SIMENON SIMENON. MAIGRET ET L’ENIGME DE LA RATATOUILLE

A propos de l’influence d’une série télévisée sur les souvenirs de lecture 

SIMENON SIMENON. MAIGRET E L’ENIGMA DELLA RATATOUILLE 

Sull'influenza di una serie TV sui ricordi di lettura

SIMENON SIMENON. MAIGRET AND THE RATATOUILLE ENIGMA 

About the influence of a TV series on reading memories

Il y a quelques jours paraissait un intéressant article sur les rapports entre le roman policier et la nourriture (qui), dans lequel la journaliste Lara de Luna énumérait quelques-uns des menus préférés des personnages de détective ou de policier. Notre Maigret ne pouvait évidemment pas manquer à l’appel, lui dont les goûts pour la bonne cuisine ont été légués à tant d’autres héros de la littérature policière. 

Parmi les plats cités dans l’article et qui font partie des préférés de l’homme du Quai des Orfèvres, il y a, bien entendu, la blanquette de veau et le fricandeau à l’oseille. Deux plats qui sont inévitablement et mythiquement associés à Maigret. A juste titre, bien qu’on rappellera ici qu’en réalité, on ne voit que rarement le commissaire en manger dans les romans, et il déguste bien plus souvent l’andouillette et la choucroute, sans oublier le coq au vin. Ces menus forment le quintette favori de Maigret, ce qui ne l’empêche pas de se régaler d’autres délices. Parmi ceux-ci, on rappellera la mouclade (La Maison du juge), la chaudrée fourasienne (Le Voleur de Maigret), le macaroni au gratin (Maigret et le clochard), les rognons à la liégeoise (La Danseuse du Gai-Moulin), le canard à l’orange (Maigret se défend), etc.… Autant de plats qu’on retrouve dans le livre des recettes de Mme Maigret, compilées par Robert Courtine. 

Dans son article, Lara de Luna explique avec raison que Maigret est amateur de cuisine régionale et campagnarde française, sur laquelle se basent les plats mitonnés par sa femme. La journaliste donne comme exemple la ratatouille, dont, dit-elle, Maigret serait fort amateur, et elle cite Le Fou de Bergerac. J’ai tiqué sur cette citation. D’abord, parce que dans ce roman, le commissaire est alité suite à sa blessure, et qu’il est mis au régime, sa femme le nourrissant de bouillon et de crème au citron, et qu’il doit se contenter de humer le fumet du foie gras et des truffes… 

Ensuite, parce que nulle part dans ce roman n’est citée la ratatouille, et nulle part d’ailleurs dans toute la saga. En fait de plats méridionaux, on verra Maigret manger un spaghetti (Maigret, Lognon et les gangsters, Un échec de Maigret), un aïoli (Mon ami Maigret), la paella (La Patience de Maigret), la bouillabaisse (Maigret et l’indicateur). Mais pas de trace de la ratatouille. Où la journaliste a-t-elle donc pêché ce plat ? 

La réponse m’est venue en pensant que l’article a paru dans un journal italien. Or, en Italie, qui dit Maigret dit Gino Cervi (que Lara de Luna cite par ailleurs). J’ai donc eu la curiosité de jeter un coup d’œil sur l’épisode tiré du roman, Il pazzo di Bergerac. L’épisode, fidèle à la trame du roman, se permet cependant les quelques écarts inévitables lors d’une adaptation. On y découvre en particulier une scène (qui ne figure pas dans le roman) qui se déroule dans la cuisine de l’hôtel où les Maigret sont logés, scène dans laquelle « la signora Maigret » discute avec la propriétaire de l’hôtel, cette dernière lui prônant les vertus de… la ratatouille, ce qui, manifestement, n’a pas l’heur de plaire à Mme Maigret… 

Voilà donc l’énigme éclaircie : c’est probablement le souvenir de cet épisode qui a fait que la rédactrice de l’article a imaginé que la ratatouille était un plat apprécié de Maigret. Bien entendu, rien ne nous empêche de penser que ce soit le cas, Simenon n’ayant pas raconté tous les détails de la vie quotidienne de Maigret… 

