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Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret.
Simenon was born at 26 (now number 24) to Désiré Simenon and his wife Henriette Brüll. Désiré Simenon worked in an accounting office at an insurance company and had married Henriette in April 1902. Although Simenon was born on Friday 13 February 1903, superstition resulted in his birth being registered as having been on the 12th. This story of his birth is recounted at the beginning of his novel ''Pedigree (novel), Pedigree''.
The Simenon family traces its origins back to Belgium, Belgian Limburg. Simenon could trace his line back to peasants living in the area since as early as 1580. His mother had origins from Limburg, the Netherlands and Germany while his father was of Walloon origin.Becker, Lucille Frackman. "Georges Simenon (1903-1989)." In: Amoia, Alba della Fazia and Bettina Liebowitz Knapp. ''Multicultural Writers from Antiquity to 1945: A Bio-bibliographical Sourcebook''. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. , 9780313306877. p
378
. One of his mother's most notorious ancestors was Gabriel Brühl, a criminal who preyed on Limburg from the 1720s until he was hanged in 1743. Later, Simenon would use Brühl as one of his many pen names. In April 1905, two years after Simenon's birth, the family moved to 3 rue Pasteur (now 25 rue Georges Simenon) in Liège's neighbourhood. Simenon's brother Christian was born in September 1906 and eventually became their mother's favourite child, much to Simenon's chagrin. Later, in February 1911, the Simenons moved to 53 rue de la Loi, also in the Outremeuse. In this larger home, the Simenons were able to take in lodgers. Typical among them were apprentices and students of various nationalities, giving the young Simenon an important introduction to the wider world; this marked his novels, notably ''Pedigree'' and ''Le Locataire''. At the age of three, Simenon learned to read at the Saint-Julienne nursery school. Then, between 1908 and 1914, he attended the Institut Saint-André. In September 1914, shortly after the beginning of the First World War, he began his studies at the Collège Saint-Louis, a Society of Jesus, Jesuit high school. In February 1917, the Simenon family moved to a former post office building in the Amercoeur neighbourhood. June 1919 saw another move, this time to the rue de l'Enseignement, again back in the Outremeuse neighbourhood. Using his father's heart condition as a pretext, Simenon decided to put an end to his studies in June 1918, not even taking the Collège Saint-Louis' year-end exams. He subsequently worked a number of very short-term odd jobs.
379
. Simenon's first novel, ''Au Pont des Arches'', was written in June 1919 and published in 1921 under his "G. Sim" pseudonym. Writing as "Monsieur Le Coq", he also published more than 800 humorous pieces between November 1919 and December 1922. He stopped writing for the ''Gazette'' in December 1922. During this period, Simenon's familiarity with nightlife, prostitutes, drunkenness and carousing increased. The people he rubbed elbows with included anarchists, bohemian artists and even two future murderers, the latter appearing in his novel ''Les Trois crimes de mes amis''. He also frequented a group of artists known as "La Caque". While not really involved in the group, he did meet his future wife Régine Renchon through it. From 1921 to 1934 he used a total of 17 pen names while writing 358 novels and short stories.
In 1930, the most famous character invented by Simenon, Jules Maigret, Commissaire Maigret, made his first appearance in a piece in ''Detective'' written at Joseph Kessel's request. This first ever Maigret detective story was written while boating in The Netherlands, particularly in and around the Dutch town of Delfzijl. A statue of Maigret in Delfzijl is a perpetual reminder of this.
1932 saw Simenon travel extensively, sending back reports from Africa, eastern Europe, Turkey, and the Soviet Union. In 1933 he interviewed Leon Trotsky in Istanbul. A trip around the world followed in 1934–35.
Between 1932 and 1936, Simenon, Tigy, and Boule lived at La Richardière, a 16th-century manor house in Marsilly, Charente-Maritime, Marsilly at the Charente-Maritime Département in France, département. The house is evoked in Simenon's novel ''Le Testament Donadieu''. At the beginning of 1938, he rented the villa Agnès in La Rochelle, and published ''Le Suspect'', and then, in August, purchased a farm house in Nieul-sur-Mer (also in the Charente-Maritime) where his and Tigy's only child, Marc, was born in 1939.
Simenon lived in the Vendée during the Second World War. Simenon's conduct during the war is a matter of considerable controversy, with some scholars inclined to view him as having been a collaborator with the Nazi Germany, Germans while others disagree, viewing Simenon as having been an apolitical man who was essentially an opportunist but by no means a collaborator. Further confusion stems from the fact that he was denounced as a collaborator by local farmers while at the same time the Gestapo suspected him of being Jewish, apparently conflating the names "Simenon" and "Simon". In any case, Simenon was under investigation at the end of the war because he had negotiated film rights of his books with German studios during the occupation and in 1950 was sentenced to a five-year period during which he was forbidden to publish any new work. This sentence, however, was kept from the public and had little practical effect.
The war years did see Simenon produce a number of works, including ''Le Testament Donadieu'', ''Le Voyageur de la Toussaint'' and ''Le Cercle des Mahé''. He also conducted correspondence, most notably with André Gide. His novel ''La Veuve Couderc'' was published in 1942 at about the same time as Albert Camus, Camus' ''The Stranger (Camus novel), The Stranger''. Both novels contain a similar main character and themes, and Simenon was upset that Camus' work went on to greater acclaim.
