What do you think?
Rate this book
Joseph Rouletabille #4
El castillo negro
El Castillo Negro es el cuarto volumen de las “aventuras extraordinarias de Joseph Rouletabille, reportero”, según las bautizó Leroux al publicar el primer volumen de la serie, El misterio del Cuarto Amarillo (1908).
Si en Rouletabille en Rusia nuestro reportero viajaba a las tierras del zar, en El Castillo Negro viaja a Bulgaria —acompañado por su colega La Candeur y su criado Modeste— en pos de Ivana Ivanovna, la “lobezna de los Balcanes”, hermosa e intrigante joven de la cual está profundamente enamorado.
La novela, publicada en 1916, se sitúa en el escenario de “la primera guerra de los Balcanes” y en los comienzos de la segunda, en vísperas del “gran conflicto mundial que se estaba preparando en los entrepaños austro-alemanes”.
“He leído muchas novelas policiales, pero nunca he encontrado, ay, el lirismo absurdo y magnífico de Fantomas, el encanto ingenuo de Arsène Lupin, la ternura melancólica de Rouletabille...”
Jean Cocteau
Si en Rouletabille en Rusia nuestro reportero viajaba a las tierras del zar, en El Castillo Negro viaja a Bulgaria —acompañado por su colega La Candeur y su criado Modeste— en pos de Ivana Ivanovna, la “lobezna de los Balcanes”, hermosa e intrigante joven de la cual está profundamente enamorado.
La novela, publicada en 1916, se sitúa en el escenario de “la primera guerra de los Balcanes” y en los comienzos de la segunda, en vísperas del “gran conflicto mundial que se estaba preparando en los entrepaños austro-alemanes”.
“He leído muchas novelas policiales, pero nunca he encontrado, ay, el lirismo absurdo y magnífico de Fantomas, el encanto ingenuo de Arsène Lupin, la ternura melancólica de Rouletabille...”
Jean Cocteau
348 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1914
8 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
Gaston Leroux
1,049 books1,077 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 11, 2025
3.5/5
La tension est bien là, le mystère l’est moins contrairement aux ouvrages précédents.
Le mystère tourne plutôt autour des intentions de l’un des personnages - que nous ne découvrions qu’au tome suivant.
L’écriture et l’environnement sont là, l’écriture est belle et agréable. Je m’attendais simplement plus à du vrai mystère.
La tension est bien là, le mystère l’est moins contrairement aux ouvrages précédents.
Le mystère tourne plutôt autour des intentions de l’un des personnages - que nous ne découvrions qu’au tome suivant.
L’écriture et l’environnement sont là, l’écriture est belle et agréable. Je m’attendais simplement plus à du vrai mystère.
March 18, 2024
J'ai trouvé l'intrigue super prenante, j'ai été happée par les événements! L'ambiance du château fait très période gothique, j'aime beaucoup. Et puis la fin je ne m'y attendais vraiment pas ; je suis très intriguée par Ivana, j'espère que le prochain tome donnera une explication à son acte surprenant !
October 22, 2017
Lu en livre audio.
February 13, 2024
Muy flojo
May 1, 2024
A pesar de tener buen ritmo de lectura, la historia no es interesante y me llegó a parecer aburrido 🥱.
August 9, 2025
Sequenziale. Fantasioso. Romantico.
January 3, 2017
Long winded
Very disappointing, the end is not an end, the reading was long and boring and the ending non existent. Would not recommend, not the best work by Leroux.
Very disappointing, the end is not an end, the reading was long and boring and the ending non existent. Would not recommend, not the best work by Leroux.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews