SIMENON SIMENON. A BIG FIASCO BUT THE BEGINNING OF A FRIENDSHIP

About the film La Nuit du Carrefour

SIMENON SIMENON. UN GRANDE FIASCO MA L'INIZIO DI UN AMICIZIA

Sul film La Nuit du Carrefour

SIMENON SIMENON. A GRAND FIASCO MAIS LE DEBUT D’UNE AMITIE

A propos du film La Nuit du Carrefour

“a Bugatti arrived in a hurry and stopped […] in a big brake grinding. […] A man, a little older than me, jumped out of the car and came towards me. He had a quite angelic face […]. He kissed me on my two cheeks and said: - Simenon... at last!... He was Jean Renoir […]. His first question was: - Are the cinematographic rights of La Nuit du carrefour still free? The first Maigret novels had just been published. No one had proposed me to adapt them for the cinema. My heart was beating very hard. I answered yes, of course.”

Simenon was a great admirer of the director, who was already very famous at the time. So we can understand the writer’s emotion. This encounter took place in Ouistreham, in Calvados, aboard his Ostrogoth, where he had been since the end of summer, writing a chapter of a new Maigret novel. Simenon remembered this event in one of his Dictées, Point-virgule, in 1977, at a time when the cinematographic industry had already produced more than forty movies adapted from his novels, and not only in France.

Let’s go back to this day in 1931 when Simenon was offered fifty thousand francs for the adaptation rights. Yet what most pleased to the writer was Renoir ‘s idea not to produce the film with a company, but to be himself the producer, supported by people who had nothing to do with the world of cinema. Renoir and Simenon spent several days working in the villa in Antibes, at frantic pace to transpose the novel which the director was particularly fond of. In his book Ma vie et mes films (1974), the director explained: “my ambition was to render with pictures the mystery of this story… And I intended to let the atmosphere prevail over intrigue. Simenon’s style evokes magnificently the greyness of this crossroad fifty kilometres away from Paris. I don’t’ think there is anywhere else on earth a more depressing place. Some house, forgotten in an ocean of mist, rain and mud… It could have been painted by Vlaminck. My enthusiasm for this atmosphere had once more succeeded in making me forget my convictions about the danger of adapting a film from a literary work…”

Maigret was interpreted by the director’s brother, Pierre Renoir; the director of production was Jacques Becker, who would become known in the future. And the complicity between Georges and Jean became a friendship that would last for their whole life.

Yet the processing of the film had many problems, some very serious, some inexplicable, such the one that occurred during the preview projection. The film was in fact such mysterious, too much mysterious, even incomprehensible, at least for the lenders who protested at the lack of clarity… It seemed that during the editing of the movie two reels had been lost… Later on Simenon gave another version: Jean Renoir would have been having a bad time because of the separation from his wife Catherine Hessling, he would have been often drunk… Some even told that a part of the script had not been shot! According to another version the missing scenes had not been shot because of lack of money… The lenders asked Simenon to shoot another scene in which he personally should appear on screen to explain the missing parts. But he categorically refused even he was offered 50000 francs for doing that.

At the film premiere there were ferocious critics, the atmosphere faded into the background and Renoir was accused to have failed in transposing a work hard to render on the screen and in being remained a victim of his infatuation. The film was a fiasco.

“La Nuit du Carrefour remains a completely crazy experience – Simenon remembered in spite of everything – but to which I can’t think without nostalgia… in our days when all is so well organised… you could not work like at those times…”

by Simenon-Simenon

SIMENON SIMENON, VOEUX DE NÖEL

• Nous vous souhaitons un Joyeux Noël à la façon de Maigret : de la neige qui enveloppe les rues d’un blanc manteau, un bon coq au vin pour le réveillon, une nouvelle pipe en cadeau, un petit verre de prunelle à siroter, la main dans la main avec Mme Maigret. Et pour ceux qui ne fument pas et ne boivent pas, quoi de mieux que de recevoir un beau roman de Simenon, et de le lire au coin du feu…