Cette petite anecdote est un bel exemple de l’impact qu’a eu la série avec Gino Cervi sur les lecteurs italiens des enquêtes de Maigret, et sans doute trouverait-on chez les amateurs d’autres séries (les françaises avec Jean Richard et Bruno Crémer, l’anglaise avec Rupert Davies) des scènes dont ils sont persuadés qu’ils les ont lues dans les romans, alors qu’elles sont souvenance d’un épisode vu à la télévision… 

Murielle Wenger 

SIMENON SIMENON. LA CARTE POSTALE DE MAIGRET – LA CARTOLINA DI MAIGRET – MAIGRET'S POSTCARD

SIMENON SIMENON "VINTAGE" - THE QUIET COMMISSAIRE: THE EXTRAORDINARY ORDINARINESS OF MAIGRET

The quiet commissaire: the extraordinary ordinariness of Maigret. Georges Simenon’s detective is one of literature’s most exceptional characters. Or, rather, one of literature’s most unexceptional characters: the most exceptional unexceptional.

New Statesman - 20/11/2013 - Ian Samson -  Born in Saint-Fiacre par Matignon, deep in the Auvergne, the heart of France, he is around 45, lives in Paris, is married but childless, a pipe smoker, gruff, uncomplicated, the sort of man who likes to relax with a glass of beer and his own thoughts for company. He wears a well-cut suit, a bowler hat and an overcoat with a velvet collar. Greying dark-brown hair, a poorly knotted tie and a taste for good, plain food. Big, broad-shouldered, proletarian, he stands with a boxer’s stance, feet wide apart, forever dependable, immovable and there. He looks like Jean Gabin. Or Rupert Davies. Michael Gambon. Michel Simon. Handsome-strange. Beautiful-ugly.
He is, of course, Jules Amédée François Maigret, the creation of Georges Simenon and one of literature’s most exceptional characters. Or, rather, one of literature’s most unexceptional characters: the most exceptional unexceptional. Most of the great characters in literature are like great “characters” in life – florid, flamboyant, attention-seeking – and many of them clearly suffer from some kind of neurosis, or terrible anxiety, or fatal flaw, kink, twist, weird problem, or secret thwarted ambition or desire, or, indeed, some more severe form of psychiatric disorder. Take, for example, Captain Ahab, Sherlock Holmes, Holden Caulfield, Emma Bovary, Macbeth, Ibsen’s Nora, even little Bertie Wooster. There are few great characters in literature who are undeniably and delightfully dull and yet who also possess true negative capability, who are entirely possessed of themselves. Maigret is the first among very few equals.

He is also one of the few detectives in literature who seem to be possessed of characteristics not shared by their creators. In a sense, G K Chesterton was Father Brown and Agatha Christie was Miss Marple. Dashiell Hammett was a quarter Sam Spade and three-quarters the Continental Op. Yet Simenon was not Maigret; instead, he was almost the exact opposite. Where Simenon was promiscuous, Maigret is uxorious. Where Simenon was self-promoting, Maigret is self-effacing. Where Simenon was swift, Maigret is slow...>>>

SIMENON SIMENON. IL ROMANZIERE DIVENTA UN PESO... PIUMA

Piccoli e-book, prezzo leggero e racconti o romanzi brevi

SIMENON SIMENON. LE ROMAN DEVIENT UN POIDS ... PLUME

Livres électroniques courts, prix léger avec des histoires courtes ou des romans courts

