The Phantom of the Opera is there, inside my mind…

Nearly everyone who reads this line will instantly begin humming the familiar tune from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic musical. The Phantom of the Opera took Broadway by storm back in 1986, and since then it has dominated as the longest-running Broadway musical of all time. In 2004, Joel Schumacher released a masterful film adaptation of the beloved musical and a whole new realm of fandom was birthed. However, surprisingly, few people know that the story of the Phantom existed long before Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the first bar of the famous musical.

Le Fantôme de l'Opéra was written by French novelist Gaston Leroux in 1909 and has since come to be considered as a French literary classic. Originally published as a serialization from September of 1909 to January of 1910, the novel has gone through various stages of fame. At several points throughout the 1900’s, the story even went entirely out of print. However, it has seen a rise in popularity in the last few decades, and is now firmly settled in its position as a “classic” novel—albeit, one of the less-known classics.

The story itself is supported by actual events that took place at the Paris Opera House, and Leroux uses this as a key element of his story. Presenting the tale as “the truth,” Leroux explores the reasons behind these happenings, and shows how all of them lead back to that elusive phantom known as “The Opera Ghost.”

Although there are distinct similarities between the plot of the book and the plot of the musical, the novel is much darker and delves more deeply into the true genius of the Opera Ghost than the musical does. From the mysterious voice in Box Five to the “singular attitude of a safety pin” to a terrifyingly dangerous torture chamber, OG weaves a mind-shatteringly complex web from which no one escapes unchanged.

His main target, of course, is the young singer, Christine Daae. As in the musical, the Phantom’s love for Christine turns to an unhealthy obsession, and he will stop at nothing to secure her love in return. His kidnapping of the young girl, and the desperate search that follows, serve as the climax of the story, and it is at this point of the tale that we see how twisted the Opera Ghost’s love for Christine has become. Faced with an impossible choice, it is Christine’s actions that change the Phantom’s life forever.

Phantom is a suspenseful, thrilling, mysterious tale that shows quite plainly the differences between love and obsession, and also gives a perfect example of the true meaning of love. A singularly brilliant man once said “love’s strength standeth in love’s sacrifice,” and the truth of this statement can be clearly seen by the end of the story. Overall, Le Fantôme de l’Opéra is an exceptional story that should not be missed. Although the French-to-English translation makes the prose a bit hard to read at times, the further you read, the more you fall under the spell of the Phantom of the Opera, and the more you wonder… Did the Opera Ghost really exist?

The entirety of this outstanding book can be found online at http://www.literatureproject.com/ .

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