The Werewolf of Paris

by Guy Endore

Book Overview

Endore's classic novel has not only withstood the test of time since it was first published in 1933, but it boldly used and portrayed elements of sexual compulsion in ways that had never been seen before, at least not in horror literature.

In this gripping work of historical fiction, Endore's werewolf, an outcast named Bertrand Caillet, travels across pre-Revolutionary France seeking to calm the beast within. Stunning in its sexual frankness...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1605984574
• ISBN13: 9781605984575
• Release Date: April 2013
• Publisher: Pegasus Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Reminiscent of Frankenstein and the like

Frankenstein, Beauty and the Beast... that whole line of thought about the beast that causes so much damage but you still feel for them because their curse is not of their doing. Bertrand (the werewolf) is in the same boat. He doesn't want to be what he is but doesn't know how to escape it. He meets the beautiful French socialite Sophie and believes that his love for her can possibly cure him but of course that doesn't work. While he tries to find answers, he is constantly being hunted or just trying to avoid the possible chance of being found. While there are some pretty gruesome bits in the story to make it creepy, there is alot of human interest to the story as well. You really feel for the characters and question who really is the antagonist in the story. The one fault I had with the plot is Endore's interjections of these long passages of description that don't seem relevant while you're reading. They just appear to be crazy tangents or afterthoughts he wanted to squeeze in. These passages do make sense later on but I found those parts tedious reading. Everything else made for a really good story! Endore packs quite a bit of history into his storytelling which I found very educating and interesting.

A CLASSIC NOVEL OF GALLIC LYCANTHROPY

I suppose that I owe a debt of gratitude to writer Marvin Kaye, who selected Guy Endore's classic novel of lycanthropy, "The Werewolf of Paris," for inclusion in Newman & Jones' excellent overview volume "Horror: 100 Best Books." If it hadn't been for Kaye's article on this masterful tale, who knows if I would have ever run across it, and that would have been a real shame, because this is one very impressive piece of work indeed. In this beautifully written novel from 1933, we learn the history of one Bertrand Caillet, the product of a lecherous priest with a sinister family history raping a French peasant girl in the early 1850s. Caillet is later raised by Aymar Galliez, the nephew of the woman who had hired the peasant girl as a maid, and his notes on Caillet, purportedly found many years later by the author, form the kernel of this tale. It does not take Aymar long to realize that something is decidedly wrong with his young charge; in fact, Caillet is a werewolf, who loves nothing more than leaping out of his bedroom window at night and killing livestock and assorted wayfarers around the countryside. Years later, as a young man, Caillet runs away to Paris, to continue his depredations in a more populous arena, but at a most inauspicious time: right in the midst of the Franco-Prussian War, and right before the incredible violence of the Paris Commune of 1871. But this novel is so much more than a simple tale of horror, although there ARE many grisly scenes. Endore (whose real name was Harry Relis) views his werewolf not as a monster, but rather as a sympathetic victim. Although Bertrand commits some truly horrible acts--killing his best friend, committing incest with his mother, despoiling graves, murdering countless creatures, draining his wealthy Jewish girlfriend (a neurotic, self-destructive, death-obsessed girl who today would probably be a Goth) slowly of her life's blood--the author makes it clear that the atrocities going on around him (e.g., the 20,000 Parisians killed by the Versaillists during the Commune) make his sins seem small indeed. Presciently, the author says that future wars will kill millions, a prediction sadly borne out just a decade after this book's release. Perhaps what is most remarkable about this tale, though, is its seeming veracity. Endore gives us so much information about the Commune, and peoples his novel with so many actual historical figures, that it really is difficult to tell where fact ends and fiction begins. There supposedly really was a Sgt. Bertrand in 1840s Paris who was said to be a grave-despoiling werewolf, and that fact adds an additional frisson to this tale. Thus, "The Werewolf of Paris" works as both an excellent tale of terror AND an easy-to-take lesson in French history. I knew virtually zilch about the Commune before going into this book, but feel that I've learned quite a bit about it now, and in a fun way, too. That's not to say that fans of a good horror tale will be left unsatisfied. A

Good creepy werewolf story

Werewolf of Paris tells the story of Bertrand, a werewolf born in 1800's Paris and at first unaware of his plight. His uncle has pieced things together and kept him locked up during full moons etc. Eventually this temporary situation falls apart and young Bertrand commits crimes, figures things out and runs away to Paris. His uncle follows him there and tries to find him by following crimes. The story unfolds well. It has the right amount of suggestion to make it creepy but still hide what is coming next. We see Bertrand's train of thought as he tries not to hurt or to hurt others, which becomes much more important after he falls in love. Everyone around him suffers. We see it coming but he doesn't. (An aside: Guy Endore's career was writing scripts for Hollywood movie. Lots of them and ones you've heard of too. This adds a bit of interest because Endore also wrote the scripts to many of the old Wolfman movies. So this book didn't establish popculture werewolf lore, but this author did.) Anyway it's well written and well paced. The problem I have with this book is that the downer ending is a bit overdone. After the werewolf story is played out (tragically as we expect) there is a section that is a bit of a prolouge in that the story could end there and still make perfect sense. I see what Endore was getting at in this section, in that science triumphs over superstition and there is a nifty twist in there and cruel people do far worse than anything werewolf Bertrand ever did. Its still a downer ending from the point of view of all characters in the story. Nothing happy in the end. Nope. None. This is a good quick read and well done. If you found this book by casual browsing then you will likely be pleasantly surprised. If you anticipated the rerelease of this book after 50 years of being out of print then you will probably be a little let down. It is good but not 50 year wait good. Maybe because I was in this second category I preferred King of Paris (author's other book), but it is about a nerdier topic.

The Werewolf Classic

This is my all-time favorite novel. I've read it so many times, I've lost track. When I first read it, I couldn't believe it wasn't a nineteenth century French novel, and that author Guy Endore was a twentieth century American.Werewolf is the odyssey of born pariah Bertrand Caillet, a werewolf in spite of himself. Every life he touches suffers, whether he means it to or not. He rifles graves for sustenance during his lycanthropic episodes, and conceals his identity by becoming a French soldier during the Franco-Prussian War and the Communard uprising. He even finds the one woman whose love might save him, an equally bizarre but oddly touching Jewish outcast named Sophie with decidedly S & M tastes.The novel is many things, not the least of which is episodic. It's a love story, a war story, a tragedy, and an absurdist comedy, by turns. It's grotesquely funny, and hilariously terrifying. Most of all, it's a mature social satire, and just an incredibly damn good read.Crime of crimes, this magnificent literary masterpiece has once again fallen out of print. Seek it out in the used book bins, until some publisher manages to rediscover it and put it back on the shelves of your local bookstore.

Don?t let this messed-up opus slip away.

Authors are painters -- little fellas that you invite into your mind who then proceed to paint pictures on the walls of your brain. Some pictures are pretty. Others are visions of horror so twisted and evil that we can only whisper the descriptions. If you read this book, Guy Endore will kick open the front door of your mind and start painting the most horrific, intoxicating, and disturbing pictures imaginable. Endore uses all of the paints too - suspense, gore, crimes against nature, murder - you name it, it's in there.WARNING - There is history. Aw geeze, do I have to? Don't worry, it will help give depth to the dementia. WARNING - This book is often shocking. There were moments in this book when I actually started talking to myself aloud. "No. No, he didn't. Tell me he didn't just do what I think he did. No way. (Man, this book is messed-up.)" WARNING - Pregnant women, small children, and people who can not control their bladders should not read this book.In my mind, I see a little guy. Occasionally, he looks back at the pictures that Endore painted. You see, the little guy can't decide if he should paint over these gory masterpieces or keep them. It's just wishful thinking though. The little guy knows these images aren't going away. There's no scrapping away these paints. Poor little fella is stuck with them. Lucky guy.