The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By (novel)

Last updated
The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By (novel)
L'Homme qui regardait passer les trains.png
Original French language title, L'Homme qui regardait passer les trains (1938)
Author Georges Simenon
Original titleL'Homme qui regardait passer les trains
LanguageFrench; English
Genre Crime fiction
Publication date
1938
Publication placeFrance
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages210 pp (in 2006 Penguin edition)
Preceded byTropic Moon 
Followed byLiberty Bar 

The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By (L'Homme qui regardait passer les trains), first published in French in 1938, is a crime thriller by Georges Simenon about a man's rapid descent into criminality and madness following sudden financial ruination. A film adaptation was released in 1952. It has been translated into English multiple times: by Stuart Gilbert (Routledge, 1942); by Marc Romano and D. Thin (New York Review Books, 2005); and by Siân Reynolds (Penguin, 2017).

Contents

Plot summary

Kees Popinga, a quiet, respectable Dutchman working as head clerk in Groningen becomes increasingly unhinged after discovering that his cynical employer has looted and ruined his firm and confides in him that he will fake a suicide in order to escape punishment. Accepting a large sum of money from his erstwhile employer, Popinga sets out for Amsterdam, hoping to ingratiate himself with his employer's mistress, Pamela: but she mockingly laughs in his face, infuriating him. Popinga assaults her and accidentally kills her. He then hurriedly leaves town, eventually making his way to Paris. There, every day, he buys the various newspapers which carry the story of the murder. Although Chief Inspector Lucas of the Police Judiciare confidently predicts that Popinga will be arrested at any moment, Popinga successfully evades them. He begins sending letters to the police and to the newspapers, playing a sort of cat and mouse game. Soon the man becomes more and more delusional, seeing himself as a master criminal and certain that the woman he has become involved with, a prostitute named Jeanne Rozier, is genuinely interested in him, rather than in her pimp/boyfriend, Louis. For a time, Popinga joins Louis's gang of car thieves and hides out with them. But his reputation as a dangerous murderer wanted by the French police, frightens them, and he takes off on his own. He wanders the streets of Paris and its outskirts, staying in cheap hotels with prostitutes by night, until a pickpocket steals his wallet containing all the money he has left. Just as he is attempting suicide, he is captured by the French police. The French authorities send him back to Holland where he is put in a mental institution.

Film adaptation

The book was adapted for the screen in 1952 as The Man Who Watched Trains Go By , starring Claude Rains and Märta Torén and directed by Harold French. The story was changed to make Kees Popinga into a more sympathetic character.

Related Research Articles

<i>Survivor</i> (Palahniuk novel) 1999 novel by Chuck Palahniuk

Survivor is a satirical novel by Chuck Palahniuk, first published in February 1999. The book tells the story of Tender Branson, a member of the Creedish Church, a death cult. The chapters and pages are numbered backwards in the book, beginning with Chapter 47 on page 289 and ending with page 1 of Chapter 1.

<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.

<i>The Respectful Prostitute</i>

The Respectful Prostitute is a French play by Jean-Paul Sartre, written in 1946, which observes a white woman, a prostitute, caught up in a racially tense period of American history. The audience understands that there has been an incident on a train with said woman involved, but also a black man on whom the blame is laid by the prejudiced law enforcers. What comes to the viewer's realisation is that a white man instigated an attack, but it is in the interests of the law to preserve the perception of the white person at the expense of the black "devil".

<i>Un flic</i> 1972 film by Jean-Pierre Melville

Un flic is a 1972 crime thriller film, the last directed by Jean-Pierre Melville before his death the following year. It stars Alain Delon, Richard Crenna and Catherine Deneuve. Delon had previously portrayed criminals in Melville's Le Samouraï (1967) and Le Cercle Rouge (1970), but in Un flic, his role is reversed, and he plays the title character.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maury Travis</span> American serial killer (1965–2002)

Maury Troy Travis was an American serial killer. Travis was named in a federal criminal complaint for the murders of two women. At the time of the murders, he was a hotel waiter, and on parole for a 1989 robbery. While Travis claimed in a letter to have murdered 17 women, some authorities were doubtful; others thought he may have murdered up to 20 women. He died by suicide by hanging in custody in St. Louis County, Missouri, after being arrested for murder.