Also in the early 1940s, Simenon had a health scare when a local doctor misdiagnosed him with a serious heart condition (a reminder of his father), giving him only months to live. It was also at this time that Tigy finally realised the nature of the relationship between her husband and Boule. He and Tigy remained married until 1949, but it was now a marriage in name only. Despite Tigy's initial protests, Boule remained with the family.
The ambiguities of the war years notwithstanding, the city of La Rochelle eventually honoured Simenon, naming a quay after him in 1989. Simenon was too ill to attend the dedication ceremony. However, in 2003, his son Johnny participated in another event honouring his father.
Simenon and his family returned to Europe in 1955, first living in France (mainly on the French Riviera, Côte d'Azur) before settling in Switzerland. After living in a rented house in Echandens, in 1963 he purchased a property in Epalinges, north of Lausanne, where he had an enormous house constructed to his own design.
Simenon and Denyse Ouimet separated definitively in 1964. Teresa, who had been hired by Simenon as a housekeeper in 1961, had by this time become romantically involved with him and remained his companion for the rest of his life.
His long-troubled daughter Marie-Jo committed suicide in Paris in 1978 at the age of 25, an event that darkened Simenon's later years.
The documentary film ''The Mirror of Maigret'' by director/producer John Goldschmidt was filmed at Simenon's villa in Lausanne and was a profile of the man based on his confessional dialogue with a criminal psychologist. The film was made for ATV and shown in the UK on the ITV Network in 1971.
Simenon underwent surgery for a brain tumor in 1984 and made a good recovery. In subsequent years however, his health worsened. He gave his last televised interview in December 1988.
Georges Simenon died in his sleep of natural causes on the night of 4 September 1989 in Lausanne.
Simenon left such a legacy that he was honored with a silver commemorative coin: the Belgian Euro gold and silver commemorative coins (Belgium)#2003coinage, 100 Years of Georges Simenon coin, minted in 2003. The obverse side shows his portrait.
In 1977 he said he had had sex with 10,000 women in the 61 years since his 13th birthday. His second wife has said the number is closer to 1,200 women.
*''The Crime at Lock 14'' (1931) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''Pietr-le-Letton'' (1931)
*''Maigret and the Yellow Dog'' (1931) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''Chez Krull'' (1931) (Jacques Haumont, France)
*''The Madman of Bergerac'' (1932) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''The Bar on the Seine'' (1932) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''Les Fiançailles de M. Hire, The Engagement'' (''Les Fiançailles de M. Hire'', 1933) (New York Review Books Classics, )
* ''The Night Club (novel), The Night Club'' (''L'Âne rouge'', 1933)
*''Tropic Moon'' (tr. Stuart Gilbert: George Routledge & Sons, 1940; Penguin Books, 1952) (''Coup de Lune'', 1933) (New York Review Books Classics, )
*''The Window Over the Way'' (''Les Gens d’en face'', 1933) (Penguin, ASIN B000AVAANG)
*'':fr:L'Homme de Londres, The Man from London'' (''L'Homme de Londres'', 1934)
*''The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By (novel), The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By'' (''L'homme qui regardait passer les trains'', 1938) (New York Review Books Classics, )
*''Liberty Bar'' (1940) (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury) in: ''Maigret Travels South''. vi, 312 pp. [with: ''The Madman of Bergerac'']. George Routledge & Sons. London.
*''The Strangers in the House'' (''Les inconnus dans la maison'', 1940) (New York Review Books Classics, )
* ''Strange Inheritance (novel), Strange Inheritance'' (1941)
*''The Hotel Majestic'' (1942) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''La Veuve Couderc, The Widow'' (''La Veuve Couderc'', 1942) (New York Review Books Classics, )
*''Cécile is Dead'' (Cécile est Mort) (Paris, Éditions Gallimard, 1942; Penguin Classics, )
*''Inspector Cadaver'' (1943) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''Monsieur Monde Vanishes'' (''La fuite de Monsieur Monde'', 1945) (New York Review Books Classics, )
*''Three Bedrooms in Manhattan'' (''Trois chambres à Manhattan'', 1945) (New York Review Books Classics, )
*''Act of Passion'' (''Lettre à mon juge'', 1947)
*''Dirty Snow'' (''La neige était sale'', 1948) (New York Review Books Classics, )
*''Pedigree (novel), Pedigree'' (1948) (New York Review Books Classics, )
*''My Friend Maigret'' (1949) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''The Friend of Madame Maigret'' (1950) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''The Heart of a Man'' (''Les Volets Verts'', 1950)
*''Maigret's Memoirs'' (1951) (English translation 1963, a Helen and Kurt Wolff Book, )
*''The Mystery of the Polarlys'' (1952) [in: ''In Two Latitudes''], Penguin Crime (''Le passager du Polarlys'', 1932)
*''The Man on the Boulevard'' (1953) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''Red Lights (novel), Red Lights'' (''Feux Rouges'', 1953) (New York Review Books Classics, )
*''Big Bob'' (1954)
*''A Man's Head'' (1955) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''The Rules of the Game'' (1955)
