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Maigret-of-the-Month lists

( Newest entries first )

Italian Simenon Site Considers Maigret Codes 2/3/12 – Murielle sent a link to an Italian Simenon site, which has an article (in Italian, but try translate.google.com) about our 3-letter Maigret codes (AMI, LET...) Here's the (slightly modified) Google translation: Thursday, January 26, 2012 SIMENON. MAIGRET CATALOG LIKE MOZART? The eclectic Steve Trussel Cataloging is an important tool for all scholars of a certain field. As just one example, we cite the works of Mozart. Yes, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose works were cataloged by the Austrian musicologist Ludwig Ritter von Kochel. Hence, the alpha-numeric digits preceding the name of compsizioni Mozart: Rondo in B flat as the most signed 269 K, where K stands for Kochel and 269 indicate the chronological position. Few know it, but there is also a catalog for the Investigation of the Maigret novels and short stories. This is due to the eclectic and encyclopedic Steve Trussel has devised a system which is based in English but in French securities orginali. The classification in this case does not have any chronological order. From the title is extracted three letters in the title in a row and are considered significant and therefore it is not even acronyms. These symbols are then sorted alphabetically from 1 AMI Mon ami Maigret of '49, up to 103 VOY for Maigret Voyage '57. It should be noted that the letters are capitalized for novels, but they vary and are all lower case to the stories. For example, the symbol of the Stan le tueur is 91 sta, the '37 story, all lowercase. Some other examples. At number 52 we find LOG, Maigret, Lognon et les gangsters,, novel of '51 in 13th place, and ceu which corresponds to the story of '38 Ceux du Grand Café. It's not really what is termed a cataloging interface. It seems rather a key code. The first Maigret (at least conventionally) Pietr-le-Letton published in '31, we find 50 on the LET and as the last Maigret et Monsieur Charles, 1972 is 14 and signed CHA. But as in any discpline, nothing is immovable and immutable. Nothing prevents someone chssà an Italian, draft a new and different (hopefully less cryptic) classification, which could possibly include all the works of Simenon, including novels and popular literature. Who feels it, take a step forward. • For those who want the complete list (highlighted in red with the letters forming the initials) can click here on Cataloguing Trussel. You can see the page here: SIMENON SIMENON ST

Maigret (Bruno Cremer series) DVDs 2/2/12 – MHz Networks, which has broadcast the Bruno Cremer series in the US for many years, will be releasing a DVD set containing six of the episodes on February 21. See their announcement here. Importantly, three of the episodes included (GRA, FLA, COR) are from One Plus One's Coffret #5, which had no subtitles. It appears these episodes will now be available for the first time with English subtitles on Region 1 (US) DVDs. Labeled as "Set 1," there is hope that MHz plans to release more (all?) of the 54 episodes (including the 12 previously not available with subtitles). Joe Covey

Maigret of the Month: Vente à la bougie (Sale by auction) 1/29/12 – As mentioned in the previous Maigret of the month for L'homme dans la rue [The man in the street], the story we are concerned with today was published for the first time in the weekly, Sept Jours, for April 20 and 27, 1941. The first publication in a collection was in the volume, Maigret et les petits cochons sans queue [Maigret and the little pigs without tails], published for the first time in August, 1950. That volume included 9 stories, of which only two were Maigrets. It's a rather disparate collection, since the stories included were published at very different dates. Below is a list of these stories, in the order in which they appear in the volume, along with an indication of their dates and places of writing... Les petits cochons sans queue [The little pigs without tails], Nov. 28, 1946, Bradenton Beach (Florida). We note that Maigret doesn't appear in this story, which gives its name to the title of the volume... the title was probably chosen for marketing purposes, as the book was included in Presses de la Cité's "collection Maigret", and using the Chief Inspector's name no doubt contributed to sales... Sous peine de mort [On pain of death], November 24, 1946, Bradenton Beach. A story without Maigret, not to be confused with Peine de mort [Death Penalty], in which Maigret does appear. Le petit tailleur et le chapelier [The little tailor and the hat maker], April 1, 1947, Bradenton Beach. A story without Maigret (see an interesting note about it here at Repérages). Un certain monsieur Berquin, August 28, 1946, Saint Andrews (Canada), a story without Maigret. L'escale de Buenaventura [The stop at Buenaventura], August 31, 1946, Saint Andrews, a story without Maigret. The next two stories are Maigrets, L'homme dans la rue [The man in the street] and Vente à la bougie [Sale by auction], both written in 1939 at Nieul-sur-Mer (Charente-Maritime). Le deuil de Fonsine [Mourning for Fonsine], January 9, 1945, Les Sables-d'Olonne (Vendée), a story without Maigret. Madame Quatre et ses enfants [Mme Quatre and her children], January 1945, Les Sables-d'Olonne, a story without Maigret. This short story assembles in its few pages, the essential ingredients of a Maigret investigation... distinctive characters, clues unraveled by Maigret, who arrives at the truth "without seeming to", the Chief Inspector's method of questioning, keeping the suspects "out of breath, minute by minute, having them repeat 10 times the same actions, the same words". And if the story, a murder committed by a woman to keep the man she loves and trump her young rival, could have taken place anywhere at all, the author however decided to set it in the marshes of Vendée, whose humid atmosphere of a rainy January emphasizes the sordid side. Maigret, assigned – for some reason – to the flying squad at Nantes, installs himself in an isolated inn at Pont-du-Grau, battered by wind and rain, and with glasses of white wine, beer and calvados, tries to untangle the knot of the plot, where the theft of a well-filled wallet could be attributed to any of the protagonists... all could have had an interest in taking a large sum... But which went all the way? It's probably this theme of a "motive available to all" which allowed the scenarists of the episode adapted for the series with Bruno Crémer, to modify the story and change the guilty party! Otherwise, this episode is one of the best of the series, and I encourage you to see it, to see how a skillful scenarist, knowledgeable of Maigret's world, manages to draw from a few pages, a successful and convincing adaptation... Murielle Wenger original French

