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Little Demon in the City of Light
A True Story of Murder and Mesmerism in Belle Epoque Paris
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Little Demon in the City of Light is the thrilling—and so wonderfully French—story of a gruesome 1889 murder of a lascivious court official at the hands of a ruthless con man and his pliant mistress and the international manhunt, sensational trial, and an inquiry into the limits of hypnotic power that ensued.
In France at the end of the nineteenth century a great debate raged over the question of whether someone could be hypnotically compelled to commit a crime in violation of his or her moral convictions. When Toussaint-Augustin Gouffé entered 3, rue Tronson du Coudray, he expected nothing but a delightful assignation with the comely young Gabrielle Bompard. Instead, he was murdered—hanged!—by her and her companion Michel Eyraud. The body was then stuffed in a trunk and dumped on a riverbank near Lyon.
As the inquiry into the guilt or innocence of the woman the French tabloids dubbed the "Little Demon" escalated, the most respected minds in France debated whether Gabrielle Bompard was the pawn of her mesmerizing lover or simply a coldly calculating murderess. And, at the burning center of it all: Could hypnosis force people to commit crimes against their will?
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
February 25, 2014 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780449013007
- File size: 319840 KB
- Duration: 11:06:19
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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John Lee narrates this true-crime story in the straightforward tone of a newscaster. In 1889, Alexandre Toussaint-Augustin Gouffé, a Parisian court official, was murdered by Gabrielle Bompard, a mesmerised woman under the sway of the ruthless hypnotist Michel Eyraud. Gruesome descriptions of dead bodies alternate with a detailed account of the crime and subsequent cover-up. At the heart of this story is the question of whether a hypnotized person can commit murder. Lee's relentless tone will draw listeners into the seamy underside of the City of Light. Details of the investigation are interspersed with forensic science as the detectives track the couple through Paris and the nearby countryside. This true-crime tale will draw listeners into the dark corners of this timeless city. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine -
December 16, 2013
The titular figure in this lively popular history is Gabrielle Bompard, a young woman who became infamous as the accomplice in a garish and notorious murder in 1889 Paris. Mistress of the con man Michel Eyraud, Bompard and her tragic story became a historical footnote; her case at trial rested on a precedent-setting hypnotism defense. In seeking to absolve her of responsibility, the reference to hypnotic suggestion (then an intensely researched subject in the medical community) brought into the spotlight opposing scientific camps, represented by Jules Liégeois—a law professor from Nancy who argued that the hypnotized criminal was not morally culpable—and the eminent Parisian neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, onetime mentor of Freud, who insisted the hypnotist could not override an individual’s moral makeup. Before reaching the spectacular trial, however, journalist Levingston (coauthor of The Whiz Kid of Wall Street’s Investment Guide) spends the first two-thirds of the book meticulously recounting the crime, principal characters, and relevant cultural context. Though limited as a cultural history, the book is lovingly constructed from available sources, including newspapers, memoirs, and secondary histories, and immerses the reader in a period whose newfound obsessions—science and pseudo-science of the mind, criminal forensics, mass media, the macabre, and fame—have a seminal connection to our own time. Agent: Daniel Lazar, Writer’s House.
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