caused by the case might well have played a part in suggesting the present plot, or at least its climax, to the author.

  35 The author of the present text would, of course, have been aware of numerous previous literary dramas that conclude with the guillotining of the protagonist, often after harrowing tribulations and frequently with flagrant injustice, in the interests of making philosophical condemnations similar to his own. In adding this coda, he was doubtless aware of the fact that one of the most striking of those previous mordant dramas, Jules Janin’s L’ne mort et la Femme guillotinée (1829; tr. as The Dead Donkey and the Guillotined Woman) had prompted the author’s friend, Honoré de Balzac, to add an extra chapter following the poor woman’s body into the dissecting room.

  36 “General paralysis of the insane” was a label invented to describe the neuropsychological effects of tertiary syphilis.

  37 Literally, “the ass rubs the ass”—referring metaphorically to mutual flattery.

  FRENCH SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY COLLECTION

  105 Adolphe Ahaiza. Cybele

  102 Alphonse Allais. The Adventures of Captain Cap

  02 Henri Allorge. The Great Cataclysm

  14 G.-J. Arnaud. The Ice Company

  152 André Arnyvelde. The Ark

  153 André Arnyvelde. The Mutilated Bacchus

  61 Charles Asselineau. The Double Life

  118 Henri Austruy. The Eupantophone

  119 Henri Austry. The Petitpaon Era

  120 Henri Austry. The Olotelepan

  130 Barillet-Lagargousse. The Final War

  103 S. Henry Berthoud. Martyrs of Science

  23 Richard Bessière. The Gardens of the Apocalypse

  121 Richard Bessière. The Masters of Silence

  148 Béthune (Chevalier de). The World of Mercury

  26 Albert Bleunard. Ever Smaller

  06 Félix Bodin. The Novel of the Future

  92 Louis Boussenard. Monsieur Synthesis

  39 Alphonse Brown. City of Glass

  89 Alphonse Brown. The Conquest of the Air

  98 Emile Calvet. In A Thousand Years

  40 Félicien Champsaur. The Human Arrow

  81 Félicien Champsaur. Ouha, King of the Apes

  91. Félicien Champsaur. The Pharaoh’s Wife

  133 Félicien Champsaur. Homo-Deus

  143 Félicien Champsaur. Nora, The Ape-Woman

  03 Didier de Chousy. Ignis

  166 Jacques Collin de Plancy. Voyage to the Center of the Earth

  97 Michel Corday. The Eternal Flame

  113 André Couvreur. The Necessary Evil

  114 André Couvreur. Caresco, Superman

  115 André Couvreur. The Exploits of Professor Tornada (Vol. 1)

  116 André Couvreur. The Exploits of Professor Tornada (Vol. 2)

  117 André Couvreur. The Exploits of Professor Tornada (Vol. 3)

  67 Captain Danrit. Undersea Odyssey

  149 Camille Debans. The Misfortunes of John Bull

  17 C. I. Defontenay. Star (Psi Cassiopeia)

  05 Charles Derennes. The People of the Pole

  68 Georges T. Dodds. The Missing Link and Other Tales of Ape-Men

  125 Charles Dodeman. The Silent Bomb

  49 Alfred Driou. The Adventures of a Parisian Aeronaut

  144 Odette Dulac. The War of the Sexes

  145 Renée Dunan. The Ultimate Pleasure

  10 Henri Duvernois. The Man Who Found Himself

  08 Achille Eyraud. Voyage to Venus

  01 Henri Falk. The Age of Lead

  51 Charles de Fieux. Lamékis

  108 Louis Forest. Someone Is Stealing Children In Paris

  31 Arnould Galopin. Doctor Omega

  70 Arnould Galopin. Doctor Omega & The Shadowmen

  112 H. Gayar. The Marvelous Adventures of Serge Myrandhal on Mars

  88 Judith Gautier. Isoline and the Serpent-Flower

  163 Raoul Gineste. The Second Life of Dr. Albin

  136 Delphine de Girardin. Balzac’s Cane

  146 Jules Gros. The Fossil Man

  57 Edmond Haraucourt. Illusions of Immortality

  134 Edmond Haraucourt. Daah, the First Human

  24 Nathalie Henneberg. The Green Gods

  131 Eugene Hennebert. The Enchanted City

  137 P.-J. Hérault. The Clone Rebellion

  150 Jules
Hoche. The Maker of Men and his Formula

  140 P. d’Ivoi & H. Chabrillat. Around the World on Five Sous

  107 Jules Janin. The Magnetized Corpse

  29 Michel Jeury. Chronolysis [NO LONGER AVAILABLE]

  55 Gustave Kahn. The Tale of Gold and Silence

  30 Gérard Klein. The Mote in Time’s Eye

  90 Fernand Kolney. Love in 5000 Years

  87 Louis-Guillaume de La Follie. The Unpretentious Philosopher

  101 Jean de La Hire. The Fiery Wheel

  50 André Laurie. Spiridon

  52 Gabriel de Lautrec. The Vengeance of the Oval Portrait

  82 Alain Le Drimeur. The Future City

  27-28 Georges Le Faure & Henri de Graffigny. The Extraordinary Adventures of a Russian Scientist Across the Solar System (2 vols.)

