Simenon Simenon

-------------------------------------------------------------------

SIMENON SIMENON. MAIGRET DISEMBARKS AT ANGLOFONIA

The first Maigret novels translated in English

SIMENON SIMENON. MAIGRET DEBARQUE EN ANGLOPHONIE

Les premiers romans Maigret traduits en anglais 

SIMENON SIMENON. MAIGRET SBARCA NEI PAESI ANGLOFONI

I primi romanzi di Maigret tradotti in inglese

The first Maigret novels had just come out at Fayard when the translation requests arrived from Norway, Italy, Great Britain, USA, Portugal, Denmark and Spain. For the English translations, first served were the Americans: in 1932 the New York publisher Covici released two novels, the same as the first ones at Fayard: Le pendu de Saint-Pholien (The Crime of Inspector Maigret) and Monsieur Gallet, décédé (The Death of Monsieur Gallet).

In 1933 Covici published two other novels, but strange enough, he didn't choose the next ones in Fayard's order of publication (which would have been Le charretier de la Providence and Le chien jaune): he preferred La nuit du carrefour (The Crossroad Murders) and Pietr le Letton (The strange case of Peter the Lett). Meanwhile, still in 1933, in the United Kingdom the publisher Hurst & Blackett released Introducing Inspector Maigret, that included the same two novels as the first published by Covici, and, later on in the same year, Inspector Maigret Investigates, with the other two novels released at Covici.

Simenon made then a short promoting stay in London, as the correspondent of The Central Queensland Herald told on March 16, 1933: "Georges Simenon, the French "Edgar Wallace", who at the age of 30 has more than 300 books to his credit, has been sightseeing in London. [….] His hero, Inspector Maigret, is almost as well known on the Continent as is Sherlock Holmes over here."

In 1934 Covici published another book which included L'ombre chinoise and Le charretier de la Providence (The Shadow in the Courtyard and The Crime at Lock 14). The same two novels were used by Hurst & Blackett in the same year for The Triumph of Inspector Maigret.

But Simenon wasn't so satisfied with Covici and Hurst & Blackett, and he looked for other publishers: in 1939 he transferred the translation rights to the American Harcourt and the British Routledge. And so the anglophones could at last discover Le chien jaune (A Face for a Clue) and La tête d'un homme (A Battle of Nerves), while waiting to read the other Fayard novels. But this is another story… (Murielle Wenger)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

SIMENON SIMENON. UNA STORIA DI COPERTINE

Ma le copertine della prima collana da Mondadori sono veramente identiche a quelle di Fayard ?

SIMENON SIMENON. UNE HISTOIRE DE COUVERTURES

Les couvertures de la première collection chez Mondadori sont-elles vraiment identiques à celles de Fayard ?

SIMENON SIMENON. A STORY ABOUT COVERS

Are the covers of the first Mondadori collection really the same as those of Fayard ?

Nel loro libro Simenon in Italia Marco Biggio e Andrea Derchi dicono che nel 1932, la casa editrice Arnoldo Mondarori acquistò tutti i diritti di pubblicazione in Italia delle opere di Simenon. I primi romanzi tradotti e pubblicati sono, nel settembre 1932, L'ombre chinoise (L'ombra cinese) e Le pendu de Saint-Pholien (Il viaggiatore di terza classe). La nuova collana è prima chiamata "I libri neri", poi "I romanzi polizieschi di Simenon". Quattro romanzi sono pubblicati sotto la prima denominazione, quindi seguono otto volumi sotto la seconda. Le copertine usano le illustrazioni delle uscite originale da Fayard. Biggio e Derchi dicono che le copertine di questi dodici volumi sono del tutto identiche a quelle dei volumi Fayard. Questa affermazione però necessita una piccola correzione: se si paragona le immagini delle copertine italiane a quelle francesi, risulta che nove sono identiche, ma che le tre ultime di Mondadori hanno una diversa illustrazione. Qui la prova:
(m.w./m.t.)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

                

L'ENIGME DE MAIGRET
Un petit jeu pour les maigretphiles

SIMENON SIMENON. L'ENIGMA DI MAIGRET

Un piccolo gioco per i maigretofili 

SIMENON SIMENON. THE MAIGRET RIDDLE

A little game for the Maigret fans

Enigme n^o 3

Par de multiples détails, Simenon a rendu son personnage extrêmement vivant, et il l'a souvent montré dans des situations de la vie quotidienne: Maigret suant sous la chaleur, Maigret souffrant d'un rhume, etc. Il est même arrivé au romancier de nous faire savoir que le commissaire a des besoins… naturels… ce qui, vous en conviendrez, n'est pas habituel dans la littérature: pouvez-vous imaginer Agatha Christie en train de nous parler d'Hercule Poirot se rendant aux WC ?!... Simenon, lui, l'a fait… La preuve: "Il avait une demi-heure devant lui et, après un instant passé dans l'urinoir, tout au bout du quai, il poussa la porte du buffet, se dirigea vers une des nombreuses tables". Alors, dans quel roman trouve-t-on cette phrase ? A vous de chercher ! La réponse la semaine prochaine dans ce magazine…

La solution de l'énigme n^o 2

"Maigret, après avoir bourré sa pipe, retire son veston et exhibe des bretelles mauves que sa femme lui a achetées la semaine précédente. Le commissaire de police sourit à la vue de ces bretelles qui, pour comble, sont en soie, et Maigret se renfrogne." Cette scène, pleine de l'humour subtil de Simenon, se trouve au premier chapitre de Signé Picpus, lorsque Maigret se rend chez la voyante assassinée.