Maigret's Memoirs

Last updated
Maigret's Memoirs
Maigret's Memoirs book cover.jpg
Author Georges Simenon
Original titleLes Mémoires de Maigret
TranslatorJean Stewart
LanguageFrench
Series Inspector Jules Maigret
Published1951 (France)
1963 (GB)
Media typePrint

Maigret's Memoirs is a novel by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon. Unlike other Maigret novels, there is no plot; Jules Maigret himself writes about his life and work, and about his relation with the novelist Georges Simenon.

It was written from 19 to 26 September 1950 in Lakeville, Connecticut USA. Simenon had recently remarried and had invited his new mother-in-law to stay for a while. In his autobiography Intimate Memoirs (published in the UK and USA in 1984) he wrote that in the circumstances he could not write a demanding novel: "I was looking for an easy subject... and that was when I got the idea of writing Maigret’s Memoirs. To me, it was something like writing a letter to a friend, and therefore entertaining". [1]

The original French version, Les Mémoires de Maigret, appeared in 1951, and it was first published in Great Britain in 1963. [2] It was included, with Maigret and the Headless Corpse and Maigret and the Saturday Caller , in Maigret Victorious (1975).

It has been described as "a book about writing, about distinctions between art and reality: a fictional character talks about himself as though he were real, and the real author is introduced as a character in this fiction". [2]

Summary

The work is written in the first person by Maigret, who has retired; he writes it in order to present the reality of police work, and of his life, which he thinks may differ from the impressions given by Georges Simenon in his Maigret novels. He writes that he is trying "to size up one image against another image, one character against its double...." [3]

He describes his meeting with Simenon, introduced to him, originally as Georges Sim, by his boss Guichard; he was a self-assured young novelist, and had already read Hans Gross's books and other books about criminology. He wanted to know how Police Headquarters worked and what its atmosphere was like.

Sim then published a popular novel in which Maigret is a character, but, wanting to go further and produce novels in which the police are shown in their true light, he asked to follow Maigret in his work. The first results were The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien and The Late Monsieur Gallet. Simenon (as he called himself by then), expecting criticism after Maigret had read them, said: "Truth never seems true.... If you don't dress it up, it'll seem incredible, artificial. Dress it up, and it'll seem more real than life." [4]

Maigret and Simenon have become good friends, and Maigret has visited him several times in the various places where the novelist has lived.

Maigret describes his early life in central France where his father was an estate manager. He studied medicine but gave it up and moved to Paris. Meeting at his hotel a man who worked for the police, he chose to become a policeman. He describes how he met his wife Louise, and his life on the beat dealing with pickpockets, prostitutes, patrolling big stores and the Gare du Nord; and his later promotion to the Special Squad. He writes about his understanding of criminals; "You have to know the milieu in which a crime has been committed...." [5] He mentions the sort of crime about which Simenon has written most, committed suddenly in an unlikely setting, a result of something secretly building up for a long time.

He corrects some inaccuracies in the books, which his wife has reminded him about: details about Maigret's colleagues Torrence and Janvier; and the sloe gin, which Simenon mentions that he drinks at home, is actually raspberry brandy.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jules Maigret</span> Fictional French police detective

Jules Maigret, or simply Maigret, is a fictional French police detective, a commissaire ("commissioner") of the Paris Brigade Criminelle, created by writer Georges Simenon. The character's full name is Jules Amédée François Maigret.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georges Simenon</span> Belgian writer (1903–1989)

Georges Joseph Christian Simenon was a Belgian writer, most famous for his fictional detective Jules Maigret. One of the most popular authors of the 20th century, he published around 400 novels, 21 volumes of memoirs and many short stories, selling over 500 million copies.

The police procedural, police show, or police crime drama is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasises the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agencies as the protagonists, as contrasted with other genres that focus on non-police investigators such as private investigators.

<i>The Strange Case of Peter the Lett</i> 1931 novel by Georges Simenon

The Strange Case of Peter the Lett is a 1931 detective novel by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon. It is the first novel to feature Inspector Jules Maigret who would later appear in more than a hundred stories by Simenon and who has become a legendary figure in the annals of detective fiction.

<i>Maigret</i> (1960 TV series) British TV drama series (1959–1963)

Maigret is a British television series made by the BBC and which – following a pilot episode broadcast in 1959 – ran for 52 episodes from 1960 to 1963.

<i>Tropic Moon</i> 1933 novel by Georges Simenon

Le Coup de Lune (; literally "moonburn" or "moonstroke" in French, but translated into English as Tropic Moon, is a 1933 novel by Belgian writer Georges Simenon. It is one of the author's first self-described roman durs or "hard novels" to distinguish it from his romans populaires or "popular novels," which are primarily mysteries that usually feature his famous Inspector Maigret character.