Seeking Maigret Tapes 1/12/12 – I enjoy greatly my tapes of Geoffrey Hutchings reading Maigret stories. I have them all except for this one, Madame Maigret's Admirer, which is proving elusive... Any chance I could get these from someone? I could send blank tapes for someone to make a copy or a CD for MP3 files. (Please reply to epigraph55@hotmail.co.uk). Your site continues to be an excellent resourse for us Maigretphiles - many thanks! Keith

re: New in Hungarian 1/2/12 – To supplement David Derrick's remarks on the branding by Chorion, and thanks to the work done with Murielle, we can show where this branding appears... in the following editions (+Hungarian): Latvian Norwegian Portuguese Romanian Spanish Catalan Czech Korean Finnish French Italian Estonian Jérôme

re: New in Hungarian 12/31/11 – Is it just me, or is there something depressing about the "branding" of Maigret books with that dreary pseudo-handwritten Maigret logo? There it is ... even in Hungary. It's typical Chorion (the company that owns the Simenon rights). They've done something similar with Agatha Christie. It's disturbing to see the imaginative world of a writer reduced to, or supposedly summed up with, a piece (by the way, utterly undistinguished) corporate "identity"-making. Publishers have done this kind of thing for a long time, but it bothers me less with them. "Brand owners" are a sad and calculating bunch and I resent being marketed to by them. I have my own, direct relationship with the author. This feel like an attempt to get in the way of it. I'm a reader, not a consumer and these are books, not packets of cereal. David Derrick

Derrick's Simenon Lists 12/30/11 – David Derrick reports that he's created a new site to host his Simenon bibliographic lists, Simenon lists. Some of these were previously found on this site. David says "I'd welcome corrections from any readers. More lists will be added over the next year." ST

New Maigret in Polish 12/28/11 – New in Polish: Maigret i sobotni klient. (Maigret et le client du samedi, Maigret and the Saturday Caller). Published by C&T in my city, Toruń. Happy New Year! Przemek

Maigret of the Month: L'homme dans la rue (The Man in the Street) 12/18/11 – This story, as well as the next (Vente à la bougie ), was written in 1939, while Simenon was living in the Vendée, at Nieul-sur-Mer. Although we can be no more precise with regard to the month of the writing of these two stories, we can assume that they were the last Maigrets before the first novel of the Gallimard period, Les caves du Majestic, written in December of the same year, 1939. L'homme dans la rue appeared first in the weekly Sept Jours of December 15 and 22, 1940, under the title Le prisonnier de la rue, while Vente à la bougie appeared in the same weekly of April 20 and 27, 1941. These two stories were published for the first time in the volume Maigret et les petits cochons sans queue, by Presses de la Cité in 1950. We find again, in this story, the Chief Inspector in a "typical" investigation, where Maigret sticks to a suspect until he reveals the truth, and also some characteristic details of his portrait, like the description at the beginning of the story, "dressed in a heavy overcoat, his jaw heavy, bowler hat on his head, smoking a pipe", all the text is bathed in an atmosphere that I find particularly sad, due perhaps in part to the weather, the icy cold which turns everything as hard as stone. And not just things... this pursuit of the man, told in this story, is pathetic, and presented under a harsh light. We feel Maigret determined to go to the end, but at the same time moved by "contradictory feelings", as the text says, on the one hand motivated by his sense of duty, but also filled with sympathetic pity for this man he is pushing to his limits... At the beginning of the story, Maigret is described in the following words, "grumpy-looking, turning his head like a bear". This isn't the only time that Simenon describes his character using animal metaphors. He frequently compared his hero to an animal, particularly in novels in the first part of corpus, for, after that, at the same time as Maigret lost his "monstrous", "monolithic" aspect, he became more refined, both literally and figuratively, and the animalistic comparisons become rarer. We find one of the first of these references in Le pendu de Saint-Pholien, where Maigret is described as an enormous nightmarish mass, for those who have done something wrong... "And all the mass of the Chief Inspector contributed to giving his forced presence a menacing meaning. He was tall and wide, wide above all, thick, solid... A heavy face, with his eyes capable of maintaining a bovine immobility... Something implacable, inhuman, evoking an elephant heading for a goal from which nothing will avert it." Many times in the corpus, Maigret's hands are described as "big paws", which also evoke the idea of an animal. An animal that we find in Le chien jaune... "he thought he could make out a dark mass, thickset, like an enormous animal lying in wait." From an elephant, we pass to a smaller animal, where the comparison is less physical than psychological, alluding to the Chief Inspector's tenacity... in Au rendez-vous des Terre-neuvas, Maigret comes "to hang out" near the trawler around which the drama centers, "Like dogs come to camp, sullen, obstinate, before a terrier where they scent something." Another comparison, another animal... in L'ombre chinoise, Maigret clears a path in the crowd gathered in front of the hotel where Roger Couchet has just committed suicide, "He charged through like a ram", again an impression of blind force... We find again the elephantine comparison in two novels of the Gallimard series, in Les caves du Majestic, Maigret, prowling behind the scenes in the hotel, is addressed by the director, who attempts in vain to soothe him."In those moments, the Chief Inspector had the inertia of an elephant." And in L'inspecteur cadavre, the comparison is made by Clémentine Bréjon: "'Do you know, Louise, who served as elephant driver for the Chief Inspector?' Was the word 'elephant driver' chosen intentionally to underline the contrast between the thin Louis and the elephantine Maigret?" In two other novels of this period, there is another animal that Maigret is compared to... in Signé Picpus, while the director read to the Chief Inspector the letter written by M. Blaise, Maigret "gave out the menacing sigh of an exasperated bear."; and in Félicie est là, "The patron of the Anneau-d'Or had brought him an old bicycle, on which Maigret looked like a trained bear." The comparison with a bear is fairly often found, if you consider the number of times where the author described his character as "grunting" or "growling"... We find two additional animal comparisons, in the first novel of the Presses de la Cité period, Maigret se fâche, for one, when Ernest Malik brings Maigret to his home, "they gave the impression of one pulling the other on a leash, and that this one, growling and clumsy like a big, long-haired dog, lets himself be dragged", and the other, the description of Maigret in his garden, wearing "blue canvas pants which slid down his hips, looking like the rear end of an elephant". As mentioned above, the animal comparisons in the Presses de la Cité period will become very rare, then non-existent, and we can keep in mind this elephantine description of the Chief Inspector in his garden, evoking less the nightmarish pachyderm than a kind of nice big beast, like his author keeping the memory in later years... Indeed, in his Mémoires intimes, Simenon recalls a dream he'd had... "I had a strange dream... I regarded with curiosity a man I could only see from the back. He was bigger than me, with broader shoulders, heavier. Though seeing only his back, I felt in him a placidity that I envied. He was wearing blue canvas pants, a gardener's apron, and wore a battered straw hat. He was in a garden... It took me a little while, in my semi-sleep, to realize that he wasn't a real person, but a character of my imagination. It was Maigret, in his garden at Meung-sur-Loire... Those images will fade. I have them in my mind, and then that will be, for me, Maigret's retirement." in Un homme comme un autre, 1973. original French Murielle Wenger