• Vi auguriamo un felice Natale sul «modello Maigret »: la neve che ricopre le strada con un bianco mantello, un buon pollo al vino per il veglione, una pipa nuova come regalo, un bicchierino di prunella da assaporare, mano nella mano con M.me Maigret. E per quelli che non fumano e non bevono, cosa di meglio che ricevere un bel romanzo di Simenon e leggerlo vicino al camino…

• We wish you a Merry Christmas in a Maigret way: snow covering the streets in a white coat, a good coq au vin for Christmas Eve, a new pipe as a gift, a small glass of prunelle to sip, hand with hand with Mme Maigret. And for those who don’t smoke and don’t drink, what better than receiving a beautiful novel written by Simenon, and reading it by the fire

SIMENON SIMENON. "REPORT" LES CLICHÉS À PROPOS DE MAIGRET: «IL PLEUT TOUJOURS»

Le Temps - 21/12/2019 - Nicolas Dufour - Encore un cliché à propos des romans du cycle Maigret: il y ferait perpétuellement sombre, froid et pluvieux. L’image accolée à la saga du commissaire extrapole la noirceur du propos, fréquente, à l’ambiance régnant dans la ville, souvent Paris.

C’est tout à fait faux. Nombre d’enquêtes de Maigret commencent dans la fraicheur nouvelle de mars, le soleil de juin, voire parfois la canicule de juillet. Simenon joue de ce contraste, cela semble tenir du sadisme d’écrivain dans certains cas : il fait un temps radieux, et Maigret doit plonger dans les ténèbres d’un crime perpétré au creux de la nuit, dans les pénombres les plus crapuleuses. Mais chaque matin, Maigret reprend sa lente offensive dans une ville qui resplendit, voire qui transpire...>>>

SIMENON SIMENON. 28 NUANCES DE MAIGRET - 28 SFUMATURE DI MAIGRET - 28 SHADES OF MAIGRET

23. Maigret et sa pipe

« Il y avait bien trois pipes, dont une en écume, près du cendrier, mais la bonne, celle qu’il cherchait, […] une grosse pipe en bruyère, légèrement courbe, que sa femme lui avait offerte dix ans plus tôt lors d’un anniversaire, celle qu’il appelait sa bonne vieille pipe, enfin, n’était pas là. » (La Pipe de Maigret)

23. Maigret e la sua pipa

« C’erano infatti tre pipe, di cui una di schiuma, vicino al posacenere, ma quella buona, quella che stava cercando, […] una grossa pipa in radica, leggermente curva, che sua moglie gli aveva regalato una decina prima in occasione di un compleanno, insomma quella che chiamava la buona vecchia pipa non c’era. (La Pipa di Maigret)

23. Maigret and his pipe

"There were indeed three pipes, including one in meerschaum, near the ashtray, but the good one, the one he was looking for, […] a big briar pipe, slightly curved, that his wife had offered him ten years ago for his birthday, the one he called his good old pipe, at last, wasn’t there.” (Maigret’s Pipe)

by Murielle Wenger

SIMENON SIMENON "REPORT". LES CLICHÉS À PROPOS DE MAIGRET: «ÇA SE PASSE TOUJOURS EN PROVINCE»

Parmi les visions courantes à propos du policier de Simenon revient l'idée qu'il se situe avant tout dans les petites cités aux notables tortueux. Pourtant, la saga Maigret est irréductiblement parisienne, dans un Paris façonné à son image