<i>Les Fiançailles de M. Hire</i> 1933 novel by Georges Simenon

Les Fiançailles de M. Hire is a short novel by Belgian writer Georges Simenon. It is one of the author's first self-described roman durs or "hard novels" to distinguish it from his romans populaires or "popular novels," which are primarily mysteries that usually feature his famous Inspector Maigret character.

Patrick Marnham is an English writer, journalist and biographer. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society Literature in 1988. He is primarily known for his travel writing and for his biographies, where he has covered subjects as diverse as Diego Rivera, Georges Simenon, Jean Moulin and Mary Wesley. His most recent book, published in September 2020, is War in the Shadows: Resistance, Deception and Betrayal in Occupied France, an investigation into the betrayal of a British resistance network in the summer of 1943.

<i>Maigret and Monsieur Charles</i> 1972 detective novel by Georges Simenon

Maigret and Monsieur Charles is a detective novel by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon, and is the last novel featuring his long-running character Jules Maigret.

<i>A Battle of Nerves</i> 1931 detective novel by Georges Simenon

A Battle of Nerves is a detective novel by Belgian writer Georges Simenon, featuring his character Inspector Jules Maigret. Published in 1931, it is one of the earliest of Simenon's "Maigret" novels, and one of eleven he had published that year.

<i>Maigrets Revolver</i> 1952 detective novel by Georges Simenon

Maigret's Revolver is a novel by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon. The original French version Le Revolver de Maigret appeared in 1952. The theft of Inspector Jules Maigret's revolver from his home begins a detective story that leads to Maigret travelling from Paris to London to find the young man who stole it, and the woman who is in danger of being his victim.

<i>The Crime of Inspector Maigret</i> Novel by Georges Simenon

The Crime of Inspector Maigret is a novel by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon. The original French-language version Le Pendu de Saint-Pholien appeared in 1931: it is one of the earliest novels by Simenon featuring the detective Jules Maigret.

<i>Maigrets Dead Man</i> 1948 novel by Georges Simenon

Maigret's Dead Man, also translated as Maigret and His Dead Man and Maigret’s Special Murder, is a 1948 detective novel by the Belgian novelist Georges Simenon featuring the fictional character Jules Maigret. It was Simenon's 29th Maigret novel.

<i>Act of Passion</i>

Lettre à mon juge was written by Belgian author Georges Simenon in 1946 during his stay at Bradenton Beach, Florida and published in Paris the following year by Presses de la Cité. It is a dark psychological account of a man overcome by buried passions who becomes a murderer.

Maigret is a 1988 television film starring Richard Harris as Georges Simenon's detective, Jules Maigret. The film was intended as a pilot for a potential television series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georges Simenon bibliography</span> Belgian writer

Georges Joseph Christian Simenon was a Belgian writer, most famous for his fictional detective Jules Maigret. He was one of the most popular authors of the 20th century, selling over 500 million copies of his works during his lifetime. Apart from his detective fiction, he achieved critical acclaim for his literary novels which he called romans durs. Among his literary admirers were Max Jacob, François Mauriac and André Gide. Gide wrote, “I consider Simenon a great novelist, the greatest perhaps, and the most truly a novelist that we have had in contemporary French literature.”

<i>The Mahé Circle</i> 1946 novel by Georges Simenon

Le Cercle des Mahé (1946), translated as The Mahé Circle, is a novel by Belgian writer Georges Simenon; it is one of the author's self-described roman durs or "hard novels" to distinguish it from his romans populaires or "popular novels," which are primarily mysteries that usually feature his famous Inspector Maigret character.

<i>The Glass Cage</i> (novel) 1971 novel by Georges Simenon

La Cage de verre (1971), translated as The Glass Cage, is a novel by Georges Simenon; it is one of the author's self-described roman durs or "hard novels" to distinguish it from his romans populaires or "popular novels," which are primarily mysteries that usually feature his famous Inspector Maigret character.

<i>The Disappearance of Odile</i> Novel by Georges Simenon

La disparition d'Odile is a novel by Belgian writer Georges Simenon; it is one of the author's self-described roman durs, or more literary "hard novels," to distinguish it from his romans populaires or "popular novels," which are primarily mysteries that usually feature his famous Inspector Maigret character.

Les noces de Poitiers (1946), translated as The Couple from Poitiers, is a novel by Belgian writer Georges Simenon; it is one of the author's self-described roman durs or "hard novels" to distinguish it from his romans populaires or "popular novels," which are primarily mysteries that usually feature his famous Inspector Maigret character.

References

  1. "Maigret of the Month: Les Mémoires de Maigret (Maigret’s Memoirs) 11/17/06" trussel.com. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  2. 1 2 Carter, David. The Pocket Essential Georges Simenon. The Pocket Essentials, 2003. p33.
  3. Chapter 3
  4. Chapter 2
  5. Chapter 7