re: Rupert Davies BBC Maigret 12/13/11 – I hope I'm not becoming a bore on the subject of a dvd release of the Rupert Davies MAIGRET series, but I thought I'd clear up a couple of recent points that have been made. Firstly, the website that was providing a couple of episodes on dvd was doing so quite illegally - it hadn't cleared the rights to the episodes, let alone paid for any. They were just recordable discs using copies recorded from the more recent repeats. The fact that they are no longer doing so is probably down to a "cease-and-desist" order from the BBC. Secondly, when someone at 2Entertain says that "the rights... have reverted back to the Georges Simenon estate" then it's absolutely no different to the vast majority of other vintage programmes where rights reverted to back to writers, performers, musicians, etc after a certain amount of time. These rights can be renegotiated if there is a will to do so - and they are, which is why there is a wealth of vintage programming available. Unfortunately, despite having first dibs on the material held in the BBC's Film & Television Library, 2Entertain is one of the most conservative companies releasing dvds in the UK. And sub-licensing from 2E is fraught with extra stumbling blocks - the BBC insist that all of it's released programming is subtitled, so that's an extra cost, and if there are no broadcast standard copies available then new transfers from the master copies will need to be made, and that isn't cheap either. In short, 2E have to be convinced that a MAIGRET release will turn a big enough profit for them. And if another company wants to do so, then they have to deal with 2E having a cut from any profits they will make. On a happier note, Happy Christmas to all who are reading! Ian (Beard)

The House of Anxiety 12/12/11 – I have just enjoyed your copy of M. Simenon's book. I cannot thank you enough. Very many years ago I read the Maigret stories when I was in the Peace Corps, in order to improve my French. Just the other day I found a copy of Tournants Dangereux in a sort of grocery store/used book corner. I have been dusting off the French with it and my son found your Maigret Forum on the computer! I don't know what to say, except that I am so delighted. Sincerely, Arlene Blade

Rupert Davies BBC Maigret 11/29/11 – I e-mailed Stuart Snaith at 2entertain Limited and yesterday got the following reply. I am unsure whether this is good or bad news but in case you or any of your followers have contact with the Estate it might be worth a follow up. Dear Mr Keel Having checked the BBC databases which are available to us at 2entertain, I am informed that the rights to this memorable series have, alas, reverted back to the George Simenon’s estate. Kind Regards Ally Regards Douglas Keel

Maigret of the Month: Ceux du Grand-Café (The Group at the Grand-Café) 11/26/11 – Unlike other stories presenting Maigret in retirement, in this one, the ex-Chief Inspector is not happy to be so... While in the other stories Maigret displays a certain degree of displeasure toward those who come seeking his aid, and is reluctant to leave his tomato and lettuce plants, here he feels differently. We see him happily at work in his garden, hoeing and weeding in his clogs and straw hat, or taking memorable naps in his deckchair. Yes, but voilà: after three years of retirement, Maigret seems to be tiring of it (at least according to his author, who has him missing his time at the Quai...), and nothing had pleased him more than his place by the Loire... We must also note that it started in winter, and in winter, clearly, there was no gardening, no question of naps in the sun, and it was much too cold for fishing... So what was left? Out of idleness, he lets his wife convince him to join the card players at the Grand-Café, and he gets caught up in the game, bogged down in habits of which he's not far from being a little ashamed... And along comes a chance to escape from this numbness, to find once more his talents as a policeman... a murder has been committed in this peaceful and provincial village, and this would seem the chance for Maigret to have the perverse pleasure of digging around in the stories of these uneventful-seeming lives... However... astonishingly, Maigret does nothing about it. He refuses, to the great surprise of everyone, to become involved with the story, and makes no attempt to search for the truth. Or rather... we end up understanding, he had discovered the truth immediately, but, in a sense of "moral honesty", had refused to reveal it. And when he'd said to Angèle: "I don't know anything... I don't want to know anything...", in fact, Maigret had known, but couldn't tell what he knew. It wasn't until three years later that he revealed to his wife what had actually happened with the death of the butcher. And if he spoke of it at that time, it wasn't so much to justify his past actions as to show his wife – and himself – that he was still a sleuth, a man of intuition, someone who understood... Well, it's time for his author to take him out of this retirement that weighs so on him, and for him to take up his active life again... In the texts which follow, Maigret will be once more "in service" (except for Maigret se fâche), as if it were above all his author who'd had enough of describing the peaceful and monotonous days of a pensioner fishing on the quiet banks of the Loire. This story is also interesting in that it unfolds over a long period of time. Most of the stories have their action concentrated in a very short time... ten stories take place in one day (bea, fen, pig, err, arr, not, owe, eto, noy, noe), seven in two days (pen, lar, ber, man, amo, pip, obs), four in three days (pei, bay, ven, cho), and only six stories take one week or more (lun, ceu, sta, hom, mal, pau). This shows us the talent of the writer, who knows as well how to handle the short text to construct a condensed time plot as to describe one taking place over an extended period. Note that the length of the text is independent of that of the action... we find short texts in which the action time is short (for example, fen, with 15 pages), short texts where the action time is long (lun, 15 pages), long texts where the action time is short (not, 41 pages) and long texts where the action time is long (pau, 40 pages). original French Murielle Wenger

