L'Atlantide

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L'Atlantide is a French novel by Pierre Benoît published in February 1919. It was translated into English in 1926. L'Atlantide was Benoit's second novel, following Koenigsmark, and it won the Grand Prize of the French Academy.

1 Plot summary
2 Plagarism case
3 Film adaptations
4 Reference
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1896, the Sahara. Two officers, André de Saint-Avit and Jean Morhange investigate the disappearance of their fellow officers. While doing so, they are drugged and kidnapped by a Tarqui warrior, the procurer for the monstrous Queen Antinea. Antinea, descendant of the rulers of Atlantis, has a cave wall with the 120 niches carved into it, one for each of her lovers. Only 53 have been filled; when all 120 have been filled, Antinea will sit atop a throne in the center of the cave and rest forever.

Saint-Avit is unable to resist Antinea's charms. Under her will, he murders the asexual Morhange. Ultimately, he is able to escape and get out of the desert alive.

[edit] Plagarism case

On October 1919, literary critic Harry Magden alleged that Benoit, in writing L'Atlantide, had plagiarised H. Rider Haggard's She. A lawsuit followed, which Benoit lost, but there is little evidence that he did, in fact, steal the plot of L'Atlantide from She.

For instance, during the case, Benoit pleaded that he did not speak English, a fact that was never challenged. Due to this, and the fact that no French edition of She was published in Benoit's lifetime, there is no plausible explanation for how he could have even read Haggard's book, let alone plagarised it.

Additionally, Benoit's inspiration for the novel are not difficult to document. He served in the military in French North Africa from 1892 to 1907, and would have heard numerous myths and folktales about the unexplored parts of the Sahara.

Haggard himself never made a statement regarding the issue, but when a translated edition of She was released in France in 1920, Benoit wrote a glowing forward, wishing the book great success.

[edit] Film adaptations

The first film adaptation was made in 1920, directed by Jacques Feyder.

Over 1932-1933, famed German film director Georg Wilhelm Pabst made three films based on the novel, one each in German, English, and French (this was common in the early to mid-1930s) They were titled Die Herrin von Atlantis, The Mistress of Atlantis, and L'Atlantide, respectively.