The Phantom of the Opera (French: Le Fant me de l'Op ra) is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux. It was rst published as a serialisation in Le Gaulois from September 23, 1909, to January 8, 1910. It was published in volume form in late March 1910 by Pierre La tte. The novel is partly inspired by historical events at the Paris Opera during the nineteenth century and an apocryphal tale concerning the use of a former ballet pupil's skeleton in Carl...