SIMENON SIMENON. THE NOVELIST BECOMES A WEIGHT ... FEATHER

Short e-books, light price with short stories or short novels

La lettura ai tempi del coronavirus. Con la forzata permanenza in casa, oltre a svolgere, chi può, il lavoro in modalità "smart-working", oltre ad occuparsi di tutte quelle incombenze e quei lavoretti che si erano sempre rimandati (...adesso no, vado troppo di  fretta, quando avrò un po' di tempo....), ed altre insopprimibili incombenze quotidiane,  dover pensare a preparare colazione, pranzo e cena per tutta la famiglia. Quello che comunque  non manca è il tempo e questo dovrebbe far la gioia di tutti gli appassionati lettori, ma magari spingere anche chi non ha particolare confidenza a iniziare a dedicare tempo a questa occupazione. Certo le librerie sono chiuse. Ma il tanto vituperato internet in questi tempi difficili ci viene spesso in soccorso e le grandi librerie digitali ora diventano l'alternativa obbligata a libreria, visto che troviamo su queste piattaforme di e-commerce non solo gli e-book, ma anche i loro fratelli cartacei e addirittura quelli usati. Già l'anno scorso, quando il Covid-19 non era nemmeno nei nostri incubi, la vendita tramite internet era cresciuta di oltre il 26%, per il 2020 non ci sono ancora dati ufficiali, ma c'è da aspettarsi un bell'incremento, complice il contagio e la chiusura delle librerie.

Ma non sono solo le piattaforme on-line a muoversi, ma anche gli editori si organizzano sul proprio sito e alcuni addirittura regalano dei titoli in e-book, altri fanno sconti molto invitanti anche sul cartaceo e le promozioni speciali si moltiplicano.  

Oggi vogliamo parlarvi di un'iniziativa presa dall'Adelphi. La casa milanese ha pensato a ad una collana di e-book per chi vuol leggere, senza però impegnare troppo tempo. Si è indirizzata anche alle tasche di tutti, con un prezzo davvero leggero. Pubblicherà inediti, ma anche titoli già usciti, scrittori contemporanei e più datati, italiani e stranieri... insomma una produzione potremmo dire a 360° rivolta ad un pubblico più vasto possibile.

"Microgrammi". questo è l'appropriato nome di questa nuova collana, i cui primi tre titoli sono usciti da qualche giorno. E, guarda caso, tre i primi tre autori non poteva mancare Simenon, ormai da tempo ben più di un fiore all'occhiello dell'Adelphi. 

I tre titoli sono "Dolore" di V.S Naipal, "Fratelli" di Ivan Bunin e "Un delitto in Gabon" di Georges Simenon. Questo ultimo titolo comprende oltre al racconto del titolo, anche "La linea del deserto", entrambe parte della raccolta di racconti esotici (che confluiranno appunto in un libro "La linea del deserto") pubblicati nel 1938 su "Police Roman".
Per finire due parole su prezzo, davvero contenuto, per questi mini e-book, che non arrivano ai due euro (1.99), cosa che dovrebbe spingere anche i più restii ad ordinarli e, chissà, anche a fare entrare nel mondo di Simenon chi finora ne è rimasto fuori. (m.t)

SIMENON SIMENON. A JAZZY WRITING

About similarities between jazz music and Simenon’s way of writing 

SIMENON SIMENON. UNA SCRITTURA JAZZ

Sulle somiglianze tra la musica jazz e il modo di scrivere di Simenon

SIMENON SIMENON. UNE ECRITURE JAZZY 

A propos des similitudes entre la musique jazz et la façon d’écrire de Simenon 

Jazz is music from Black American origins, hybridized by different cultures, contaminated with countless genres, diversified by the evolution of instruments and which evolved in the course of time. And these prerequisites could, in our opinion, have some similarities with Simenon’s works. 

At the time of the novelist’s tumultuous love with Josephine Baker, when he hung around the Parisian caves where jazz was at home, Simenon claimed that “what is wonderful with jazz music is that it categorically excludes the notion of centrality typical of any other genre starting with rock and variety music…” Maybe that’s exactly the point. This music, which has, as three fundamental elements, parity between the instruments that play together, release from dominant tonal forms and an unorthodox use of musical instruments, has a lot to do with the method and the practice of Simenon’s writing. 

In jazz, improvisation is a moment when an instrument, any instrument, becomes soloist and begins a performance which, from a theme or a harmonic sequence, creates a melody that has points of contact with its origin, but evolves freely, improvising, and the musician himself doesn’t know what he would play in a few seconds or minutes. Of course it will be something he has in mind, but he will combine in an original way and build the solo in that precise moment. This could be paralleled with the way Simenon composed his novels. He started with some names, some sparse data, some inspirations of reference, and then he began to write guided by his “état de roman” (a kind of state of trance) and even he himself didn’t know which paths the story would take and how the events would conclude. We could also say that Simenon was improvising during the drawing up of his novels. He resorted to memories, characters and places he had experienced, which would be combined in a way he could not even had foreseen. 

