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The Phantom of the Opera: Gaston Leroux’s Gothic Mystery of Music, Obsession & the Paris Opera
300 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2025
About the author
Gaston Leroux
1,208 books1,103 followersGaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.
In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, 1910), which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, such as the 1925 film starring Lon Chaney, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical. It was also the basis of the 1990 novel Phantom by Susan Kay.
Leroux went to school in Normandy and studied law in Paris, graduating in 1889. He inherited millions of francs and lived wildly until he nearly reached bankruptcy. Then in 1890, he began working as a court reporter and theater critic for L'Écho de Paris. His most important journalism came when he began working as an international correspondent for the Paris newspaper Le Matin. In 1905 he was present at and covered the Russian Revolution. Another case he was present at involved the investigation and deep coverage of an opera house in Paris, later to become a ballet house. The basement consisted of a cell that held prisoners in the Paris Commune, which were the rulers of Paris through much of the Franco-Prussian war.
He suddenly left journalism in 1907, and began writing fiction. In 1909, he and Arthur Bernède formed their own film company, Société des Cinéromans to simultaneously publish novels and turn them into films. He first wrote a mystery novel entitled Le mystère de la chambre jaune (1908; The Mystery of the Yellow Room), starring the amateur detective Joseph Rouletabille. Leroux's contribution to French detective fiction is considered a parallel to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's in the United Kingdom and Edgar Allan Poe's in America. Leroux died in Nice on April 15, 1927, of a urinary tract infection.
In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, 1910), which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, such as the 1925 film starring Lon Chaney, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical. It was also the basis of the 1990 novel Phantom by Susan Kay.
Leroux went to school in Normandy and studied law in Paris, graduating in 1889. He inherited millions of francs and lived wildly until he nearly reached bankruptcy. Then in 1890, he began working as a court reporter and theater critic for L'Écho de Paris. His most important journalism came when he began working as an international correspondent for the Paris newspaper Le Matin. In 1905 he was present at and covered the Russian Revolution. Another case he was present at involved the investigation and deep coverage of an opera house in Paris, later to become a ballet house. The basement consisted of a cell that held prisoners in the Paris Commune, which were the rulers of Paris through much of the Franco-Prussian war.
He suddenly left journalism in 1907, and began writing fiction. In 1909, he and Arthur Bernède formed their own film company, Société des Cinéromans to simultaneously publish novels and turn them into films. He first wrote a mystery novel entitled Le mystère de la chambre jaune (1908; The Mystery of the Yellow Room), starring the amateur detective Joseph Rouletabille. Leroux's contribution to French detective fiction is considered a parallel to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's in the United Kingdom and Edgar Allan Poe's in America. Leroux died in Nice on April 15, 1927, of a urinary tract infection.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 29, 2026
consider this a 3.5 pls
men will do literally anything before going to therapy: the book
as a big fan of the musical this had to be read. didn’t disappoint me generally, i just wish we got more of christine’s perspective to the whole ordeal. idk why people like raoul so much, i found him very creepy until like 3/4ths of the book, hes so whiny and annoying and selfish ugh. the phantom makes you pity him but hate him at the same time and i need some time to process my thoughts on him. we need to have a talk about the trope of the fmc becoming a heroine by sacrificing herself for the mmcs but i guess its a sign of the time it was written in (for which btw i feel the book is quite progressive at moments). i feel andrew lloyd webber found the best way to adapt this for the stage and it is unfortunately superior to the book. ill keep blasting the 2011 25th anniversary recording while still believing none of them deserved christine (except maybe ramin karimloo)
ah yes also please be careful which translation you read, after research i would only recommend the penguin or oxford translations and nothing else, this version is the public domain one and its not bad but i felt some nuance was lacking from it.
also pls ignore it took me two months to read this i was trying to get out of a terrible slump and it kept pulling me back in like a quicksand
men will do literally anything before going to therapy: the book
as a big fan of the musical this had to be read. didn’t disappoint me generally, i just wish we got more of christine’s perspective to the whole ordeal. idk why people like raoul so much, i found him very creepy until like 3/4ths of the book, hes so whiny and annoying and selfish ugh. the phantom makes you pity him but hate him at the same time and i need some time to process my thoughts on him. we need to have a talk about the trope of the fmc becoming a heroine by sacrificing herself for the mmcs but i guess its a sign of the time it was written in (for which btw i feel the book is quite progressive at moments). i feel andrew lloyd webber found the best way to adapt this for the stage and it is unfortunately superior to the book. ill keep blasting the 2011 25th anniversary recording while still believing none of them deserved christine (except maybe ramin karimloo)
ah yes also please be careful which translation you read, after research i would only recommend the penguin or oxford translations and nothing else, this version is the public domain one and its not bad but i felt some nuance was lacking from it.
also pls ignore it took me two months to read this i was trying to get out of a terrible slump and it kept pulling me back in like a quicksand
Displaying 1 of 1 review