  07 Jules Lermina. Mysteryville

  25 Jules Lermina. Panic in Paris

  32 Jules Lermina. The Secret of Zippelius

  66 Jules Lermina. To-Ho and the Gold Destroyers

  127 Jules Lermina. The Battle of Strasbourg

  15 Gustave Le Rouge. The Vampires of Mars

  73 Gustave Le Rouge. The Plutocratic Plot

  74 Gustave Le Rouge. The Transatlantic Threat

  75 Gustave Le Rouge. The Psychic Spies

  76 Gustave Le Rouge. The Victims Victorious

  109-110-111 Gustave Le Rouge. The Mysterious Doctor Cornelius

  96 André Lichtenberger. The Centaurs

  99 André Lichtenberger. The Children of the Crab

  135 Listonai. The Philosophical Voyager

  157 Ch. Lomon & P.-B. Gheusi. The Last Days of Atlantis

  167 Camille Mauclair. The Virgin Orient

  72 Xavier Mauméjean. The League of Heroes

  78 Joseph Méry. The Tower of Destiny

  77 Hippolyte Mettais. The Year 5865

  128 Hyppolite Mettais. Paris Before the Deluge

  83 Louise Michel. The Human Microbes

  84 Louise Michel. The New World

  93 Tony Moilin. Paris in the Year 2000

  11 José Moselli. Illa’s End

  38 John-Antoine Nau. Enemy Force

  156 Charles Nodier. Trilby * The Crumb Fairy

  04 Henri de Parville. An Inhabitant of the Planet Mars

  21 Gaston de Pawlowski. Journey to the Land of the Fourth Dimension

  56 Georges Pellerin. The World in 2000 Years

  79 Pierre Pelot. The Child Who Walked On The Sky

  85 Ernest Perochon. The Frenetic People

  161 Jean Petithuguenin. An International Mission to the Moon

  141. Georges Price. The Missing Men of the Sirius

  165 René Pujol. The Chimerical Quest

  100 Edgar Quinet. Ahasuerus

  123 Edgar Quinet. The Enchanter Merlin

  60 Henri de Régnier. A Surfeit of Mirrors

  33 Maurice Renard. The Blue Peril

  34 Maurice Renard. Doctor Lerne

  35 Maurice Renard. The Doctored Man

  36 Maurice Renard. A Man Among the Microbes

  37 Maurice Renard. The Master of Light

  41 Jean Richepin. The Wing

  12 Albert Robida. The Clock of the Centuries

  62 Albert Robida. Chalet in the Sky

  69 Albert Robida. The Adventures of Saturnin Farandoul

  95 Albert Robida. The Electric Life

  151 Albert Robida. Engineer Von Satanas

  46 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Givreuse Enigma

  45 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Mysterious Force

  43 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Navigators of Space

  48 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. Vamireh

  44 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The World of the Variants

  47 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. The Young Vampire

  71 J.-H. Rosny Aîné. Helgvor of the Blue River

  24 Marcel Rouff. Journey to the Inverted World

  158 Marie-Anne de Roumier-Robert. The Voyages of Lord Seaton to the Seven Planets

  132 Léonie Rouzade. The World Turned Upside Down

  09 Han Ryner. The Superhumans

  124 Han Ryner. The Human Ant

  122 Pierre de Selenes. An Unknown World

  19 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 1. News from the Moon

  20 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 2. The Germans on Venus

  63 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 3. The Supreme Progress

  64 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 4. The World Above the World

  65 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 5. Nemoville

  80 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 6. Investigations of the Future

  106 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 7. The Conqueror of Death

  129 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 8. The Revolt of the Machines

  142 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 9. The Man with the Blue Face

  155 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 10. The Aerial Valley

  159 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 11. The New Moon

  160 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 12. The Nickel Man

  162 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 13. On the Brink of the World’s End

  164 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 14. The Mirror of Present Events

  168 Brian Stableford (Ed.). 15. The Humanisphere

  42 Jacques Spitz. The Eye of Purgatory

  13 Kurt Steiner. Ortog

  18 Eugène Thébault. Radio-Terror

  58 C.-F. Tiphaigne de La Roche. Amilec

  138 Simon Tyssot de Patot. Voyages and Adventures of Jacques de Massé

  104 Louis Ulbach. Prince Bonifacio

  53 Théo Varlet. The Xenobiotic Invasion (w/Octave Joncquel)

  16 Théo Varlet. The Martian Epic; (w/André Blandin)

  59 Théo Varlet. Timeslip Troopers

  86 Théo Varlet. The Golden Rock

  94 Théo Varlet. The Castaways of Eros

  139 Pierre Véron. The Merchants of Health

  54 Paul Vibert. The Mysterious Fluid

  147 Gaston de Wailly. The Murderer of the World

  English adaptation and introduction Copyright © 2016 by Brian Stableford.

  Cover illustration Copyright © 2016 Daniele Serra.

  Visit our website at www.blackcoatpress.com

  ISBN 978-1-61227-467-6. First Printing. February 2016. Published by Black Coat Press, an imprint of Hollywood Comics.com, LLC, P.O. Box 17270, Encino, CA 91416. All rights reserved. Except for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The stories and characters depicted in this novel are entirely fictional. Printed in the United States of America.

 

 

 


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