Le Temps - 18/12/2019 - Nicolas Dufour - Durant mon marathon de lecture des Maigret, j’ai souvent entendu cette phrase: «au fond, ça parle surtout de la petite bourgeoisie de province». On place le commissaire dans les cités modestes, au milieu des notables assassins, des familles qui se déchirent, des artisans cupides. On fait du fumeur de pipe un brigadier des foins et des étables.
Remettons les pendules (de gares) à l’heure. 63 des 75 romans se passent à Paris, ou au moins la capitale y occupe une place importante; c’est le décompte de Michel Lemoine (Paris chez Simenon, Encrages). Bien sûr, certains des grands Maigret plongent dans les entrailles de la province, à commencer par La Nuit du Carrefour (en 1931). Il y a aussi ces intrigues au fil des fleuves, dans ces mondes brumeux des péniches et des écluses – cela venait tôt, avec Le Charretier de la «Providence», le deuxième Maigret...>>>

SIMENON SIMENON. ADELPHI E GEORGES SIMENON

Da ottobre non escono nuovi titoli, nessuna iniziativa per ricordare o il romanziere o il suo commissario... cosa succede?

SIMENON SIMENON. ADELPHI ET GEORGES SIMENON

Depuis octobre, aucun nouveau titre n'a paru, aucune initiative pour rappeler le souvenir du romancier ou de son commissaire… que se passe-t-il ?

SIMENON SIMENON. ADELPHI AND GEORGES SIMENON

Since October no new titles have been published, no initiative to remind the novelist or his Chief Inspector… what is going on?

Si dice che Simenon, e sembra sia confermato, in Italia goda una fama e riscuota un affetto e un'ammirazione ad un livello più alto di altri paesi europei. Anche la sua storia editoriale lo dimostrerebbe. Già dai primi anni '30 le traduzioni italiane furono tra le prime e realizzate da una casa editrice importante, la Mondadori, il cui fondatore Arnoldo, diventò poi buon amico di Simenon. La collaborazione andò avanti circa cinquant'anni, quando  con il passaggio del timone aziendale prima al figlio Giorgio, poi al cognato Formenton e poi, dopo la disputa De Benedetti-Berlusconi, alla Fininvest le cose cambiarono.
In quegli anni l'attenzione della Mondadori per l'opera simenoniana andò un po' scemando, sospendendo la pubblicazione dei romans durs e centellinando i Maigret. E' lo stesso autore, a quel punto, che sente giunto il momento di cercare nuove collocazioni editoriali in Italia. Aspirava ad una casa editrice di un certo livello, ma che non fosse troppo piccola. Simenon aveva già sentito parlare di Adelphi come un editore giovane e sofisticato, anche perché gli si era già proposto. Ma qualcosa non lo aveva convinto. Decisivo fu l'intervento del suo grande amico Federico Fellini che, sollecitato, parlò bene al romanziere di quell'editore e così fece pendere il piatto della bilancia verso l'Adelphi.  Il fatto é confermato anche dalle parole del patron dell'editrice, Calasso, che dichiarò nel 2016 "...e fu molto importante l'intervento di Federico Fellini, amico fraterno dello scrittore, che, senza dirmi nulla, perorò la nostra causa». 

Così l'Adelphi, era il 1985, editò il primo titolo simenoniano, che però non fu un romanzo, ma uno scritto autobiografico cui l'autore teneva molto... "Lettera a mia madre". Per il primo Maigret bisognerà aspettare il 1993. 
E qui iniziò la storia simenoniana nell'Adelphi che, oggi 2019, per il côtè  maigrettiano, è gia terminata da un bel po' (esaurita la pubblicazione di romanzi e racconti), mentre per i romans durs la pubblicazione si è decisamente diradata, forse nella convinzione che un "fenomeno" come Simenon difficilmente potrà ricapitare, e quindi quello che c'è da pubblicare si cerca probabilmente di farlo durare più possibile.

E così ad esempio non c'è un nuovo titolo per le prossime festività (almeno ad oggi). In questi frangenti la casa editrice se la cava con la ristampa di un titolo già uscito (in questo caso "La cattiva stella" - ottobre 2019). 

