Maigret Forum

6/27/18 – To better understand the character Jean Maura, we have to examine the clues scattered throughout the text. We first return to Ch. 2, where Maigret tells O'Brien about the visit to the ship that he made with MacGill and the private detective Bill. Bill is looking (or rather pretends to be looking, as we later learn) for information about Jean Maura's disappearance. We get our first clue (still in Ch. 2), that these investigations of Bill's must be setting a stage, when O'Brien and Maigret, in the course of their conversation, decide that MacGill... "had pretended to go to a lot of trouble" to find Jean. So, we begin by wondering, was it John Maura, Jean's father, who had found his son and hidden him for some reason? Was it MacGill? Or was it someone else...?

In Ch. 3, Maigret pays a visit to John Maura, and during their conversation the Chief Inspector asks him, "Do you know where you son is?," to which the father replies, "My son is free to do whatever he wishes." Maigret responds, "So you know where he is." His intuition appears correct, for these words shake up MacGill, showing the Chief Inspector that MacGill knows more than he's saying.

In Ch. 4, MacGill meets Maigret again, and tells him that John Maura "has been moving heaven and earth" to find his son. At the beginning of Ch. 5, O'Brien announces to Maigret that Jean Maura has been found, and the Chief Inspector deduces that he's back at the hotel with his father. Maigret then goes there and meets Jean, who tells hem that he's now relived about his father. But once again, Maigret has the feeling that there's something wrong with his story, since even Jean Maura himself appears astonished by the atitude of his father, who seems disinterested in what's going on.

In Ch. 7 it's Ronald Dexter who gives his version of the story... There were gangsters who kidnapped Jean on his debarking the ship, to extort John Maura. A few pages laters, Lt. Lewis tells Maigret that the police have discovered that a man had come in search of Jean with a letter from his father, and had taken him to his father's cottage... And then two days later John Maura had had his son brought to him. Maigret deduces that Maura had "reasons to keep the young man out of circulation" for two days.

In Ch. 8, Maigret goes to see off the ship that will bring Jean Maura back to France. And finally, in Ch. 10, it's John Maura who tells Maigret the truth, that there actually were gangsters extorting him about the death of Jessie... "Bill... had arranged the whole show to throw you off track. You thought Bill was obeying our orders, while he was actually the one giving them."

There remains some question as to whether John Maura himself arranged for his son to be hidden away, or whether he was acting under orders from the gangsters. Whichever it was, the character Jean Maura was at the center of an intrigue that was over his head, and if he'd become a sort of pawn in the hands of the protagonists, he was not the actual object of the game...

Lastly, we can add this... Simenon has the art of spreading clues throughout his text, but the reader must be very attentive to retrieve them, and to reconstruct the sequence of events. And it's made even more difficult since the novelist has a principle of not revealing the development of Maigret's thinking. We know that he functions on intuition, which doesn't prevent him from reasoning, but that remains hidden from the reader. The Maigret novels in particular function in the mode of "internal focus", that is, the plot is seen through Maigret's eyes, and the reader finds himself in the same position as the Chief Inspector. But at the same time, to respect the principe of the detective story, the novelist must keep certain things hidden, and not reveal all the deductions that Maigret makes...

Murielle

So, I just finished Maigret in New York and don't understand the character of Jean Maura — the younger son of John Maura. I understand why he went to fetch M out of concern for his father's situation, but after that, I'm lost. I don't understand the significance of him disappearing when the ocean liner docked or how/why he inexplicably turned up in his father's hotel suite. And then if I'm not mistaken, he doesn't feature in the book after that, except by reference, where it's explained near the end that he's the son of Maura's second wife.

Am I missing something? Or is he just irrelevant to the story, after he lures M to New York? Seems like an awkward handling of the character, tho.

Barbara Fleming
Edgewood NM

Thank you so much for the stunning amount of information at your site! I hope you will accept this as a small contribution and by no means a criticism.

Cheers,
Kate Derie

6/9/18 –

If anyone is wanting to learn to read Simenon in French may I suggest "Le Revolver de Maigret" edited by Herbert F. Collins which has a great vocabulary/idioms section at the back which would have helped me a lot had I read it earlier!