*''The Watchmaker of Everton'' (''L'horloger d'Everton'', 1954)
*''The Little Man from Archangel'' (1957) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''Maigret has Scruples'' (1958) (Harcourt Inc., )
*''The Train'' (''Le train'',1958) (Melville House Publishing, )
*''The President'' (''Le président'', 1958) (Melville House Publishing, )
*''Inquest on Bouvet'' (1958) (Penguin Crime)
*''None of Maigret's Business'' (1958) (translated by Richard Brain from ''Maigret s'amuse'', published for the Crime Club by Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 58-7367)
*''The Widower'' (1959) (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, published 1982, )
*''Maigret in Court'' (1960) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''Maigret and the Idle Burglar'' (1961) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*' (''Les Anneaux de Bicêtre', 1963)
*''Maigret and the Bum'' (1963) (Harcourt Inc., )
*''Maigret and the Ghost'' (1964) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''The Little Saint'' (1965) Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. LCCPD 65-21035
*''The Prison (Simenon novel), The Prison''
*''The Cat (novel), The Cat'' (1967) (translation: Bernard Frechtman, Hamish Hamilton Great Britain)
*''Maigret Takes the Waters'' (1968) Hamish Hamilton & Harcourt Brace (translation Eileen Ellenbogen, 1969)
*''Maigret's Boyhood Friend'' (1968) (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., translation Eileen Ellenbogen, 1970)
*''The Man on the Bench in the Barn'' (''La Main'', 1968)
*''The Disappearance of Odile'' (1971) (translation 1972, Lyn Moir, Hamish Hamilton, Great Britain)
*''Maigret and Monsieur Charles'' (1972) (translation 1973, Marianne Alexandre Sinclair, Hamish Hamilton Great Britain)
*''The Bottom of the Bottle (novel), The Bottom of the Bottle'' (1977) (Hamilton, United States ) - ''The Bottom of the Bottle'' was originally published by Signet New York in 1954.
*''The 13 Culprits'' (Crippen & Landru, 2002) (translated by Peter Schulman)
Centre d'études Georges Simenon et Fonds Simenon de l'Université de Liège
*
- Includes complete bibliography and English translation checklist
Simenon at ''New York Review of Books''Simenon's Estate at Peters Fraser & DunlopGeorges Simenon UK - official author website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simenon, Georges Georges Simenon, 1903 births 1989 deaths Writers from Liège Belgian mystery writers Belgian writers in French Edgar Award winners Belgian crime fiction writers 20th-century Belgian novelists Belgian male novelists Psychological fiction writers Belgian people of Dutch descent Belgian people of German descent People from Lakeville, Connecticut Members of the Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique
Early life and education
Simenon was born at 26 (now number 24) to Désiré Simenon and his wife Henriette Brüll. Désiré Simenon worked in an accounting office at an insurance company and had married Henriette in April 1902. Although Simenon was born on Friday 13 February 1903, superstition resulted in his birth being registered as having been on the 12th. This story of his birth is recounted at the beginning of his novel ''Pedigree (novel), Pedigree''.
The Simenon family traces its origins back to Belgium, Belgian Limburg. Simenon could trace his line back to peasants living in the area since as early as 1580. His mother had origins from Limburg, the Netherlands and Germany while his father was of Walloon origin.Becker, Lucille Frackman. "Georges Simenon (1903-1989)." In: Amoia, Alba della Fazia and Bettina Liebowitz Knapp. ''Multicultural Writers from Antiquity to 1945: A Bio-bibliographical Sourcebook''. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. , 9780313306877. p378
. One of his mother's most notorious ancestors was Gabriel Brühl, a criminal who preyed on Limburg from the 1720s until he was hanged in 1743. Later, Simenon would use Brühl as one of his many pen names. In April 1905, two years after Simenon's birth, the family moved to 3 rue Pasteur (now 25 rue Georges Simenon) in Liège's neighbourhood. Simenon's brother Christian was born in September 1906 and eventually became their mother's favourite child, much to Simenon's chagrin. Later, in February 1911, the Simenons moved to 53 rue de la Loi, also in the Outremeuse. In this larger home, the Simenons were able to take in lodgers. Typical among them were apprentices and students of various nationalities, giving the young Simenon an important introduction to the wider world; this marked his novels, notably ''Pedigree'' and ''Le Locataire''. At the age of three, Simenon learned to read at the Saint-Julienne nursery school. Then, between 1908 and 1914, he attended the Institut Saint-André. In September 1914, shortly after the beginning of the First World War, he began his studies at the Collège Saint-Louis, a Society of Jesus, Jesuit high school. In February 1917, the Simenon family moved to a former post office building in the Amercoeur neighbourhood. June 1919 saw another move, this time to the rue de l'Enseignement, again back in the Outremeuse neighbourhood. Using his father's heart condition as a pretext, Simenon decided to put an end to his studies in June 1918, not even taking the Collège Saint-Louis' year-end exams. He subsequently worked a number of very short-term odd jobs.