Quello che ci lascia perplessi è la poca sensibilità a ricorrenze o anniversari. Nessuno si sogna di interferire con la politica editoriale dell'Adelphi, ma di criticarla sì. 
Questo 2019 è stato un anno simenoniano per eccellenza grazie a due anniversari: il 30° anno dalla morte dello scrittore e il 90°anno dalla nascita letteraria di Maigret.

Come farsi scappare una coincidenza del genere per festeggiare un proprio autore di punta? 
Basta non far nulla. 
E a quello che ci risulta, è quello che é successo a partire del "Salone del Libro" di Torino, a maggio, ai festival più specializzati come il "NoirFest", fino all'appuntamento romano di dicembre "Più libri Più Liberi": nulla di nulla.

Non un evento, non una manifestazione, non un appuntamento culturale di un certo rilievo, per festeggiare come avrebbe meritato il doppio anniversario di quest'anno. 
Understatement è stata evidentemente la parola d'ordine.

Ma questo è il "basso profilo", come se gli eventi e le manifestazioni letterarie andassero evitate per un che di chiassoso e pacchiano, che evidentemente per l'Adelphi si addice a Simenon. Ma, per quanto la nostra postazione d'ascolto privilegiata ci consente di captare, non fa contenti moltissimi lettori di Simenon.

Qualcuno dirà: il compito dell'editore, acquisiti i diritti, è stampare i libri e venderli. Punto.  Feste e baldorie non gli competono.

Già il fatto è che oggi, sull'orlo del 2020, il ruolo dell'editore non dovrebbe essere solo quello di stampare e vender libri, ma, almeno a nostro avviso, quello di operatore culturale con più facce. La sua attività e la sua presenza dovrebbe concretarsi in varie direzioni, nell'interazione con i propri lettori, offrendo loro occasioni di incontro, di approfondimento, a volte addirittura di scoperta. L'editore dovrebbe sporcarsi le mani, oltre che con l'inchiostro, stringendo le mani ai propri lettori (che sono poi quelli che comprano i suoi libri e gli procurano gli incassi), costruendo ponti tra chi fa i libri e chi li consuma. E la multimedialità della comunicazione di oggi e le occasioni di manifestazioni letterarie,  offrono una miriade di opportunità che costituiscono il mare in cui un editore dovrebbe nuotare felice.
E invece no. Calasso per Simenon ha scelto diversamente. Forse anche grazie alla grande forza attrattiva dello scrittore che vende anche le ristampe, vende i romans  durs, vende benissimo i Maigret, ma anche i racconti, gli scritti autobiografici, i diari di viaggio.... e, come se non bastasse, scala anche le attuali classifiche di vendita, a volte con opere scritte quasi cent'anni fa'... 
Ma questo succede grazie a Simenon, e non certo grazie allo sforzo promozionale della casa editrice. 
Simenon ne sarebbe contento?
E intanto, come si dice a Roma, Simenon si continua a vendere come il pane. (m.t.)

SIMENON SIMENON "SOUVENIR". SIMENON AND FECAMP

About the novel "Au Rendez-Vous des Terre-Neuvas" (The Grand Banks Café) 

SIMENON SIMENON. SIMENON E FECAMP  

A proposito del romanzo "Au Rendez-Vous des Terre-Neuvas" (All' Insegna dei Terranova) 

SIMENON SIMENON. SIMENON ET FECAMP  

A propos du roman Au Rendez-Vous des Terre-Neuvas 

Au Rendez-Vous des Terre-Neuvas, published in 1931, is the best-known of Simenon’s Fécamp narratives. The novel offers the most complete overview of the author’s response to his experiences in the town in 1928-1929 as well as marking a number of steps in the evolution of the character of Maigret and Simenon’s literary development. 

