Jacques Spitz

Who was Jacques Spitz?

Jacques Spitz was a French novelist.

Born on 1 October 1896 in Nemours, Spitz was an engineer; he wrote several science fiction novels which were greatly influential in European science fiction. Cynical, ironic, often pessimist, influenced by Surrealism, his style is reminiscent of Pierre Boulle's. Although some of his novels were reissued in France, 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. At least one novel was translated into Swedish: L'Agonie du Globe. Two of his novels were translated into Greek: Les Évadés de l'an 4000 and L'Expérience du Dr. Mops

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.

Spitz died in Paris on 16 January 1963.