SIMENON SIMENON “THE BREAKING WAVE” /2

An example of a character painted frequently by the writer: a weak man 

SIMENON SIMENON “LE COUP DE VAGUE” /2 

Un exemple d’un personnage dépeint fréquemment par l’écrivain : un homme faible

SIMENON SIMENON.  "LE ZIE"/2
L'esempio di un personaggio descritto spesso dallo scrittore: l'uomo debole

Even if Simenon portrayed few strong women, weak men are prominent in his romans durs. The 28-year-old Jean in this novel is particularly so. He has lived all his life with his aunts, Hortense and Emilie. For sure, he always “let them do everything they wanted” and “allowed himself be brought up like a girl,” but he was content in his weakness. Just how weak was he? Here’s a short run-down: 

When his dream is to go off and become a mechanic, he lets his aunts keep him at home to work in the mussel beds. When he wants to fulfill his military obligation by becoming a pilot, he lets his aunts fake “weak lungs” and “seizures” to keep him out of the service. When Marie, the local girl he knocks up and eventually weds, joins the trio in their family homestead, his weaknesses really show up and things go rapidly downhill from there. Before this, “he had lived without thinking,” and now awakened, what does he do now to resist what is happening? Nothing! 

First comes the abortion, engineered by his aunts, of course, and botched by the midwife. When they tell Jean “not to get involved,” he lets them “work out all the details.” When the doctor comes to treat his hemorrhaging girlfriend, he abandons her and goes off to work. When he’s not drunk in reaction to the troubles, he “hides his head under his pillow,” a passive weakling. Afterwards, when he marries her—according to the will of his aunts, of course—he has “run out of the courage to struggle.’’ When the two women force the newlyweds into separate bedrooms—in case Marthe gets sicker—Jean accepts the arrangement. When the aunts don’t want his wife working beside him in the family business, he accepts this, too. As she gets sicker and sicker, the aunts say, “You should let us do everything,” and he does just that. Why not? “He had always done what they wanted. All his life.” 

It gets worse. Since the frail wife is always sick, the disgusted husband becomes indifferent and insensitive. When Jean discovers Marthe “arranged to make him do what she wanted”—the same kind of trickery he should have been alert to from living with his aunts—he feels as though he is “the victim.” Indeed, he “wants to cry” because he is the one who “should be pitied."
Jean is a truly inadequate figure, and everyone recognizes this fact. Even though he is a great big man, others regard him as “a poor little boy.” While Marthe may have believed “she had the man she wanted,” Jean realizes this “new notion” is erroneous because, after all, “he was the man for his aunts.” Eventually, the couple begins to contemplate breaking free since “it’s always the women who were in control.” At last recognizing that “staying in the house with his aunts is choking them,” Jean visualizes “a solution” by putting “just the two of them in new scenery in the middle of brand new people.” However, pushover Jean does not act. He cannot escape, but Marthe does find—with some ‘help’ from the aunts—an unusual way out.  All too soon, Marthe is dead and Jean is still there in the house with Hortense and Emilie. They exist in a village where “people never ever said he was a widower, rather he was an old bachelor living with his aunts.” 

David P Simmons 

SIMENON SIMENON. LE TIERCE DE MAIGRET 

Un choix de trois romans de la saga, sur un thème particulier 

Trois enquêtes le long des canaux 

Les décors fluviaux sont parmi les plus typiques de ceux où évolue Maigret dans le cadre de ses enquêtes, surtout lorsqu'il investigue hors de Paris, mais aussi dans la capitale, le long des quais de la Seine. Plus encore que les fleuves, les canaux sont très fréquentés par le commissaire, qui y retrouve les ambiances que son créateur a bien connues… Les trois romans que nous proposons nous emmènent sur la Marne, en Hollande, et à Paris sur le canal Saint-Martin.

"En arrivant à Dizy, il n'avait vu qu'un canal étroit, à trois kilomètres d'Epernay, et un village peu important près d'un pont de pierre." (Le charretier de la Providence)

"Au bout d'une rue, c'était déjà la campagne, des prés verts, un canal où des bois du Nord flottaient sur presque toute la largeur, attendant d'être remorqués à travers le pays." (Un crime en Hollande) 

"Quatre péniches attendaient, derrière Les Deux Frères, avec du linge qui séchait sur des cordes, […] et l'odeur du goudron dominait l'odeur moins agréable du canal." (Maigret et le corps sans tête) 

SIMENON SIMENON. LA TRIPLETTA DI MAIGRET 

Una scelta di tre romanzi della serie, su un tema particolare 

Tre inchieste lungo i canali 

I corsi fluviali sono tra gli elementi più caratteristici che contraddistinguono il quadro delle sue inchieste, soprattutto quando Maigret indaga fuori Parigi, ma anche nella capitale, lungo le banchine della Senna. Più dei fiumi, sono i canali ad essere molto frequentati dal commissario, il quale ritrova gli ambienti che il suo creatore conosce bene… I tre romanzi che proponiamo ci portano sulla Marna, in Olanda e a Parigi sul canale Saint-Martin.

“Arrivando a Dizy, non si vedeva che un canale stretto, a tre chilometri d’Epernay, e un villaggio poco importante, nei pressi di un ponte di pietra.” (Il cavallante de la Providence)

“Alla fine della strada, c’era già la campagna, prati verdi, un canale dove dei tronchi del Nord galleggiavano quasi per tutta la larghezza, in attesa di essere rimorchiati attraverso il paese.” (Un delitto in Olanda) 

“Quattro chiatte aspettavano, dietro Les Deux Frères, con il bucato che si asciugava sui fili […] e l’odore del catrame copriva l’odore meno piacevole del canale.” (Maigret e il corpo senza testa) 

SIMENON SIMENON. MAIGRET'S TRIFECTA 

A choice of three novels of the saga, on a particular theme

Three investigations along the canals 

River settings are among the most typical in Maigret's investigations, particularly when he is investigating outside of Paris, but also in the capital, along the banks of the Seine. Even more than rivers, canals are very often visited by the Chief Inspector, who finds near them ambiances that his creator knew well… The three novels we propose take us to the Marne, to Holland, and to Paris on the Saint-Martin canal.

"When arriving in Dizy, he'd only seen a narrow canal, three kilometers from Epernay, and a small village near a stone bridge." (The Carter of La Providence)

"At the end of a street, it was already countryside, green meadows, a canal where northern woods were floating over almost the entire width, waiting to be towed across the country." (A Crime in Holland) 

"Four barges were waiting, behind Les Deux Frères, with laundry drying on ropes, […] and the smell of tar was stronger than the less agreeable smell of the canal." (Maigret and the Headless Corpse) 

by Simenon Simenon