Accompanied by his wife, the commissaire travels to Fécamp in response to an appeal from a schoolfriend, now himself a schoolteacher, one of whose former pupils, Pierre Le Clinche, has been arrested under suspicion of having killed the captain of the trawler on which he worked on its return to port. In the course of his unofficial inquiry, Maigret encounters several crew members, Le Clinche’s fiancée and Adèle, a young woman with something to hide. Maigret immerses himself in the atmosphere of the Au Rendez-Vous des Terre-Neuvas, a bar frequented by fishermen, as well as visiting the trawler, the Océan, in his search to discover who had the means, the motive and the opportunity to have killed captain Fallut. The commissaire establishes Le Clinche’s innocence but on uncovering the identity of the killer he decides that no good can come from sharing this information with the local police and the Maigrets return to Paris.  

In Au Rendez-Vous des Terre-Neuvas, Simenon develops his narrative by means of a series of contrasts, for example between the owner and the crew of the Océan and Le Clinche’s respectable fiancée and the scarlet woman Adèle, and this technique is also seen in the presentation of the town of Fécamp. Indeed, the names of the two locations between which Maigret divides his time – the Hôtel de la Plage and Au Rendez-Vous des Terre-Neuvas - throw into relief the town’s twin identity as a place of leisure for some and work for others: ‘[The Maigrets] arrived at the Hôtel de la Plage at five o’clock, and Madame Maigret immediately began rearranging their room to her taste. Then they dined. […] Just opposite, the trawler Océan was moored to the quay near a line of trucks. […] In the harsh light people were moving about unloading the cod, which was passed from hand to hand and piled up in the trucks after being weighed.’  

Standing at Maigret’s shoulder, the reader is witness to an industry in transition when P’tit Louis explains that ‘Sailing ships only make one trip, from February to September. But trawlers have time to go twice to the Banks.’ Like any capitalist industry, cod fishing is based on a division of labour with strict hierarchical lines between each social layer. At the top, is the ship owner, whose power and wealth stem from his ownership of the means of production (the trawler with its navigation equipment and nets) and the product of his employees’ labour (the cod caught on the Grand Bank). All that counts is profit and when Maigret questions the owner of the Océan about the death of captain Fallut, his response is unequivocal: ‘What do I think? I think that here’s eight hundred tons of damaged cod. And that if it goes on like this, the boat won’t make a second trip. And it’s not the police who settle up these matters or meet the deficit.’ Next, comes the ship’s captain, manager of a unit of production in the same way as a factory manager; then the specialist technicians, the engineer and radio operator; finally, at the bottom, the sailors, men like P’tit Louis, who ‘work like demons’ but are so brutalised that ‘Once they’re ashore they’re always like this, drinking, shouting, fighting, breaking windows.’  

Throughout his work, Simenon displays a strong belief in the importance of boundaries as an element of social stability in which each class plays its “natural” role, so “crossing the line” is an action that risks destabilising the social equilibrium, as in the sexual liaisons of the Countess de Saint-Fiacre (L’Affaire Saint-Fiacre) or the social ascension of the Fécampois ship’s captain Emile Bouet (‘Le bateau d’Emile’). And it is the cross-class dalliance of captain Fallut with Adèle that is the trigger for the disaster that follows - his own death, that of the cabin boy and the threat to the future happiness of Le Clinche and his fiancée.  

In terms of Simenon’s literary techniques, Fécamp’s status as a fishing port offers numerous opportunities to add the sense of smell to the various sensory touches that he deploys to create an atmosphere, adding to a palette of colour, sound and movement: ‘The water slapped the sides of the ship, which was imperceptibly getting up steam. […] On the right was a lighthouse. At the end of one jetty was a green light; a red one at the end of the other. The sea was a great black hole which gave out a strong smell.’ Indeed, the sense of smell is critical to the two sides of Fécamp represented in the novel; when Maigret returns to his hotel, his wife remarks ‘You smell of scent…’ and the narrator explains that ‘A little bit of Adèle’s strong perfume must have clung to him. A perfume as common as the blue wine you got at a bistro. For months it had mingled on the trawler with the rank smell of cod.’ 

In conclusion, Au Rendez-Vous des Terre-Neuvas is a seminal text in the development of the Maigret saga in terms of its integration of plot, character and setting. Simenon draws on his own experiences to paint a lively and realistic portrait of the Normandy coastline and Fécamp finds an artist capable of rendering its multi-facetted daily life accessible to a mass readership through the medium of crime fiction.  

William Alder 

SIMENON SIMENON. 30 ANS APRÈS… - 30 ANNI DOPO… - 30 YEARS LATER…

Cette année, nous commémorons les 30 ans de la disparition du romancier. Notre blog lui a rendu hommage au cours de ces derniers mois dans cette rubrique, dont voici le dernier chapitre.

Quest’anno ricordiamo i 30 anni dalla scomparsa del romanziere. Il nostro blog gli ha reso omaggio nel corso di questi ultimi mesi con questo rubrica di cui oggi presentiamo l’ultima puntata.

This year, we commemorate the 30th anniversary of the disappearance of the novelist. Our blog has paid tribute during the last months in this column; today the ultimate chapter.

11) 30 personnages dans les romans de Simenon

Bébé Donge, Betty, Jeanne Martineau, Marguerite Bouin, Louise Lomel, Dominique Salès, Nancy Hogan, Mona Sanders, Belle Sherman, Marie Gladel, Else Andersen, Aline Calas, Valentine Besson, Anna Peeters, Nathalie Sabin-Levesque

Norbert Monde, Joris Terlink, Jonas Milk, Lucien Gobillot, Léon Labbé, Kees Popinga, Hector Loursat, Charles Alavoine, Frank Friedmaier, Louis Cuchas, Jean Radek, Emile Ducrau, Dr Bellamy, Louis Thouret, Honoré Cuendet

11) 30 personaggi nei romanzi di Simenon

Bébé Donge, Betty, Jeanne Martineau, Marguerite Bouin, Louise Lomel, Dominique Salès, Nancy Hogan, Mona Sanders, Belle Sherman, Marie Gladel, Else Andersen, Aline Calas, Valentine Besson, Anna Peeters, Nathalie Sabin-Levesque

Norbert Monde, Joris Terlink, Jonas Milk, Lucien Gobillot, Léon Labbé, Kees Popinga, Hector Loursat, Charles Alavoine, Frank Friedmaier, Louis Cuchas, Jean Radek, Emile Ducrau, Dr Bellamy, Louis Thouret, Honoré Cuendet

11) 30 characters in Simenon’s novels

Bébé Donge, Betty, Jeanne Martineau, Marguerite Bouin, Louise Lomel, Dominique Salès, Nancy Hogan, Mona Sanders, Belle Sherman, Marie Gladel, Else Andersen, Aline Calas, Valentine Besson, Anna Peeters, Nathalie Sabin-Levesque

Norbert Monde, Joris Terlink, Jonas Milk, Lucien Gobillot, Léon Labbé, Kees Popinga, Hector Loursat, Charles Alavoine, Frank Friedmaier, Louis Cuchas, Jean Radek, Emile Ducrau, Dr Bellamy, Louis Thouret, Honoré Cuendet

Murielle Wenger

SIMENON SIMENON. UN ROMANCIER EN LAPONIE

Les souvenirs du voyage nordique de Simenon

SIMENON SIMENON. UN ROMANZIERE NELLA LAPPONIA

Ricordi del viaggio nordico di Simenon

SIMENON SIMENON. A NOVELIST IN LAPLAND

Memories of Simenon’s Nordic trip

Simenon a été un grand voyageur. Il a ramené de ses périples des souvenirs, des décors et des ambiances dont il a fait la toile de fond de plusieurs romans « exotiques ». Rappelons Le Coup de lune après l’Afrique, Les Gens d’en face après le voyage en URSS ou Quartier nègre au retour du tour du monde de 1934-1935. Et tant d’autres… sans oublier, bien sûr, tous les reportages et les très nombreuses photographies qu’il avait prises lui-même.

