Maurice Renard (1875–1939) was a French author best known for his science fiction works. Born into a wealthy bourgeois family in Châlons-sur-Marne, he studied law in Paris but abandoned a legal career to pursue writing. His first collection of short stories, Fantômes et fantoches (1905), and his first novel, Le Docteur Lerne, sous-dieu (1908), were both inspired by the works of H. G. Wells.
Renard became a pivotal figure in the development of French science fiction, bridging the gap between the romances of Jules Verne and the modern era, with a genre he termed 'le merveilleux scientifique' (the scientific-marvelous). His fiction explored innovative themes, such as invisible, atmospheric aliens who fish for humans; a protagonist given electroscopic eyes that allow him to see electricity but alienate him from human experience; and an early example of the shrinking man trope, exploring a microscopic civilization.
His most enduring popular success remains Les Mains d’Orlac (1920; The Hands of Orlac), a horror-mystery about a pianist who receives the hands of a murderer in a transplant operation. The novel has been adapted for the big screen four times, including a 1924 Austrian silent film, a 1935 Hollywood adaptation, and two versions in the 1960s.
Most of Renard’s works were overlooked in the English-speaking world, but there has been a renewed interest in recent years thanks to new translations.