<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>Monsieur Hire</i> 1989 French film

Monsieur Hire is a 1989 French crime drama film directed by Patrice Leconte and starring Michel Blanc in the title role and Sandrine Bonnaire as the object of Hire's affection. The film received numerous accolades as well as a glowing review from the American film critic Roger Ebert, who later added the film to his list of "Great Movies." The screenplay of the film is based on the novel Les Fiançailles de M. Hire by Georges Simenon and has original music by Michael Nyman. Simenon's novel was previously filmed in 1947 by Julien Duvivier as Panic (Panique) starring Michel Simon.

<i>The Man Who Watched Trains Go By</i> 1952 crime drama film

The Man Who Watched Trains Go By (1952) is a crime drama film, based on the 1938 novel by Georges Simenon and directed by Harold French. It has an all-European cast, including Claude Rains in the lead role of Kees Popinga, who is infatuated with Michele Rozier. The film was released in the United States in 1953 under the title The Paris Express.

<i>Trans-Europ-Express</i> (film) 1966 film by Alain Robbe-Grillet

Trans-Europ-Express is a 1966 experimental film written and directed by Alain Robbe-Grillet and starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Marie-France Pisier. The title refers to the Trans Europ Express, at the time an international rail network in Europe. A frame story shows a creative team devising a film plot during a train journey to Antwerp, intercut with a film-within-a-film about a novice cocaine smuggler and a prostitute that enacts their outline imperfectly.

<i>Crime and Punishment</i> (1935 American film) 1935 American film directed by Josef von Sternberg

Crime and Punishment is a 1935 American drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg for Columbia Pictures. The screenplay was adapted by Joseph Anthony and S.K. Lauren from Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1866 novel of the same title. The film stars Peter Lorre in the lead role of Raskolnikov.

<i>The Man on the Eiffel Tower</i> 1950 film

The Man on the Eiffel Tower is a 1950 American Ansco Color film noir mystery film starring Charles Laughton, Franchot Tone, Burgess Meredith, and Robert Hutton. Ultimately directed by Meredith, it is based on the 1931 novel La Tête d'un homme by Belgian writer Georges Simenon featuring his detective Jules Maigret. The film was co-produced by Tone and Irving Allen as A&T Film Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Much of the outdoor action occurs in familiar Paris locales, including the Eiffel Tower, the Seine, and Pigalle.

<i>Le Guignolo</i> 1980 French film

Le Guignolo is a 1980 French-Italian comedy film directed by Georges Lautner. The title is Italian prison slang for a "third-rate crook."

<i>Aa Raathri</i> 1983 Indian film

Aa Raathri is a 1983 Indian Malayalam-language drama film directed by Joshiy and written by Kaloor Dennis, with Mammootty and Poornima Bhagyaraj in lead roles. Rohini, M. G. Soman and Lalu Alex appear in supporting roles. The film follows the life of a happy family and how a set of unfortunate events ruin their lives. The film's songs were composed by Ilaiyaraaja, with lyrics written by Poovachal Khader. It was the first film to gross Rs. 1 crore distributors share.

<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>Maigret and the Saturday Caller</i> 1964 novel by Georges Simenon

Maigret and the Saturday Caller is a novel by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon. The original French version Maigret et le Client du samedi appeared in 1962.

<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.

Patrice Alègre (born 20 June 1968) is a French serial killer who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2002 with a minimum term of 22 years for five murders, an attempted murder, and six rapes. He, subsequently, was acquitted of four additional murder charges on 3 July 2008.

<i>Maigrets Memoirs</i> 1951 novel by Georges Simenon

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.

<i>Belle</i> (1952 novel) 1952 novel by Georges Simenon

Belle 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