Ce goût du voyage, Simenon l’a satisfait très tôt, et déjà avant sa première grande expédition (l’Afrique en 1933), il avait accompli, plus modestement, un tour de France en 1928, puis un voyage à bord de l’Ostrogoth, qui le mena de la France jusqu’aux Pays-Bas. Mais on oublie parfois que durant l’hiver 1929-1930, il poussa une pointe plus au nord, puisqu’il se rendit jusqu’au-delà du cercle polaire. Non à bord de l’Ostrogoth, comme il l’a parfois affirmé, mais en empruntant des bateaux norvégiens, dont l’un s’appelait le Polarlys.

On parle moins souvent de ce voyage, peut-être parce que, contrairement aux autres, il ne lui a inspiré que peu de textes. Il a raconté son périple dans le reportage Escales nordiques (douze articles publiés entre le 1er et le 12 mars 1931 dans Le Petit Journal), et si aucun roman ne se déroule en Laponie, la Norvège est évoquée dans le roman Le Passager du Polarlys et elle est le décor de la nouvelle Le Docteur de Kirkenes. On trouve encore une brève allusion nordique dans Le Port des brumes, où Martineau déclare habiter Tromsö, dans les îles Lofoten.

Mais revenons au voyage de Simenon en Laponie. Dans ses textes autobiographiques, il est évoqué à plusieurs reprises : « le Grand Nord où je suis allé […] avec un petit bateau qui, longeant les côtes de Norvège, s’arrêtant à chaque petit port, vous conduisait en Laponie que vous parcouriez ensuite en traîneau à rennes, avec un Lapon pour guide ; vous vous couchiez dans la première tente qui se présentait et où pendait un renne écorché dans lequel, pour toute nourriture, on vous taillait une tranche de viande au goût rance. » (dictée Vacances obligatoires) ; « Nous étions, Tigy et moi, au-delà du cap Nord à la fin de l’hiver, c’est-à-dire quand l’obscurité régnait vingt-quatre heures par jour. Nous vivions avec les Lapons dans des tentes en peaux de rennes […] Et soudain j’ai senti chez nos amis une excitation particulière que je ne m’expliquais pas […]. J’ai compris deux jours après. Le soleil est soudain apparu à l’horizon et les Lapons se mirent à chanter et à danser avec frénésie. » (On dit que j’ai soixante-quinze ans)

Et dans les Mémoires intimes, Simenon raconte le voyage « vers l’océan Glacial […] le long des côtes de Norvège, et qui nous fit franchir le cap Nord […]. Pour arriver là, notre étrave avait dû tracer son sillon dans la glace. Des traîneaux tirés par des rennes nous feraient parcourir la Laponie […], dans l’immensité blanche, et nous étions nous-mêmes vêtus en Lapons, non pour le pittoresque ou pour la photo-souvenir, mais parce que nous n’aurions pas supporté autrement des froids de quarante-cinq degrés sous zéro. »

Ce n’est peut-être pas « pour la photo-souvenir », mais il n’empêche que dans le reportage publié par Le Petit Journal, on voyait bien Georges et Tigy poser pour une photographie, habillés en Lapons. Et le Fonds Simenon conserve également une autre photographie où Simenon se montre à côté d’un Lapon…

Par parenthèse, il faut savoir que dans son reportage, Simenon fait fort habilement la transition entre la partie du voyage qu’il fit à bord de l’Ostrogoth et celle à bord d’un autre bateau, de sorte que le lecteur de l’époque put croire que le reporter était vraiment allé dans le Grand Nord avec son bateau… Mais Simenon a toujours été un raconteur d’histoires, et on peut lui pardonner cette petite entorse à la vérité… D’autant plus que ses articles sont alertes, parsemés de traits d’humour, mais aussi très évocateurs. Ils ont été publiés dans le volume Mes apprentissages, parus chez Omnibus en 2001.

Murielle Wenger