The Memoirs of Maxime Odin

Charles Nodier

Translated by Brian Stableford

In 1831 Charles Nodier began to publish a series of “Extraits des mémoires de Maxime Odin” in the Revue de Paris. Although “Odin” is an anagram of the first four letters of Nodier, the relationship between the author and “Maxime Odin” is far more complicated than a simple transfiguration, and although all the stories in the present collection are entirely fictitious, the intensity of the author’s imaginative involvement with them should not be underestimated.

“The Memoirs of Maxime Odin”, presented here for the first time in English, in a magnificent translation by Brian Stableford, is one of the great works of French romanticism-exquisite, entertaining and touching, this is a masterpiece, the arrival of which has been long overdue in the English speaking world.

About the Author
Charles Nodier (1780-1844) was one of the pioneers of French Romantic prose; his salon at the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, begun in 1824 and known as Le Cénacle, brought together many of the key figures in the Movement and spun off other cénacles in which it was anchored, including Victor Hugo’s. His best work consists of short stories and novellas.

About the Translator
Brian Stableford has been writing for fifty years. His fiction includes include eleven novels and seven short story collections in a series of “tales of the biotech revolution”; a series of metaphysical fantasies set in Paris in the 1840s, featuring Edgar Poe’s Auguste Dupin, most recently Yesterday Never Dies (2012); and a series of supernatural mysteries set in an artist’s colony, most recently The Pool of Mnemosyne (2018). Recent novels independent of any series include Vampires of Atlantis (2016) and The Tangled Web of Time (2016). He also translates antique works from the French, with particular interests in the Symbolist and Decadent Movements, roman scientifique and the fantastique.

Paperback, 382 pages. Release date: April 2, 2024
ISBN-13: 978-1-64525-149-1
Price: US$24.00