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Maigret and the 75 Crime Novels

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I first read Georges Simenon’s Maigret novels some 45 years ago, and have dabbled in and out of them ever since. Now, inspired by admirers on here, I’ve decided to try to read all 75 of them. Around 10 years ago Penguin Books commissioned new translations of most of the 75, making all the novels widely available for the first time in the UK. On the whole the translations seem pretty good from those I’ve read so far, although there is a regrettable tendency to update language into 21st century idiom, which can sometimes feel clunky, and jars with the ambience of 1930s Paris that you are trying to lose yourself in.

For those unfamiliar with Simenon’s writing style, it is distinctly spare to say the least. Sentences are rarely troubled with similes or metaphors, and a rumour long persisted (not true) that all Simenon’s writing was created from a vocabulary of just 2000 words. He was reputed to check his work after completion to ensure that it was as unliterary as possible. The plots of the novels, such as they are, are more impressionistic than intricately woven. There is a big emphasis on dialogue, to the extent that you frequently lose track of who is speaking and have to retrace your steps. You also get the sense that Simenon was making it all up as he went along. The narrative often veers off into unexpected tangents, and characters appear as if from nowhere. And yet, the Maigret novels are compulsively readable. All are short – rarely over 160 pages – and can be read in one sitting. Despite the similarity of the titles all are different, even if they are all held together with the same framework of Maigret and his team of investigators at the Quai des Orfevres. Despite being written at a time when the conventional whodunit was in its heyday, the identity of the perpetrator is often incidental to a Maigret novel. The backstory that emerges around the victim and the psychology of the crime and its investigation are more important. I guess this approach pitches Simenon’s work ahead of its time and explains why it has lasted. Penguin’s commitment to publishing the whole series alongside many of Simenon’s ‘romans durs’ (or serious novels) is to be applauded. I’d heartily recommend all of them. As for where to start, there’s no better place than at the beginning with Pietr the Latvian, the first novel in the series that was published in 1930.

Simenon had written over 200 pieces of pulp fiction before he embarked on the Maigret novels, which continued with only a short break during the Second World War, until 1972 when the muse finally left him. He has around 400 novels to his credit in total. I love the story of him being phoned by Alfred Hitchcock. Simenon could not be disturbed, Hitchcock was told, because he had just started work on a new novel. “That’s alright”, Hitchcock said, “I’ll wait”.

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Comments

  1. And we’re back. I read a Maigret a month chosen at random. I’m onto my thirty eighth this month. Still a fair number to go. I usually read one in a single sitting or two, they are undemanding, an amuse bouche. This month it’s Maigret in Vichy. I’m not expecting anything radically different regarding plot to occur which is just fine by me. Maigret will smoke his pipe, drink copious amounts of booze, shamble around in his gruff world weary way, occasionally spend some time with Madame Maigret and by the end of a hundred or so pages justice will have been served.

  2. If even a fraction of what of what has been written about Simenon’s sexual appetite is true it’s amazing he managed to get so much written.

  3. I fondly recall that my mum was a huge fan of the Rupert Davies incarnation of the pipe-smoking sleuth. I can remember many occasions when I watched them from the sofa as a lad, hoping that my parents’ close attention to the idiot box would prevent them from realising that my bed-time had long since passed.

    I know that there have been other iterations of his appearance on the screen, but know nothing of their quality – Depardieu did one, and Mr. Bean was, I think, the most recent. As Maigret aficionados, do you know how well, or otherwise, these interpretations were received?

    I’d consider acquiring the Rupert Davies series – 5 or 6 or them I think, which miraculously were not recorded over – but its a shame that the set of DVDs is heinously expensive to buy.

    • I watched all of the Michael Gambon episodes that ITV did in the 90s. They were quite good even though there was little attempt at French accents from anyone involved, and some of the acting was a bit wooden in a 90s telly kind of way. I like the Rupert Davies version, but the DVDs are, as you say, prohibitively expensive. Not so keen on Mr Bean, but there is also a French telly version starring Bruno Cremer from the 90s and early 00s, which covers a large proportion of the stories. It’s also pricey, and not sure if it is subtitled.

  4. I’ve not watched Depardieu in the role but I saw Mr. Bean’s effort and despite his lack of the physical attributes associated with the character as written by Simenon he acquitted himself well I thought. The Rupert Davies version could be viewed on Talking Pictures TV I seem to remember. I don’t know if it’s still available though. Try You Tube. I know some if not all of them are on that platform.

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