re: Maigret and Magritte 11/24/11 – Sarah wrote on 07.11: "I know that Magritte admired Simenon, and that his "pipe that is not a pipe" purportedly symbolized Maigret's pipe..." Here's my response... It is improbable that Magritte created the painting to honor Maigret - a simple examination of the dates leads me to that conclusion: Magritte painted his famous painting in 1928-1929, and Simenon published the first adventures of Maigret in 1930... Even admitting that Magritte could have met Simenon in Belgium around that time (this would be theoretically possible based on the dates, but unlikely considering Simenon's biography...), I doubt if the author would have spoken of his character, still "in gestation" in 1928, to the painter. Does Magritte's painting represent Maigret's pipe? That would be a great story... but unfortunately it's probably not true... However, to console Sarah, here's a text (below) that I found in a book by Jacques Baudou, "Les nombreuses vies de Maigret" [The numerous lives of Maigret]. And to illustrate the text, the cover image (above) of the book Baudou talks about... "An amateur actor named Magrite, in a youth theater festival, plays the role of his namesake, the famous Magrite, in an adaptaptation for the theater of the novels of the author, Georges Simon... The similarity with the name Magritte led to the creation of the bookcover..." Best regards, Murielle

re: Following Maigret in Paris 11/22/11 – Voici une réponse à propos des itinéraires parisiens de Maigret: C'est une question difficile de choisir un seul roman à recommander pour une visite à Paris! Presque chaque roman est l'occasion de découvrir un "autre coin", de voir la ville sous un autre angle. Alors, les possibilités sont très nombreuses... Mais puisqu'il faut faire un choix, je vous propose les options suivantes: pour découvrir le "cœur historique" de Paris, et en particulier la place des Vosges: L'ombre chinoise ou L'amie de Madame Maigret (ce second roman offre aussi une incursion à Montmartre) pour découvrir Montmartre et Pigalle: Maigret et le fantôme ou Maigret et la jeune morte ou alors Maigret et le corps sans tête, qui tourne autour de l'écluse Saint-Martin, un endroit encore assez bien conservé du "vieux-Paris", si on cherche la couleur locale ou pour une balade plus étendue, permettant de découvrir plusieurs quartiers de Paris: Maigret et son mort Comme vous le voyez, le choix est grand, et encore, je me suis limitée à quelques exemples possibles, tout en sachant qu'il y en a d'autres... Mais, quel que soit le roman choisi, il faut se rendre compte que, depuis l'époque où il a été écrit, la ville a beaucoup changé, et il faut s'attendre à ne pas retrouver forcément l'ambiance des romans. Mais le plaisir est sans doute dans la recherche des lieux elle-même, et, une fois qu'on a retrouvé la rue décrite dans le roman, de la voir avec "les yeux de l'esprit", et de l'imaginer telle que la voyait Simenon – et Maigret... Une dernière chose: pour partir vraiment sur les traces de Maigret à Paris, je pense qu'un endroit en tout cas est incontournable: le Quai des Orfèvres; la façade du vieux bâtiment est, heureusement, à peu de choses près, telle que Maigret pouvait la découvrir chaque matin en débouchant du métro de la place Saint-Michel... Meilleures salutations Murielle Here's a response to the quesion of following Maigret around Paris: It's difficult to choose a single novel to recommend for a visit to Paris! Almost every novel is a chance to discover "another corner", to see the city from a different angle. So, the possibilities are very numerous... But since a choice must be made, I propose the following options: to discover the "historic heart" of Paris, especially the Place des Vosges: L'ombre chinoise or L'amie de Madame Maigret (this second one also offers an incursion into Montmartre) to discover Montmartre and Pigalle: Maigret et le fantôme or Maigret et la jeune morte or perhaps Maigret et le corps sans tête, which revolves around the Saint-Martin Canal, an area fairly well conserving the "old Paris", if you're looking for local color or for a more extended stroll, allowing discovery of various quarters of Paris, Maigret et son mort As you see, the choice is large, and even so, I've limited myself to a few possible examples, knowing full well that there are others... However, whichever novel you choose, you have to realize that, since the period in which they were written, the city has greatly changed, so you shouldn't expect to truly recover the ambiance of the novels. But the pleasure is no doubt in the search itself, and, once you find the street in the book, to see it with "the eyes of the mind", and to imagine what Simenon saw – and Maigret... One last thing: to truly follow Maigret's footsteps in Paris, I think there's one essential place... the Quai des Orfèvres. The facade of the old building is, happily, hardly different from that Maigret could have found each morning in getting out of the métro of the Place Saint-Michel... Best regards, Murielle

Following Maigret in Paris click for info 11/21/11 – Dear readers of this forum, can I bother you with the following question: Each year, my wife and I celebrate our wedding anniversary by making a trip of a few days to a city. A few years ago we were in Antwerp, where one day we followed the footsteps of the main character of Flemish writer Hubert Lampo’s novel ‘De komst van Joachim Stiller’(The coming of Joachim Stiller). This has whetted our appetite for such a ‘literary search’, preferably by bike. This time, we intend to go to Paris. Can anyone of you recommend a ‘Maigret’-tale that takes place in Paris, and has a lot of ‘couleur locale’ on its pages? We will read this novel in advance of our little holiday, and then search Paris to find the different spots, mentioned in the book. Thanks a lot in advance! Peter Stöve and Marjan Stalknecht, Amstelveen, Netherlands.

