The Challenges of a Phantom Daily
With the success of Dracula Daily, some gothic lit fans are asking, why not a Phantom Daily too? There would be some major challenges to reading Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera in the same way that readers are enjoying Bram Stoker’s Dracula. But it wouldn’t be impossible. Let’s talk about how it could happen.
Challenge: Unlike Stoker’s Dracula, Phantom of the Opera is not written chronologically. Dracula Daily works because we can image we are reading these alarming letters sent directly from Jonathan Harker in real time. Phantom of the Opera’s narrator, G.L. does not tell the story in order. Sometimes entire scenes are repeated from the perspective of a different character. Rearranging the story to make it chronological would be to rip it to shreds.
Challenge: There are very few real dates in the Phantom of the Opera. January 11, 25 and whenever Carnaval happened in whatever year it takes place are all we get to determine the dates of the rest of the story.
Possible Solution: Phantom of the Opera was first published as a serial in Le Gaulois, between September 23, 1909 and January 8, 1910. While we couldn’t easily read the story on the dates of the action, we could read each installment on the date it was originally published.
Challenge: Dracula was originally written in English and Dracula Daily is sending out the original English text. Phantom of the Opera was originally written in French. If people wanted to read the French on the dates it was originally published in Le Gaulois, this could be done. Scans of the original are freely availably online and @fdelopera actually put them all on their blog, on the corresponding dates back in 2014. You can read them here. These posts could even be reblogged starting September 23 - why aren’t we already doing this every year?!
Challenge: Well, not everyone in the Phantom of the Opera fandom speaks French. And while there are six or seven different English translations of the Phantom of the Opera, the text as it appeared in Le Gaulois has not yet been officially translated into English. This matters because what appeared in the serial is slightly different from what was later compiled into the original French novel. An entire chapter was even left out.
Challenge: And if we wanted to read it in English, which English? The original 1911 English translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos is famously full of holes. Pages of text were left out. The newer, more faithful translations, are probably still under copyright.
Possible Solutions: What are your thoughts? Dracula Daily is successful for certain reasons that might not work with other novels. With Dracula, we can pretend we are Jonathan’s friend. Reading Phantom, perhaps the best we can do is pretend we’re reading the serial in 1909.