Career beginnings
In January 1919, the 15-year-old Simenon took a job at the ''Gazette de Liège'', a newspaper edited by Joseph Demarteau. While Simenon's own beat only covered unimportant human interest stories, it afforded him an opportunity to explore the seamier side of the city, including politics, bars, and cheap hotels but also crime, police investigations and lectures on police technique by the criminologist Edmond Locard. Simenon's experience at the ''Gazette'' also taught him the art of quick editing. He wrote more than 150 articles under the pen name "G. Sim." He began submitting stories to ''Le Matin (France), Le Matin'' in the early 1920s.Becker, Lucille Frackman. "Georges Simenon (1903-1989)." In: Amoia, Alba della Fazia and Bettina Liebowitz Knapp. ''Multicultural Writers from Antiquity to 1945: A Bio-bibliographical Sourcebook''. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002. , 9780313306877. p379
. Simenon's first novel, ''Au Pont des Arches'', was written in June 1919 and published in 1921 under his "G. Sim" pseudonym. Writing as "Monsieur Le Coq", he also published more than 800 humorous pieces between November 1919 and December 1922. He stopped writing for the ''Gazette'' in December 1922. During this period, Simenon's familiarity with nightlife, prostitutes, drunkenness and carousing increased. The people he rubbed elbows with included anarchists, bohemian artists and even two future murderers, the latter appearing in his novel ''Les Trois crimes de mes amis''. He also frequented a group of artists known as "La Caque". While not really involved in the group, he did meet his future wife Régine Renchon through it. From 1921 to 1934 he used a total of 17 pen names while writing 358 novels and short stories.
In France, 1922–1945
Simenon's father died in 1922 and this served as the occasion for the author to move to Paris with Régine Renchon (hereafter referred to by her nickname "Tigy"), at first living in the XVIIe arrondissement, 17th Arrondissement, not far from the Boulevard des Batignolles. He became familiar with the city, its bistros, cheap hotels, bars and restaurants. More importantly, he also came to know ordinary working-class Parisians. Writing under numerous pseudonyms, he found his creativity beginning to pay financial dividends. Simenon and Tigy returned briefly to Liège in March 1923 to marry. Despite his Catholic upbringing, Simenon was not a believer. Tigy came from a thoroughly non-religious family. However, Simenon's mother insisted on a church wedding, forcing Tigy to become a nominal convert, learning the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Despite their father's lack of religious convictions, all of Simenon's children would be baptised as Catholics. Marriage to Tigy, however, did not prevent Simenon from having liaisons with numerous other women, including Josephine Baker. A reporting assignment had Simenon on a lengthy sea voyage in 1928, giving him a taste for boating. In 1929, he decided to have a boat built, the ''Ostrogoth''. Simenon, Tigy, their cook and housekeeper Henriette Liberge, and their dog Olaf lived on board the ''Ostrogoth'', travelling the French canal system. Henriette Liberge, known as "Boule" (literally "Ball," a reference to her slight pudginess) was romantically involved with Simenon for the next several decades and would remain a close friend of the family, really part of it.
In 1930, the most famous character invented by Simenon, Jules Maigret, Commissaire Maigret, made his first appearance in a piece in ''Detective'' written at Joseph Kessel's request. This first ever Maigret detective story was written while boating in The Netherlands, particularly in and around the Dutch town of Delfzijl. A statue of Maigret in Delfzijl is a perpetual reminder of this.
1932 saw Simenon travel extensively, sending back reports from Africa, eastern Europe, Turkey, and the Soviet Union. In 1933 he interviewed Leon Trotsky in Istanbul. A trip around the world followed in 1934–35.
Between 1932 and 1936, Simenon, Tigy, and Boule lived at La Richardière, a 16th-century manor house in Marsilly, Charente-Maritime, Marsilly at the Charente-Maritime Département in France, département. The house is evoked in Simenon's novel ''Le Testament Donadieu''. At the beginning of 1938, he rented the villa Agnès in La Rochelle, and published ''Le Suspect'', and then, in August, purchased a farm house in Nieul-sur-Mer (also in the Charente-Maritime) where his and Tigy's only child, Marc, was born in 1939.
Simenon lived in the Vendée during the Second World War. Simenon's conduct during the war is a matter of considerable controversy, with some scholars inclined to view him as having been a collaborator with the Nazi Germany, Germans while others disagree, viewing Simenon as having been an apolitical man who was essentially an opportunist but by no means a collaborator. Further confusion stems from the fact that he was denounced as a collaborator by local farmers while at the same time the Gestapo suspected him of being Jewish, apparently conflating the names "Simenon" and "Simon". In any case, Simenon was under investigation at the end of the war because he had negotiated film rights of his books with German studios during the occupation and in 1950 was sentenced to a five-year period during which he was forbidden to publish any new work. This sentence, however, was kept from the public and had little practical effect.
The war years did see Simenon produce a number of works, including ''Le Testament Donadieu'', ''Le Voyageur de la Toussaint'' and ''Le Cercle des Mahé''. He also conducted correspondence, most notably with André Gide. His novel ''La Veuve Couderc'' was published in 1942 at about the same time as Albert Camus, Camus' ''The Stranger (Camus novel), The Stranger''. Both novels contain a similar main character and themes, and Simenon was upset that Camus' work went on to greater acclaim.
Also in the early 1940s, Simenon had a health scare when a local doctor misdiagnosed him with a serious heart condition (a reminder of his father), giving him only months to live. It was also at this time that Tigy finally realised the nature of the relationship between her husband and Boule. He and Tigy remained married until 1949, but it was now a marriage in name only. Despite Tigy's initial protests, Boule remained with the family.
The ambiguities of the war years notwithstanding, the city of La Rochelle eventually honoured Simenon, naming a quay after him in 1989. Simenon was too ill to attend the dedication ceremony. However, in 2003, his son Johnny participated in another event honouring his father.