Let’s talk about the parity between the instruments. In classical music for example percussion instruments are almost generally occasional escorts, whereas in jazz music drums are equal to piano, double bass or saxophone. And also in Simenon’s novels we find positive or negatives, good or bad characters, yet each of them has his shadow areas and those of light. In Simenon’s view (and often in Maigret’s), this puts all of them on the same level, without any value judgments nor distinctions, except for those contingencies that history entrusts to the protagonist or to the second-rate characters. But behind each of them there is an equal dignity, whether they may be rich or poor, noble or miserable. 

Finally let’s talk about the disrespectful use of classical canons in the way of playing instruments. That’s a revolution that Simenon also puts in place with his “mots-matière”, concrete words, nothing superfluous; he uses terms that indicate tangible and easily identifiable things. Adding this to his short and sometimes even syncopated phrasing, we find a linguistic instrument different enough from the preceding ones, and thus that can be identified as innovative if not revolutionary. A high treatment, and often psychologically deep, but simply and synthetically expressed. 

We would like to end with a hint of the atmosphere in some novels, the ones that are quite thrillers and create an atmosphere that could include a jazzy sound commentary. You could think about novels such as Red Lights or Three Beds in Manhattan. As Michel Carly wrote in his book Simenon, la vie d’abord, “Simenon was born at the time of the first telephone connections, with cars of all colours, next to a hotel where illegitimate couples go, to make love while listening to jazz…” 

by Simenon-Simenon 

SIMENON SIMENON. SIMENON-CINEMA

L’œuvre de Simenon est l’une de celles qui a connu le plus grand nombre d’adaptations au cinéma. Sans compter les romans Maigret, plus de 50 films ont été tirés des romans durs. Dans cette rubrique, nous vous proposons un choix parmi tous ces films 

L’opera di Simenon è una di quelle che ha conosciuto il più gran numero di adattamenti cinematografici. Senza contare i romanzi di Maigret, più di 50 film sono stati tratti dai romans durs. In questa rubrica, vi prponiamo una scelta tra tutti questi film. 

Simenon’s work is one of those that have seen the largest number of cinema adaptations. Without counting the Maigret novels, more than 50 movies have been adapted from the “romans durs”. In this column, we propose a choice among all those films. 

L’Horloger de Saint-Paul 

D’après L’Horloger d’Everton. Réalisé par Bertrand Tavernier, sur un scénario de Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost et Bertrand Tavernier. Produit par Lira Films. Sortie en janvier 1974. Avec : Philippe Noiret (Michel Descombes), Jean Rochefort (le commissaire Guibout), Jacques Denis (Antoine), Sylvain Rougerie (Bernard Descombes), Julien Bertheau (Edouard), Christine Pascal (Liliane Torrini). 

Tratto dal romanzo L'orologiaio di Everton. Diretto da Bertrand Tavernier, per la sceneggiatura di Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost e Bertrand Tavernier. Prodotto da Lira Films. Uscito nelle sale nel gennaio 1974. Con: Philippe Noiret (Michel Descombes), Jean Rochefort (le commissaire Guibout), Jacques Denis (Antoine), Sylvain Rougerie (Bernard Descombes), Julien Bertheau (Edouard), Christine Pascal (Liliane Torrini). 

Based on the novel The Watchmaker of Everton. Directed by Bertrand Tavernier, from a screenplay by Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost and Bertrand Tavernier. Producted by Lira Films. Released in January 1974. With: Philippe Noiret (Michel Descombes), Jean Rochefort (le commissaire Guibout), Jacques Denis (Antoine), Sylvain Rougerie (Bernard Descombes), Julien Bertheau (Edouard), Christine Pascal (Liliane Torrini).

Murielle Wenger