re: Crémer TV series location? 11/17/11 – Here's an answer to the question of the filming locations for the Crémer Maigret series: The scenes which are supposed to take place in the streets of Paris were filmed in Prague. Because of budget issues, but also because Paris has changed so much since the 1950s, in which most of the action of the series is set, they preferred the Czech capital, where certain streets more or less resemble Paris. For the scenes set outside of Paris, they were mostly filmed in the Czech Republic. Some episodes were filmed elsewhere: Finland for Maigret et le fantôme, Maigret en Finlande. Belgium for Maigret chez les Flamands, Les vacances de Maigret, Maigret et l'inspecteur cadavre, Les scrupules de Maigret, Maigret et la croqueuse de diamants. France for La maison du juge, Maigret a peur, Maigret et le fou de Ste-Clothilde, Maigret et l'affaire Saint-Fiacre. Luxembourg for La nuit du carrefour, Maigret et le fou de Ste-Clothilde. Switzerland for the luxury hotels in Les caves du Majestic. Ireland for Le port des brumes. South Africa for Maigret et le Liberty Bar. Portugal for Maigret et l'improbable M. Owen, Mon ami Maigret. Cuba for Maigret et les petits cochons sans queue. Regards, Murielle

Crémer TV series location? 11/16/11 – I have hunted high and low to discover where the bulk of the French TV series starring Bruno Cremer were shot. It is obviously not Paris. And very often not even France. Can you please help? Thank you. Barry Fantoni Calais, France

le nom "Maigret" 11/13/11 – The following citation doesn't provide a definitive answer to Sarah Fallaw's recent query, but at least it gives one respected Simenon scholar's view. The entire article is of exceptional interest. SIMENON, LE PASSAGER DU SIÈCLE: SÉANCE PUBLIQUE DU 23.XI.2002. Quelques considérations onomastiques, par MICHEL LEMOINE Ceci n’exclut pourtant pas le clin d’oeil d’ordre humoristique : faire de Baboeuf un boucher, de Bureau un employé, de Beauchef un comptable, de Brosse le directeur d’une entreprise de peinture, nommer un médecin légiste Lazarre, un rentier Doré, un détective Leborgne est assez amusant. Dans le même ordre d’idées, on relève un marchand d’oiseaux nommé Caille, une maison de tissus d’ameublement Dumas et fils, un commissaire Merlin, un commerçant en cuirs et peaux appelé Mautoison, un entrepreneur de pompes funèbres nommé Caroon, un juge Calas ou un avocat Abeille, ce qui n’est drôle que lorsqu’on apprend qu’un autre se nomme Bourdon… On peut aussi ranger dans cette catégorie le nom de Maigret, ironique puisqu’il désigne un colosse. [We can also include in this category the name Maigret, ironic because it designates a giant. (maigre = 'thin')] John H. Dirckx

Rupert Davies Maigret on DVD 11/9/11 – I had an interesting reply from radiotymes.co.uk when enquiring about the link. They have sold out and "due to new copyright restrictions" are not re-stocking. Maybe this was the BBC testing the water or the BBC making sure we can't get anymore! Although the quality left something to be desired it was a great deal better than no dvd. I would liken it to the wonderful King Oliver 1923 stuff with Dodds and Armstrong before the "cleaned up" versions took all the warmth out! Jane

Maigret and Magritte René Magritte (oil on canvas, 1928–29) 11/07/11 – I know that Magritte admired Simenon, and that his "pipe that is not a pipe" purportedly symbolized Maigret's pipe. Have you ever heard that this admiration was reciprocated, and that the name "Maigret" was derived from "Magritte"? Although I've been unable to find anything to substantiate this on the internet, I could swear I read it many years ago when I was reading a great deal about Magritte. It is not mentioned in the only book I own about Magritte, although the pipe connection definitely is – the "rain" of pipes in at least one painting supposedly represents the same connection. Thank you for considering this. Sarah Fallaw Darlington, SC

Simenon exhibition catalogue 11/03/11 – Linked to the Simenon exhibition at L'historial de la Vendée that was announced earlier, it is possible to buy the catalogue from the museum shop. dossier de presse Jérôme

Rupert Davies Maigret on DVD 10/30/11 – The Rupert Davies dvd from www.radiotymes.co.uk is a joy to behold! It occurs to me that, as these episodes were shown relatively recently, many people will already have them on video and that probably applies to "Maigret's Little Joke" as well which I have. (post 9.6.11 Lee Johnson). Let's hope the rest will be issued. Jane Is it still available? I just tried the link where I bought mine and it was gone... ST