Jane

Macmillan, 1967. 179 pp.

In the golden age of suspense TV series, the most popular titles had some additional appearances in the form of comic strips. Specially I think of Dell and Gold Key comics in the States, that, in the sixties, published TV-unseen episodes, even from original British series. Most of those US comics were adapted for the Latin American audience as well, by Novaro and SEA publishers.

Today almost all of those printings are still available on the antique book market, and you may decide, whether to enjoy a good old story in English or in Spanish. The comic strips I find, generally, as good as the corresponding TV episodes, some even might be better, because they content special scenes that would have been difficult to be realised for a TV show of those days, but for the cartoonists - no problem at all. Another big advantage of the comics is, they are always in colour, even though the early TV shows are in black & white. An example is "The Detectives", with Robert Taylor starring. The original b&w TV series has not come out on DVDs yet, as far as I know, but there are some colourful episodes to be read as comic strips! The same for "The Untouchables" (starring Robert Stack), and...

If there would have been the Rupert Davies Maigret series on American TV screens, perhaps there would exist some colourful episodes as comics as well. But the BBC Maigret was not presented there, the mighty US TV bosses had some objections. Davies: "I reckon, our series was too cheeky for them." At those times, it simply was unthinkable to serve a programme to the American audience, in which the Chief inspector occasionally, as a matter of course, would ask questions like "Did you spend the last night with......?" or "Tell me the truth, is......your lover?" But those can be, in many Maigret cases, the key questions! You can't cut them out!

Anyway, there remained my desire, to have Rupert Davies as a comic-style picture. Recently, at last, I have tried to make it myself. The result is not too bad, I think, and I hope, you will like it, too.

Berthold

See more articles by Berthold at Simenon-Simenon

Most of the new Penguin titles are closer translation of the originals, but for this one they've added "of Montparnasse". Here are the titles and covers of the 2018 editions, including those which have been announced but not yet released:

Note:
"Maigret's Doubts" [SCR] has been previously published as "Maigret's Scruples", and
"Maigret's Secret" [CON] has been previously published as "Maigret has Doubts"

All the new titles are included in the Bibliography and the Simplified Index. The previous titles for these new Penguins can be found by clicking the [Title Code] link to Plots [BRA], and then clicking the bibliography entry link. All the Penguin covers can be seen here.

51-2018 Maigret travels	52-2018 Maigret's doubts	53-2018 Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses	54-2018 Maigret's Secret
55-2018 Maigret in Court	56-2018 Maigret and the Old People	57-2018 Maigret and the Lazy Burglar	58-2018 Maigret and the Good People of Montparnasse
59-2018 Maigret and the Saturday Caller	60-2018 Maigret and the Tramp	61-2018 Maigret's Anger	62-2018 Maigret and the Ghost

ST

Thanks very much
Don Buck

The Penguin UK and US websites show the green cover. A Google image search shows many thumbnails of the red version, but all the ones I clicked took me to the green version. Penguin Australia's website shows the red version, but they are selling the green one.

I suspect the red version was replaced by the green in the final stages of publication, but it would be interesting to know if any proofs or sale copies exist.

Ward Saylor

ST

Maigret Sets a Trap (DVD) Directed by Jean Delannoy Year: 1958 Running Time: 119 Cast: Jean Gabin, Annie Girardot, Lino Ventura, Olivier Hussenot Writers Georges Simenon, Michel Audiard, Jean Delannoy and Rodolphe-Maurice Arlaud Inspector Maigret tries to trap a killer and discovers why a happily married, wealthy, and talented man should want to bump off women at night. Jean Gabin is perfect as Georges Simenon's secure and steady sleuth, and old-hand Jean Delannoy expertly keeps up the pace and suspense in this enjoyable whodunnit.

Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case (DVD) Directed by Jean Delannoy Year: 1959 Running Time: 97 Language: French w/ English subtitles Cast: Jean Gabin Writers Jean Delannoy, Michel Audiard and Rodolphe-Maurice Arlaud Maigret is summoned by the Countess to the Château de Saint-Fiacre, where she shows him a letter she has received predicting the day on which she will die

Ward Saylor

From the blurb:

Ward Saylor

Stuart Radmore

Antwerp, Begium 9/3/2018 - 10/6/2018

website (in Dutch)

translation from the website by Dirk:

Harry Gruyaert (Antwerpen, 1941) is one of the most famous Belgian photographers. With this retrospective exposition the FOMU (Museum of Photography) draws a rich and surprising image of his work. Gruyaert is one of the pioneers of colour photography and since 1982 member of the famous Magnum agency…..

The masterful use of color photography - with his beloved Kodachrome film - is Gruyaerts trademark. However, the exhibition at FOMU also shows its versatility and focuses on a few seldom seen sides of its career: early black and white work, a fashion campaign for Hermès, covers of Penguin pocket editions of Georges Simenon, a tribute to film maker Michelangelo Antonioni, family photos and diverse assignment photography.

Dirk

To most Europeans, the name phonetically (K or) Cray-Mer would be spelt Germanically as Kramer rather than as Cremer. Kramer is a surname frequently found in Germany.

This webpage, on a site for which, of course, I cannot vouch and itself admits that it is ageing, helps:

Part of the text:

This unusual and interesting name has Flemish origins and is an example of a name introduced into England by French and Flemish Huguenots seeking refuge from religious persecution on the continent during the latter half of the 16th Century and again during the late 17th Century. ‘Cremer’ is a variant of the German ‘Kramer’ and is an occupational name for a shopkeeper or tradesman or one who travelled through the countryside buying butter, hens and eggs which he carried to the market.

Again, an extract from the text:

Bruno Cremer was born in Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. His mother, a musician, was of Belgian Flemish origin and his father was a businessman from Lille who, though born French, had taken out Belgian nationality after the French armed forces refused to accept him for service in the First World War. Bruno himself opted for French nationality when he reached the age of 18. His childhood was largely spent in Paris.

His parents’ roots were in that international triangle where the boundaries of religion, politics and nations often overlapped and came into conflict (before the EU), stretching between French Flanders (Lille), The Netherlands (Maastricht), Germany (Aachen) and embracing the whole of what are now Belgium and Luxembourg. Once the Cremer family was firmly in France, it is understandable that an acute accent was added, for it is that which makes Crémer phonetically almost identical to Kramer at the same time making it look familiar in French.

This is all just background: how the actor’s surname was actually spelt will have been what his birth certificate or any later document changing that said it was. It may, one conjectures, have had the accent added when he opted to be French, not Belgian, at 18. Lamentably, the relative inability of non-Francophones to appreciate accents may have clouded the issue ever since.

There are four little observations to make:

1. At some point in its journey from High German to Low German to Flemish, Krämer lost its umlaut but kept its pronunciation. Without it, it would in German phonetically be Krarmer.
2. There are divergent views in France on which accent is applicable on the middle e of all the words with the stem crem..., créme in common usage, but crème according to authority, the Academie Française.
3. And, though a word with the same ending is not now used, it is very clear that the stem crem... gave Bruno’s surname the same meaning in French as it had in its German linguistic roots. The trade in dairy products was clearly already a single market.
4. And it is fitting that Simenon, from Liège / Luik had a similarly heterogeneous background, with German in his mother’s ancestry.

with best wishes to all,
James Mackay

Although I haven't been able to find an "official" version, I tend to favor (in spite of everything, even Wikipedia!) the version with the accent, based on the covers of the author's autobiography, on which his name is Crémer. If we can assume that the author himself approved these covers, he must therefore have approved of the spelling…

Murielle

I am particularly impressed by your attention to detail on the site, which is why I am sending you this message. In your section Maigret Films & TV the name of the actor Bruno Cremer is spelt with an acute accent (Crémer). In fact there is no accent in his name.

Good luck with your site and keep up the excellent work!

Best regards,
James Nicholson

Thanks, James!

Steve Cribari