In the United States and Canada, 1945–1955
Simenon escaped questioning in France and in 1945 arrived, along with Tigy and Marc, in North America. He spent several months in Quebec, Canada, north of Montreal, at Domaine L'Esterel (Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson, Quebec, Ste-Marguerite du Lac Masson) where he lived in a modern-style house and wrote three novels (one of which was ''Three Bedrooms in Manhattan'') in one of the log cabins (LC5, still there today). Boule, due to visa difficulties, was initially unable to join them. During the years he spent in the United States, Simenon regularly visited New York City. He and his family also went on lengthy car trips, traveling from Maine to Florida and then west as far as California. Simenon lived for a short time on Anna Maria Island near Bradenton, Florida, Bradenton, Florida, before renting a house in Nogales, Arizona, where Boule was finally reunited with him. His novel ''The Bottom of the Bottle (novel), The Bottom of the Bottle'' was heavily influenced by his stay in Nogales. Although enchanted by the desert, Simenon decided to leave Arizona, and following a stay in California, settled into a large house, Shadow Rock Farm, in Lakeville, Connecticut, Lakeville, Connecticut. This town forms the background for his 1952 novel ''La Mort de Belle'' ("The Death of Belle"). While in the United States, Simenon and his son Marc learned to speak English with relative ease, as did Boule. Tigy, however, had a great deal of trouble with the language and pined for a return to Europe. In the meantime, Simenon had met Denyse Ouimet, a woman seventeen years his junior. Denyse, who was originally from Montréal, met Simenon in New York City in 1945 (she was to be hired as a secretary) and they promptly began an often stormy and unhappy relationship. After resolving numerous legal difficulties, Simenon and Tigy were divorced in 1949. Simenon and Denyse Ouimet were then married in Reno, Nevada in 1950 and eventually had three children, Johnny (born in 1949), Marie-Jo (born in 1953) and Pierre (born in 1959). In accordance with the divorce agreement, Tigy continued to live in close proximity to Simenon and their son Marc, an arrangement that continued until they all returned to Europe in 1955. In 1952, Simenon paid a visit to Belgium and was made a member of the Académie Royale de Belgique. Although he never resided in Belgium after 1922, he remained a Belgian citizen throughout his life.Return to Europe, 1955–1989
Simenon and his family returned to Europe in 1955, first living in France (mainly on the French Riviera, Côte d'Azur) before settling in Switzerland. After living in a rented house in Echandens, in 1963 he purchased a property in Epalinges, north of Lausanne, where he had an enormous house constructed to his own design.
Simenon and Denyse Ouimet separated definitively in 1964. Teresa, who had been hired by Simenon as a housekeeper in 1961, had by this time become romantically involved with him and remained his companion for the rest of his life.
His long-troubled daughter Marie-Jo committed suicide in Paris in 1978 at the age of 25, an event that darkened Simenon's later years.
The documentary film ''The Mirror of Maigret'' by director/producer John Goldschmidt was filmed at Simenon's villa in Lausanne and was a profile of the man based on his confessional dialogue with a criminal psychologist. The film was made for ATV and shown in the UK on the ITV Network in 1971.
Simenon underwent surgery for a brain tumor in 1984 and made a good recovery. In subsequent years however, his health worsened. He gave his last televised interview in December 1988.
Georges Simenon died in his sleep of natural causes on the night of 4 September 1989 in Lausanne.
Simenon left such a legacy that he was honored with a silver commemorative coin: the Belgian Euro gold and silver commemorative coins (Belgium)#2003coinage, 100 Years of Georges Simenon coin, minted in 2003. The obverse side shows his portrait.
In 1977 he said he had had sex with 10,000 women in the 61 years since his 13th birthday. His second wife has said the number is closer to 1,200 women.