Maigret of the Month: L'improbable Monsieur Owen (The Unlikely M. Owen) 10/29/11 – This story, like all those examined so far, appeared first in the weekly, Police-Film, in 1938. This series of stories, and those written in 1936 for another journal, Paris-Soir-Dimanche, were collected into the anthology, Les Nouvelles Enquêtes de Maigret, published in 1944 by Gallimard. But why was Monsieur Owen, along with Ceux du Grand-Café, excluded from the published anthology? (The public had to wait until 1967 for their appearance in a volume published by Rencontre.) I have no answer to this question, for nothing in the story, it seems to me, justifies its exclusion. On the contrary, it's a very good story, where we discover, once more, Maigret in a new light, and an unexpected one... He's retired, and happily so, basking in the Mediterranean sun (though he hadn't cared much for this hot, lazy idleness when he was on active duty (see Mon ami Maigret, for example)!). A Maigret who spends his time sunbathing, with good food and drink, showing off fashionably by wearing outfits unexpected of this retired Chief Inspector... white flannel trousers, red and white shoes... and even six different ties! And for lounging on the beach, a bathing suit and a red bathrobe! But his true nature will soon reappear, and when the mystery of the affair that Louis keeps pestering him about becomes enticing enough, we see him quickly dropping his "bored listener" role, and taking up once more the habits of "when he was at the Quai". And while sipping a beer in a little bar near the port, the ex-Chief Inspector's "gaze became at the same time heavy and acute, as renowned at the P.J., and he took on that strange placidity which seized him precisely when his spirit was working most actively. " (Ch. 2 of the story). We also learn, in this story, some small details which add a touch to the Chief Inspector's portrait. For example, that Mme Maigret had eleven aunts (The Alsatian dynasty of Kurt and the Léonards was rather prolific...). In examining the corpus, we find the names of three of these aunts: Emilie (the one concerned with in this story) who lives in Quimper; Géraldine, married to Anselme Léonard, at whose house the young Jules Maigret had made the acquaintance of a certain Louise (see Les mémoires de Maigret)...; and Cécile, who passed her time regarding herself in the mirror (see Maigret et la jeune morte). And further, we'll learn that the young Maigret at school was not talented at languages (that, we already knew... see for example, Le revolver de Maigret or Maigret, Lognon et les gangsters), and that his three prize subjects were French composition, oratory (and so perhaps we better understand the Chief Inspector's gift for handling the language when he interrogates suspects...), and, more surprisingly, gymnastics... However, in the end, it's not so surprising as all that... If the Chief Inspector is recognized for his heaviness, we also know that he can provide proof, when he wants to, and when necessary, of a certain agility. Consider his "acrobatic prowess" in his pursuit of Pietr on the beach at Fécamp (Pietr le Letton), or in certain turbulent arrests (for example, Bronsky in Maigret et son mort). Finally, we note the very special atmosphere of this story, where Maigret solves a case by a rather original method (pretending to be a blackmailer), extracting from the clues that which could be useful in discovering the truth, all in a luminous setting bathed in the glitter of the sea, the luxurious background of the Côte d'Azur, barely out of reach of the echoes of the popular Front... To conclude, I can only encourage you to see the adaptation (free enough...) made of this story for an episode in the series with Bruno Crémer. In spite of all the deviations from the text, it remains a very good episode, scattered with touches of humor, as is this story... Murielle Wenger original French New Maigret in Hungarian 10/08/11 – There is a new Maigret in Hungarian : Maigret és a halott gyémántkereskedő This is "La nuit du carrefour" which was never published in Hungarian before. You can read the first 10 pages here. Jérôme Simenon in The Museum of Letters and Manuscripts of Brussels 10/05/11 – "The Museum of Letters and Manuscripts of Brussels will open its doors on September 23th, 2011. In addition to the hundreds of manuscripts by important historical figures which make up our permanent collections, we also offer a rotating programme of temporary exhibitions. The inaugural exhibition is dedicated to one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, whose turnover is estimated to amount to 550 million copies. In 1989, the man was ranked the 18th most translated author worldwide by the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 4th among French-language authors and first among Belgian authors. We are, of course, talking about Georges Simenon. Between his birth in Liège on February 12th, 1903 and his decease in Lausanne on September 4th, 1989, Simenon authored - using 25 different pen names - 176 ‘popular’ novels. Under his own name, he produced over 200 novels, 155 novellas and 25 autobiographical texts. He owes his fame among the general public to his detective stories, and particularly to the series starring Commissaire Maigret who, from 1931 to 1972, applies his nonchalant but relentless intelligence in 75 novels and 28 novellas, virtually obliterating the rest of Simenon’s equally original works..." (from the MLM website > temporary exhibition > current exhibitions) Thanks to Joe Richards (A Walking Tour of Simenon's Liège, Maigret in Defzijl, In Maigret's Footsteps in Montmartre, Maigret's Bus...), and Claude Boehringer, for sending in notices of this new museum and the opening Simenon exhibit. "In 1989, [Simenon] was ranked the 18th most translated author worldwide by the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 4th among French-language authors and first among Belgian authors." Maigret in the titles 10/4/11 – Following Murielle's interesting post, I am wondering why some titles start with "Maigret" and some not? Did this happen by chance, or had Simenon a reason why the book is not called "Maigret and Lawyer's Three Daughters"? Vladimir Maigret of the Month: Le notaire de Châteauneuf (The Three Daughters of the Lawyer) 9/23/11 – A lovely story, this one, rather unusual, since Maigret doesn't investigate a murder, but is occupied with a "simple" theft. But it's also an interesting story, because it is strewn with reminiscences, allusions to other Maigret cases. In this story we find our Chief Inspector in retirement, a retirement which will be interrupted, once again, by a visitor who has come to solicit Maigret's help. And I have the impression that it's not only because of his reputation as an investigator that he is so often disturbed, but that it's also his author who cannot resist plunging his character "into the bath"... the bath where Maigret feels most comfortable, where he can sniff around and pry into in the nooks and crannies of everyday lives, apparently so peaceful... Indeed, we can note this sort of "fatality", like history repeating itself, which drives Simenon, each time he tries to distance himself from his character – describing the last days of the Chief Inspector at the PJ, then his retirement – to bring him back, little by