{{Short description|French novelist}} thumb|Jacques Spitz
'''Jacques Spitz''' (1 October 1896, in Nemours [now Ghazaouet, Algeria] – 16 January 1963, in Paris) was a French novelist.
Spitz was an engineer; he wrote several science fiction novels which were greatly influential in European science fiction.<ref>Laura Serra, afterword to ''Segnali dal Sole'', Urania Collezione 73, Mondadori, 2009</ref><ref>Giuseppe Lippi afterword to ''La Guerra Mondiale n°3'', Urania Collezione 156, Mondadori, Milano 2016</ref> Cynical, ironic, often pessimist, influenced by Surrealism, his style is reminiscent of Pierre Boulle's. Although some of his novels were reissued in France{{when|date=June 2014}}<ref>''Joyeuses Apocalypses'', Éditions Bragelonne, 2009 (anthologie contenant ''La Guerre des mouches'', ''L'Homme élastique'', ''La Guerre mondiale n°3'' et six nouvelles), see the external link</ref> , he is mostly forgotten and his novels are very difficult to find, even in France. However, some of his works has been translated into Italian: ''L'œil du purgatoire'', ''L'Homme Élastique'', ''La Guerre des Mouches'', and ''Les Signaux du Soleil'' (the latter being published in 2009). At least one novel was translated into Swedish: ''L'Agonie du Globe'' (''När jorden rämnade'', 1937). Two of his novels were translated into Greek: ''Les Évadés de l'an 4000'' (''Οι Δραπέτες του 4.000 μΧ'', 1971) and ''L'Expérience du Dr. Mops'' (''Κραυγή από το Μέλλον'', 1971)
His masterworks are considered to be ''La guerre des mouches'', ''L'homme élastique'', and ''L'œil du purgatoire''. The latter, meaning "The Eye of Purgatory", is about a man whose eyes, due to an exotic bacterium, start to see things as they will appear in the future.
==Works== *''La Croisière Indécise'' (1926) *''La Mise en Plis'' (1928) *''Le Vent du Monde'' (1928) *''Le Voyage Muet'' (1930) *''Les Dames de Velours'' (1933) *''L'Agonie du Globe'' (1935) *''Les Évadés de l'an 4000'' (1936) *''L'Homme Élastique'' (1938) *''La Guerre des Mouches'' (1938) *''L'Expérience du Dr. Mops'' (1939) (translated by Brian Stableford in ''The Eye of Purgatory'' (2010) {{ISBN|978-1-935558-64-4}}) *''La Parcelle "Z"'' (1942) *''Les Signaux du Soleil'' (1943) *''L'Œil du Purgatoire'' (1945) (translated by Brian Stableford in ''The Eye of Purgatory'' (2010) {{ISBN|978-1-935558-64-4}}) *''La Forêt des Sept-Pies'' (1946) *''Albine au Poitrail'' (1956)
==References== {{reflist}} *Most of this article has been taken from the French Wikipedia article about Jacques Spitz. *Afterword of ''Incubi perfetti'', the Italian edition of ''La guerre des mouches'' and ''L'homme élastique'' (Mondadori, ''Urania''), #1510, May 2006).
==External links== *[http://www.noosfere.com/Icarus/Livres/niourf.asp?numlivre=-320977 A review of ''L'Œil du Purgatoire'' by Denis Philippe ] {{in lang|fr}} *[https://urgesat-elsen.blogspot.com/ An article from Figaro Littéraire of 8 April 1950 (in French)] *[http://markus.chez-alice.fr/transition.htm A list of French science fiction authors] from Jules Verne to René Barjavel {{in lang|fr}} *[https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/review_essays/sluss69.htm "French Science Fiction: The Occluded Genre"] *[http://www.bragelonne.fr/searches "Search the last edition in France"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304172413/http://www.bragelonne.fr/searches |date=2018-03-04 }} {{in lang|fr}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spitz, Jacques}} Category:1896 births Category:1963 deaths Category:People from Ghazaouet Category:Pieds-noirs Category:French science fiction writers Category:French male novelists Category:20th-century French novelists Category:20th-century French male writers