Works
Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiography, autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed. He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Maigret, Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, ''The Strange Case of Peter the Lett, Pietr-le-Letton'', was serialized in 1930 and appeared in book form in 1931; the last one, ''Maigret and Monsieur Charles'', was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Three films were made in the late 1950s and early 1960s, starring Jean Gabin: ''Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case''; ''Maigret Sets A Trap''; and ''Margret Sees Red''. Three television series (Maigret (1960 TV series), 1960–63, Maigret (1992 TV series), 1992–93 and Maigret (2016 TV series), 2016-), have been made in Great Britain (the first with Rupert Davies in the title role, the second with Michael Gambon and the third with Rowan Atkinson), one in Italy in four different seasons for a total of 36 episodes (1964–72) starring Gino Cervi; and two in France: (1967–90) starring Jean Richard (actor), Jean Richard and (1991–2005) starring Bruno Cremer. 1942 was the year his novel ''La Veuve Couderc'' was published at around the same time as Albert Camus, Camus' ''The Stranger (Camus novel), The Stranger''. Both novels contain a similar main character and themes, and Simenon was upset that Camus' work went on to greater acclaim. During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (''Trois chambres à Manhattan'' (1946), ''Maigret à New York'' (1947), ''Maigret se fâche'' (1947)). Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels" (what the French refer to as "romans durs"), such as ''The Strangers in the House'' (1940), ''La neige était sale'' (1948), or ''Le fils'' (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular ''Je me souviens'' (1945), ''Pedigree'' (1948), ''Mémoires intimes'' (1981). In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honour, the Mystery Writers of America#Grand Master Award, Grand Master Award. In 2003, the collection Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, La Pléiade (inspiration for the Library of America) has included 21 of Simenon's novels, in two volumes. The task of selecting the novels and the preparation of the notes and analyses was performed by two Simenon specialists, Professor Jacques Dubois (Walloon Professor), Jacques Dubois, President of the Centre for Georges Simenon Studies at the Université de Liège, and his assistant Benoît Denis. According to the UNESCO's Index Translationum, Simenon is the list of most-translated individual authors, seventeenth-most-often-translated author, the most-translated Belgian author. In 2005, Simenon was nominated for the title of ''De Grootste Belg'' / ''Le plus grand Belge'' (''The Greatest Belgian'') in two separate television series. In the Flanders, Flemish version, he ended in 77th place; and in the Wallonia, Walloon version, he ended in 10th place.Partial bibliography
*''The Crime at Lock 14'' (1931) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''Pietr-le-Letton'' (1931)
*''Maigret and the Yellow Dog'' (1931) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''Chez Krull'' (1931) (Jacques Haumont, France)
*''The Madman of Bergerac'' (1932) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''The Bar on the Seine'' (1932) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''Les Fiançailles de M. Hire, The Engagement'' (''Les Fiançailles de M. Hire'', 1933) (New York Review Books Classics, )
* ''The Night Club (novel), The Night Club'' (''L'Âne rouge'', 1933)
*''Tropic Moon'' (tr. Stuart Gilbert: George Routledge & Sons, 1940; Penguin Books, 1952) (''Coup de Lune'', 1933) (New York Review Books Classics, )
*''The Window Over the Way'' (''Les Gens d’en face'', 1933) (Penguin, ASIN B000AVAANG)
*'':fr:L'Homme de Londres, The Man from London'' (''L'Homme de Londres'', 1934)
*''The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By (novel), The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By'' (''L'homme qui regardait passer les trains'', 1938) (New York Review Books Classics, )
*''Liberty Bar'' (1940) (translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury) in: ''Maigret Travels South''. vi, 312 pp. [with: ''The Madman of Bergerac'']. George Routledge & Sons. London.
*''The Strangers in the House'' (''Les inconnus dans la maison'', 1940) (New York Review Books Classics, )
* ''Strange Inheritance (novel), Strange Inheritance'' (1941)
*''The Hotel Majestic'' (1942) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''La Veuve Couderc, The Widow'' (''La Veuve Couderc'', 1942) (New York Review Books Classics, )
*''Cécile is Dead'' (Cécile est Mort) (Paris, Éditions Gallimard, 1942; Penguin Classics, )
*''Inspector Cadaver'' (1943) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''Monsieur Monde Vanishes'' (''La fuite de Monsieur Monde'', 1945) (New York Review Books Classics, )
*''Three Bedrooms in Manhattan'' (''Trois chambres à Manhattan'', 1945) (New York Review Books Classics, )
*''Act of Passion'' (''Lettre à mon juge'', 1947)
*''Dirty Snow'' (''La neige était sale'', 1948) (New York Review Books Classics, )
*''Pedigree (novel), Pedigree'' (1948) (New York Review Books Classics, )
*''My Friend Maigret'' (1949) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''The Friend of Madame Maigret'' (1950) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''The Heart of a Man'' (''Les Volets Verts'', 1950)
*''Maigret's Memoirs'' (1951) (English translation 1963, a Helen and Kurt Wolff Book, )
*''The Mystery of the Polarlys'' (1952) [in: ''In Two Latitudes''], Penguin Crime (''Le passager du Polarlys'', 1932)
*''The Man on the Boulevard'' (1953) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''Red Lights (novel), Red Lights'' (''Feux Rouges'', 1953) (New York Review Books Classics, )
*''Big Bob'' (1954)
*''A Man's Head'' (1955) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''The Rules of the Game'' (1955)
*''The Watchmaker of Everton'' (''L'horloger d'Everton'', 1954)
*''The Little Man from Archangel'' (1957) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''Maigret has Scruples'' (1958) (Harcourt Inc., )
*''The Train'' (''Le train'',1958) (Melville House Publishing, )
*''The President'' (''Le président'', 1958) (Melville House Publishing, )
*''Inquest on Bouvet'' (1958) (Penguin Crime)
*''None of Maigret's Business'' (1958) (translated by Richard Brain from ''Maigret s'amuse'', published for the Crime Club by Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 58-7367)
*''The Widower'' (1959) (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, published 1982, )
*''Maigret in Court'' (1960) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''Maigret and the Idle Burglar'' (1961) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*' (''Les Anneaux de Bicêtre', 1963)
*''Maigret and the Bum'' (1963) (Harcourt Inc., )
*''Maigret and the Ghost'' (1964) (Penguin Classics UK, )
*''The Little Saint'' (1965) Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. LCCPD 65-21035
*''The Prison (Simenon novel), The Prison''
*''The Cat (novel), The Cat'' (1967) (translation: Bernard Frechtman, Hamish Hamilton Great Britain)
*''Maigret Takes the Waters'' (1968) Hamish Hamilton & Harcourt Brace (translation Eileen Ellenbogen, 1969)
*''Maigret's Boyhood Friend'' (1968) (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., translation Eileen Ellenbogen, 1970)
*''The Man on the Bench in the Barn'' (''La Main'', 1968)
*''The Disappearance of Odile'' (1971) (translation 1972, Lyn Moir, Hamish Hamilton, Great Britain)
*''Maigret and Monsieur Charles'' (1972) (translation 1973, Marianne Alexandre Sinclair, Hamish Hamilton Great Britain)
*''The Bottom of the Bottle (novel), The Bottom of the Bottle'' (1977) (Hamilton, United States ) - ''The Bottom of the Bottle'' was originally published by Signet New York in 1954.