little, into service. So we find in the last two novels of the Fayard cycle, in L'écluse no 1 [ECL], Maigret is a week away from retirement, and in the following novel, entitled "symbolically", as if written, Maigret [MAI], the Chief Inspector is already retired. Simenon, petitioned by readers upset by Maigret's "disappearance", brings him back once more in a daily serial, but swears then that "this will be the last time" (see this text) that he will report one of the Chief Inspector's cases. However... However, some two years later, appealed to once more by a newspaper publisher, Simenon, perhaps sad – who knows? – to have abandoned his character, agrees to bring to life some new adventures... and thus was born the series of stories which appeared in 1936-37 in Paris-Soir-Dimanche. In these stories, the Chief Inspector is once again active at the PJ. A year passes, Simenon devotes himself to writing other novels, and then, in 1938, he is once more taken by Maigret, for another series of stories. And what's interesting to note is that this time the novelist follows exactly the opposite path of that of the Fayard series... he first writes five stories (ber, man, not, owe, ceu) where Maigret is retired but carries out his investigations nonetheless. This seems logical... it's hard to imagine Simenon telling us about the daily life, peaceful and without drama, of a retiree who fishes with a rod and reel in the Loire. Something must happen for the author to tell us again about his character. In a "non-Maigret", Simenon would describe an event which would upset the life of the quiet retiree, and in a story with Maigret, it's someone who comes to bring the ex-Chief Inspector some puzzling little thing... Then, after these five stories "in retirement", the next one, (eto), shows us the Chief Inspector two days from retirement, and this will be, for this series, the last before Maigret returns to service. The four remaining stories (noy, sta, bay, amo) show us the Chief Inspector active at the PJ. But the tale doesn't end there... In 1939, Simenon writes two more stories (hom and ven) where the Chief Inspector is in active service, and then, during the war, another six novels for the Gallimard series, plus the story Menaces de mort [men]. In 1945, it's another long story, La pipe de Maigret [pip], followed by a short novel, Maigret se fâche [FAC], in which the Chief Inspector is once more put into retirement by his author, who is probably thinking of getting rid of his character, at the same time as he leaves "old Europe" to discover the New World. A new life, renewed writing, and the abandonment of a character who has taken perhaps a little too much space... But that's without considering that his new publisher, Sven Nielsen, who is also on the side of publishing "non-Maigrets", might benefit from the large printings associated with the adventures of the Chief Inspector. And it's also without considering the power of a character who haunts his author, like it or not... And thus, established in Canada in 1946, Simenon writes a new Maigret novel, in which the Chief Inspector is again in retirement, Maigret à New York [NEW]. But this will be the last time... not the last time the author returns to his character, but the last time he'll show him in retirement. Henceforth, and through the last novel of the cycle, Maigret will be, forever, "the man of the Quai", trailing curls of pipe smoke from his office to the Brasserie Dauphine, from the Canal Saint-Martin to the streets of Pigalle, from his apartment on the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir to the little district bistros, with their odors of choucroute and fricandeau à l'oseille... Murielle Wenger original French Simenon in Plume, the magazine of patrimony 9/22/11 – The new issue of Plume has 14 pages on Simenon, including an interview with his son John... Jérôme Paris Metro Tales 9/22/11 – Interesting new arrival. Le petit restaurant des Ternes isn't a Maigret story, but features one of his collaborators, Lognon, and is one of the trio of Christmas stories which were published together as Un Noël de Maigret. It was the only one which had never had a translation ... until now. It's in an anthology published this year called Paris Metro Tales. A good Christmas stocking item. David Derrick Greetings from Denmark: Maigret in new edition 9/7/11 – I'm just another great fan of le commisaire Maigret. My late grandmother Karen Nyrop Christensen (1895-1991) was a translator and responsible for many of Simenon's titles in Danish. This spring, a Danish publisher started the great project of publishing all of his novels in a new edition, with two books in each tome. Since I found your excellent online resources some time ago, I have been dreaming of a Simenon/Maigret book blog for readers here in Denmark. I hope to be able to contribute with my thoughts as a reader, spiced with some more factual knowledge using your work as a primary source; hopefully also I can initiate some sort of book reader club online. I'll let you know as soon as there is something up online for the record Susanne Nyrop Rupert Davies/Maigret on YouTube 9/6/11 – Every once in a while I check out your website and enjoy it very much. I'm writing because I notice several posts regarding whether the BBC will issue a dvd(s) of the Maigret series featuring Rupert Davies. Someone may have already posted or advised you of this, but one episode, Maigret's Little Joke, split into parts, is available on YouTube. Here are the links: Part 1     Part 2 Keep up the good work, Lee Johnson Listmania - Simenon - The 13 American novels 9/5/11 – (French publication dates, UK titles first) 1. Three Rooms in Manhattan, aka Three Bedrooms in Manhattan 1946 2. Maigret in New York, aka Maigret in New York’s Underworld 1947 3. La jument perdue (untranslated) 1948 4. The Bottom of the Bottle 1949 5. Maigret and the Coroner, aka Maigret at the Coroner’s 1949 6. Un nouveau dans la ville (untranslated) 1950 7. Belle 1952 8. The Brothers Rico 1952 9. Red Lights, aka The Hitchhiker 1953 10. The Fugitive, aka Account Unsettled 1954 11. The Watchmaker of Everton aka The Watchmaker aka The Clockmaker 1954 12. The Rules of the Game 1955 13. The Man on the Bench in the Barn 1968 David Derrick Maigret on DVD 9/4/11 – Just want to thank Steve Beamon (my friend for life!) for tracking the Rupert Davies dvds. On the assumption that if his arrived so will the one I've just ordered, I am well chuffed! And many thanks to the boss for this site from which I've learnt so much. Jane Gwinn Fifteen interesting years 9/3/11 – Let me join Jerome, Murielle and all others with my appreciation of this Maigret site, and thank Steve for his dedicated effort all these years. Vladimir, Canada Rupert Davies Maigret on DVD 9/2/11 – Congratulations on the 15 year anniversary, long may the site continue. I recently found a web site, www.radiotymes.co.uk from where I purchased a DVD of The Fontenay Murders and Seven Little Crosses [Rupert Davies as Maigret] at a cost of £4.99 plus postage – reasonable quality as well. Rest assured that I have no interest in the radiotymes website. Best wishes Steve Beamon Maigret Forum - 15 years! 