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L'aiguille of Étretat
“The room was confusingly lit by a stream of light coming from the other end. As they approached, they saw that it was a crack in the cliff, cut into a projection in the wall,
The narrator
and which formed a kind of observatory. In front of them, fifty meters away, the impressive block of the Aiguille rose from the waves.”
Maurice Leblanc was born in 1864, in Rouen, from the hands of Achille Flaubert, doctor and brother of the famous writer Gustave Flaubert. Rejecting the promising career his father intended for him in a card factory, the young Maurice Leblanc went to Paris in 1888 to follow a literary path.
Arsène Lupin, gentleman burglar
Initially a journalist, he wrote his first novel, which was very well received, in 1893 entitled Une femme. Following other works, less acclaimed, the writer meets his peers including Stéphane Mallarmé and Alphonse Allais. In 1905, he was given a column by the director of the monthly magazine Je sais tout, Pierre Lafitte, and wrote a short story entitled L’Arrestation d’Arsène Lupin. From then on, lupinology invaded France. In spite of this public success, Maurice Leblanc suffers from the weak recognition coming from the people of letters. The author continues with other adventures of the gentleman burglar, including Arsène Lupin vs. Herlock Sholmes, which provokes the anger of Arthur Conan Doyle, offended to see a pastiche character defeat his own detective, albeit renamed, but perfectly recognizable.
The needle of Étretat, mysterious place for a crazy adventure
1908 is a very rich year for the novelist. No sooner had he received the Legion of Honor than he published a new story about his paper hero, L’Aiguille creuse. Against a backdrop of historical facts, featuring the treasure of the kings of France containing jewels and other gems from the dowries of numerous queens, Maurice Leblanc brings to the forefront his native region, including the coastal town of Étretat.
Cult! novels : 100 mythical places of novels (French Edition)
Cult! Novels tells you the secrets of the places that made the history of literature.
Discover the history of Harry Potter’s house, the park that inspired the Lord of the Rings, Dracula’s castle and many other mythical places in literature in a new book.
The film and television adaptations of Arsène Lupin never fail to return to the scene to give the Needle its rightful role. Thus, Romain Duris or Omar Sy contemplated, respectively in 2004 and 2020, the splendid rock formation, fantasy of all the admirers of gentleman burglar.
1 million tourists come every year to admire the cliffs of the cliffs of Étretat and their famous Needle.
Aiguille d'Etretat
An integral part of the cliffs of Étretat, the Aiguille stands proudly on the waves, the last part of French territory before England.
The Aiguille, like the cliffs, was formed by natural erosion. But if the Channel has played an inescapable role in this process, an underground river, parallel to the beach, is also responsible for this very particular landscape. The natural arches, including that of Aval, and this small piece of limestone in the shape of a sea animal’s tooth attract many tourists every year. It is said that some of the passages were made by the parish priest of Bénouville in the 1880s in order to have easy access for his fishing spots.
The Fantrippers Buying Board
Cult! novels : 100 mythical places of novels (French Edition)
Cult! Novels tells you the secrets of the places that made the history of literature.
Discover the history of Harry Potter’s house, the park that inspired the Lord of the Rings, Dracula’s castle and many other mythical places in literature in a new book.
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Discover all the places L'aiguille creuse on our map
By Damien Canteau
Passionné par l'Histoire, les animés, les Arts et la bande dessinée en particulier, Damien est le rédacteur en chef du site spécialisé dans le 9e art, Comixtrip.