*''The 13 Culprits'' (Crippen & Landru, 2002) (translated by Peter Schulman)
Film adaptations
Simenon's work has been widely adapted to cinema and television. He is credited on at least 171 productions. Notable films include: *''Night at the Crossroads'' (''La nuit du carrefour'', France, 1932), written and directed by Jean Renoir, starring Pierre Renoir as Maigret *''The Yellow Dog (1932 film), The Yellow Dog'' (''Le chien jaune'', France, 1932), directed by Jean Tarride, starring Abel Tarride as Maigret *''A Man's Neck (film), A Man's Neck'' (France, 1933), directed by Julien Duvivier, starring Harry Baur as Maigret *''La Maison des sept jeunes filles'' (France, 1942), directed by Albert Valentin *''Annette and the Blonde Woman'' (''Annette et la dame blonde'', France, 1942), adapted by Henri Decoin, directed by Jean Dréville *''The Strangers in the House (film), The Strangers in the House'' (''Les inconnus dans la maison'', France, 1942), adapted by Henri-Georges Clouzot & Henri Decoin, directed by Henri Decoin *''Monsieur La Souris'' (France, 1942), directed by Georges Lacombe (director), Georges Lacombe *''Picpus'' (France, 1943), directed by Richard Pottier, starring Albert Préjean as Maigret *''Strange Inheritance (film), Strange Inheritance'' (''Le voyageur de la Toussaint'', France, 1943), adapted from ''Strange Inheritance (novel), Strange Inheritance'', directed by Louis Daquin *''The Man from London (1943 film), The Man from London'' (''L'Homme de Londres'', France, 1943), directed by Henri Decoin *''Cecile Is Dead'' (''Cécile est morte'', France 1944), adapted by Jean-Paul Le Chanois & Michel Duran, directed by Maurice Tourneur, starring Albert Préjean as Maigret *''Majestic Hotel Cellars'' (''Les caves du Majestic'', France, 1945), directed by Richard Pottier, starring Albert Préjean as Maigret *''Panic (1946 film), Panic'' (''Panique'', France, 1946), adapted from ''Les Fiançailles de M. Hire, Les fiançailles de M. Hire'', directed by Julien Duvivier *''Temptation Harbour'' (UK, 1947), adapted from ''L'homme de Londres'' (''Newhaven-Dieppe''), directed by Lance Comfort *''Last Refuge'' (''Dernier Refuge'', France, 1947), adapted from ''Le locataire'', directed by Marc Maurette *''The Man on the Eiffel Tower'' (1949), adapted from ''A Battle of Nerves, La tête d'un homme'', directed by Burgess Meredith, starring Charles Laughton as Maigret *''La Marie du port'' (France, 1950), directed by Marcel Carné *''Midnight Episode'' (UK, 1950), adapted from ''Monsieur La Souris'', directed by Gordon Parry (film director), Gordon Parry *''La Vérité sur Bébé Donge'' (France, 1952), directed by Henri Decoin *' (France, 1952), anthology film, directed by Henri Verneuil, starring Michel Simon as Maigret *''Forbidden Fruit (1952 film), Forbidden Fruit'' (''Le Fruit défendu'', France, 1952), directed by Henri Verneuil *''The Man Who Watched Trains Go By'' (UK, 1952), adapted from ''The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By (novel), L'Homme qui regardait passer les trains'', directed by Harold French *''La neige était sale'' (France, 1953), directed by Luis Saslavsky *''Maigret dirige l'enquête'' (France, 1956), adapted from ''Cécile est morte'', directed by Stany Cordier, starring Maurice Manson as Maigret *''A Life in the Balance'' (1955), adapted from ''Sept petites croix dans un carnet'', directed by Harry Horner and Rafael Portillo *''The Bottom of the Bottle'' (1956), adapted from ''The Bottom of the Bottle (novel), Le fond de la bouteille'', directed by Henry Hathaway *''Le Sang à la tête'' (France, 1956), adapted from ''Le Fils Cardinaud'', directed by Gilles Grangier and starring Jean Gabin *''The Brothers Rico'' (1957), directed by Phil Karlson *''Maigret Sets a Trap (film), Maigret Sets a Trap'' (''Maigret tend un piège'', France, 1958), written and directed by Jean Delannoy, starring Jean Gabin as Maigret, Edgar Award for Best Foreign Film from the Mystery Writers of America in 1959 *''The Stowaway (1958 film), The Stowaway'' (Australia, 1958), adapted from ''Le passager clandestin'', directed by Lee Robinson (director), Lee Robinson and Ralph Habib *''In Case of Adversity'' (''En cas de malheur'', France, 1958), directed by Claude Autant-Lara *''Maigret et l'affaire Saint-Fiacre'' (France, 1959), written and directed by Jean Delannoy, starring Jean Gabin as Maigret *''Le Baron de l'écluse'' (France, 1960), directed by Jean Delannoy and starring Jean Gabin *''Maigret (1960 TV series), Maigret'' (UK, TV series, 51 episodes, 1960–1963), starring Rupert Davies as Maigret *''The President (1961 film), The