9/1/11 – Fifteen years! I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the wonderful web site you created and maintain. I still remember the day I discovered it. It was the start of September 1997 and I was going on vacation the following day. I spent 2 weeks, waiting eagerly to come back to enjoy it and read through it. I waited one year before sending my first contribution to the forum in December 1998. I felt new to the subject, even though I started reading my first Maigret in August 1990, (I was in Basel, and the only books there in French were Maigret books..... that's how it started for me). I really enjoy all the contributions and questions by the regular (thank you Murielle) and occasional visitor to the site. I feel lucky that I live in Paris where most of the books take place. That allow me to easily visit the locations. I try to share this with everyone through my pictures. I hope that the reading of Maigret will bring us many more hours of pleasure and your site continue to escort us on this journey through Maigret books. Best Regards Jérôme TOP Maigret of the Month - 2011 month title January Une erreur de Maigret - Maigret's Mistake (1936) February L'Amoureux de Madame Maigret - Madame Maigret's Admirer (1939) March La vieille dame de Bayeux - The Old Lady of Bayeux (1939) April L'Auberge aux noyés - The Drowned Men's Inn (1938) May Stan le tueus - Stan the Killer (1938) June L'Étoile du Nord - At the Étoile du Nord. (1938) July Tempête sur la Manche - Storm in the Channel (1938) August Mademoiselle Berthe et son amant - Mademoiselle Berthe and her Lover (1938) September Le Notaire du Châteauneuf - The Three Daughters of the Lawyer (1938) October L'improbable Monsieur Owen - The Unlikely M. Owen (1938) November Ceux du Grand Café - The Group at the Grand Café. (1938) December L'Homme dans la rue - The Man in the Street (1939) January 2012 Vente à la bougie - Sale by Auction (1939) TOP Maigret of the Month - 2010 month title January La Folle de Maigret - Maigret and the Madwoman (1970) February Maigret et l'homme tout seul - Maigret and the Loner (1971) March Maigret et l'indicateur - Maigret and the Informer (1971) April Maigret et Monsieur Charles - Maigret and Monsieur Charles (1972) May La Péniche aux deux pendus - Two Bodies on a Barge (1944) June L'Affaire du Boulevard Beaumarchais - The Mysterious Affair in the Boulevard Beaumarchais (1944) July La Fenêtre ouverte - The Open Window (1944) August Monsieur Lundi - Mr. Monday (1944) September Jeumont, 51 minutes d'arrêt - Jeumont, 51 Minutes' Stop! (1944) October Peine de mort - Death Penalty (1944) November Les Larmes de bougie - Death of a Woodlande (1944) December Rue Pigalle - In the Rue Pigalle (1944) TOP Maigret of the Month - 2009 month title January Maigret et le clochard - Maigret and the Bum (1963) February La Colère de Maigret - Maigret Loses His Temper (1963) March Maigret et le fantôme - Maigret and the Ghost (1963) April Maigret se défend - Maigret on the Defensive (1964) May La Patience de Maigret - Maigret Bides His Time (1965) June Maigret et l'affaire Nahour - Maigret and the Nahour Case (1966) July Le Voleur de Maigret - Maigret's Pickpocket (1967) August Maigret à Vichy - Maigret in Vichy (1968) September Maigret hésite - Maigret Hesitates (1968) October L'Ami d'enfance de Maigret - Maigret's Boyhood Friend (1968) November Maigret et le tueur - Maigret and the Killer (1969) December Maigret et le marchand de vin - Maigret and the Wine Merchant (1970) Maigret of the Month - 2008 month title January Maigret tend un piège - Maigret sets a trap (1955) February Un échec de Maigret - Maigret's Failure (1956) March Maigret s'amuse - Maigret's Little Joke (1957) April Maigret voyage - Maigret and the Millionaires (1958) May Les Scrupules de Maigret - Maigret Has Scruples (1958) June Maigret et les témoins récalcitrants - Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses (1959) July Une confidence de Maigret - Maigret Has Doubts (1959) August Maigret aux assises - Maigret in Court (1960) September Maigret et les vieillards - Maigret in Society (1960) October Maigret et le voleur paresseux - Maigret and the Lazy Burglar (1961) November Maigret et les braves gens - Maigret and the Black Sheep (1962) December Maigret et le client du samedi - Maigret and the Saturday Caller (1962) Maigret of the Month - 2007 month title January Maigret au "Picratt's" - Maigret in Montmartre (1951) February Maigret en meublé - Maigret Takes a Room (1951) March Maigret et la grande perche - Maigret and the Burglar's Wife (1951) April Maigret, Lognon et les gangsters - Maigret and the Gangsters (1952) May Le Revolver de Maigret - Maigret's Revolver (1952) June Maigret et l'homme du banc - The Man on the Boulevard (1953) July Maigret a peur - Maigret Afraid (1953) August Maigret se trompe - Maigret's Mistake (1953) September Maigret à l'école - Maigret Goes to School (1954) October Maigret et la jeune morte - Maigret and the Young Girl (1954) November Maigret chez le ministre - Maigret and the Calame Report (1954) December Maigret et le corps sans tête - Maigret and the Headless Corpse (1955) Maigret of the Month - 2006 month title January L'Inspecteur Cadavre - Maigret's Rival (1944) February Maigret se fâche - Maigret in Retirement (1947) March Maigret à New York - Maigret in New York (1947) April Les Vacances de Maigret - No Vacation for Maigret (1948) May Maigret et son mort - Maigret's Special Murder (1948) June La première enquête de Maigret, 1913 - Maigret's First Case (1949) July Mon ami Maigret - My Friend Maigret (1949) August Maigret chez le coroner - Maigret at the Coroner's (1949) September Maigret et la vieille dame - Maigret and the Old Lady (1950) October L'Amie de Mme Maigret - Madame Maigret's Own Case (1950) November Les Mémoires de Maigret - Maigret's Memoirs (1951) December Un Noël de Maigret - Maigret's Christmas (1951) Maigret of the Month - 2005 month title January L'affaire Saint-Fiacre - Maigret Goes Home (1932) February Chez les Flamands - The Flemish Shop (1932) March Le port des brumes - Death of a Harbormaster (1932) April Le fou de Bergerac - The Madman of Bergerac (1932) May Liberty Bar - Liberty Bar, Maigret on the Riviera (1932) June L'écluse n° 1 - The Lock at Charenton (1933) July Maigret - Maigret Returns (1934) August Les Caves du Majestic - Maigret and the Hotel Majestic (1942) September La Maison du juge - Maigret in Exile (1942) October Cécile est morte - Maigret and the Spinster (1942) November Signé Picpus - Maigret and the Fortuneteller (1944) December Félicie est là - Maigret and the Toy Village (1944) Maigret of the Month - 2004 month title January Le chien jaune - The Yellow Dog February M. Gallet décédé - Maigret Stonewalled March La nuit du carrefour - Maigret at the Crossroads April Le charretier de la Providence - Maigret Meets a Milord May La tête d'un homme - A Battle of Nerves June Un crime en Hollande - Maigret in Holland July Pietr-le-Letton - Maigret and the Enigmatic Lett August Le pendu de Saint-Pholien - Maigret and the Hundred Gibbets September Au rendez-vous des Terre-Neuvas - The Sailor's Rendezvous October La danseuse du Gai-Moulin - Maigret at the Gai-Moulin November La guinguette à deux sous - Maigret and the Tavern by the Seine December L'ombre chinoise - Maigret Mystified   TOP Forum Archives:   1997-98   1999   2000   2001   2002   2003   2004   2005   2006   2007   2008   2009   2010   2011   film and tv '97-'01   title index '97-'04   Add to the Maigret Forum by e-mail