Pierre Benoit's curious quest for Atlantis

We all have our quirks, don't we? In the case of French writer Pierre Benoit, the quirks were many, among them was that each of his novels had to have exactly 227 pages. Heck, why not, right?

I’ve come across a 1960s paperback of Pierre Benoit’s L’Atlantide - Atlantida in the English version. I knew of neither the writer nor the novel beforehand. But I’ve always had a thing for Atlantis, that’s for sure! I’ve written a screenplay about a clan of Atlantis catastrophe survivors on Coney Island. I’ve written a novel about that same family, called Home - and I have exactly one tattoo on my body - and that tattoo is the symbol of the Atlantis cross. So, as you can imagine, I was immediately intrigued when I saw the paperback.

Now this is a curious adventure novel that actually takes you nowhere near where one would traditionally assume Atlantis to be. Instead, this novel takes you into the Sahara desert! Benoit wrote the novel in 1919 and tells the adventure tale of two French officers who venture deep into the desert to investigate the disappearance of fellow officers.

They are promptly kidnapped and find themselves in remote desert mountain region, with lush oasis and all, and a hollow mountain with chambers upon chambers. There the descendants of Atlantis have survived, and there Queen Antinea rules. Remember I mentioned the 227-page quirk before. Another of Benoit’s quirks was that the name of each of his novel’s heroine’s had to begin with an A - hence Antinea (reminds me of the years when Paul Newman was insisting on his films starting with H so as not to jinx his successful streak).

Oddly, the novel itself has just about nothing to do with Atlantis. It is the story of this queen and a huge hall with 120 niches caved into its walls. There she deposits her lovers when she’s done with them in a sort of petrified state. She’s not even half done when the two French officers show up and, of course, fall for her. The myth is simply that, once all the niches are filled, her job is done and she will 'rest on her throne forever’ … well, okay then.

The novel’s well written - the Atlantean hide-out in the Sahara made me think of James Hilton’s Shangri-La in Lost Horizon and the adventure tale, the desert nights, the journey, the dangers, the descriptions, the growing appreciation and friendship between the officers - lots of good stuff. Now what really blew me away is when I found out afterwards that the novel had been the basis for a whopping nine films! Here just some of the posters to give you a sense:

Well, if you’re up for an unusual read, check out Benoit’s novel - and if check up on Benoit himself - he was quite a character - sided with the Germans during WWII, starkly conservative … at some point I’ll explore his life a bit more - there must have been a lot going on in the man’s life and head … and then there’s the film buff in me and so next up I shall be hunting down those old films - can’t wait to watch them!

If you feel like jumping into the original silent film (1921) - here you go:

And here the 1949 Siren of Atlantis:

And here a bit of Italian Hercules joys from 1961:

Cheers,

D