President'' (''Le Président'', France, 1961), directed by Henri Verneuil and starring Jean Gabin *''Passion of Slow Fire, The Passion of Slow Fire'' (''La mort de Belle'', France, 1961), directed by Édouard Molinaro *''Emile's Boat'' (''Le bateau d'Émile'', France, 1962), directed by Denys de La Patellière *''Maigret voit rouge'' (France, 1963), adapted from ''Maigret, Lognon et les gangsters'', directed by Gilles Grangier, starring Jean Gabin as Maigret *''Magnet of Doom'' (''L'aîné des Ferchaux'', France, 1963), directed by Jean-Pierre Melville *''Le inchieste del commissario Maigret'' (Italy, TV series, 16 episodes, 1964–1972), starring Gino Cervi as Maigret *''Three Rooms in Manhattan'' (''Trois chambres à Manhattan'', France, 1965), directed by Marcel Carné *' (West Germany, 1966), adapted from ''Maigret at the Gai-Moulin, La Danseuse du Gai-Moulin'', directed by Alfred Weidenmann, starring Heinz Rühmann as Maigret *''Maigret a Pigalle'' (Italy, 1966), adapted from ''Inspector Maigret and the Strangled Stripper, Maigret au "Picratt's"'', directed by Mario Landi, starring Gino Cervi as Maigret *''Stranger in the House (1967 film), Stranger in the House'' (UK, 1967), adapted from ''The Strangers in the House, Les inconnus dans la maison'', directed by Pierre Rouve *''Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret'' (France, TV series, 88 episodes, 1967–1990), starring Jean Richard (actor), Jean Richard as Maigret *''Le Chat (film), Le chat'' (France, 1971), directed by Pierre Granier-Deferre *''The Widow Couderc'' (''La veuve Couderc'', France, 1971), directed by Pierre Granier-Deferre *''The Train (1973 film), The Train'' (''Le train'', France, 1971), directed by Pierre Granier-Deferre *''The Clockmaker'' (''L'horloger de Saint-Paul'', France, 1974), directed by Bertrand Tavernier *''Armchair Cinema: The Prison'' (Euston Films/Thames Television, 1974), adapted from "La prison" *' (West Germany, 1979), directed by Ottokar Runze *''L'Étoile du Nord (film), L'Étoile du Nord'' (France, 1982), directed by Pierre Granier-Deferre *''The Hatter's Ghost'' (''Les Fantômes du Chapelier'', France, 1982), written and directed by Claude Chabrol *''Équateur'' (France, 1983), written and directed by Serge Gainsbourg *''Monsieur Hire'' (France, 1989), written and directed by Patrice Leconte *''Seven Days After Murder'' (Azerbaijan & Russia, 1991), written by Rustam Ibragimbekov, directed by Rasim Ojagov *''Maigret (1991 TV series), Maigret'' (France, TV series, 54 episodes, 1991–2005), starring Bruno Cremer as Maigret *''Betty (film), Betty'' (France, 1992), written and directed by Claude Chabrol *''El pasajero clandestino'' (Spain, 1995), adapted from ''Le passager clandestin'', directed by Agustí Villaronga *''La Maison du canal'' (France and Belgium, 2003), directed by Alain Berliner *''Red Lights (2004 film), Red Lights'' (France, 2004), directed by Cédric Kahn *''The Man from London'' (Hungary, 2007), written and directed by Béla Tarr *''The Blue Room (2014 film), The Blue Room'' (France, 2014), written and directed by Mathieu Amalric *''La boule Noire'' (France, 2014), directed by Denis Malleval *''Maigret (2016 TV series), Maigret'' (UK, TV series, since 2016), starring Rowan Atkinson as Maigret *''Maigret (2022 film), Maigret'' (France, 2022), directed by Patrice Leconte and featuring Gérard Depardieu, Gérard Dépardieu as MaigretStage adaptations
*''The Red Barn'', written by David Hare (playwright), David Hare and based on the novel ''La Main'' (English title ''The Man on the Bench in the Barn''). Directed by Robert Icke at the Royal National Theatre, Lyttelton Theatre, London, in October 2016.Carter, David. ''The Pocket Essential Georges Simenon''. The Pocket Essentials, 2003.References
Further reading
* Wenger, Murielle, and Stephen Trussel, ''Maigret's World: A Reader's Companion to Simenon's Famous Detective'' (McFarland, 2017).Biographies
* * *External links
*Centre d'études Georges Simenon et Fonds Simenon de l'Université de Liège
*
- Includes complete bibliography and English translation checklist
Simenon at ''New York Review of Books''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simenon, Georges Georges Simenon, 1903 births 1989 deaths Writers from Liège Belgian mystery writers Belgian writers in French Edgar Award winners Belgian crime fiction writers 20th-century Belgian novelists Belgian male novelists Psychological fiction writers Belgian people of Dutch descent Belgian people of German descent People from Lakeville, Connecticut Members of the Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique