Simenon sous le masque*
Anne Richter
Racine, Belgium, 2007, 121 pages
Etienne Borgers
Translated by Christine Tipper
Georges
Simenon liked to recall in interviews he gave on the radio and
to others that there was no ‘Simenon mystery', contrary to an
explanation given in a critical text several years previously. But
how then does one explain the dozens of books that comment on his
work, the various essays about the author and his prolific production
that exist in numerous languages? It is certain that the scope of
the Simenon corpus is well able to accommodate those who have tackled
it, but what about Simenon the man?
It is evident that Simenon liked to
talk about himself in the supposedly autobiographical works - his
famous ‘Dictées' – ‘Dictations'
and in the numerous interviews he gave during his long career as
a successful author, but can a valid portrait of the man and author
be found therein? Nothing is less certain, and it is not the exaggerations – often
close to fantasies – of his magisterial ‘Mémoires intimes' – ‘Intimate
Memoirs' written at the end of his life (1981) that allow us to see
clearly through the haziness that clouds the character's portrait.
Certainly the biographical facts of this author are reasonably well
established, and constantly updated in the multiple biographies that
have been dedicated to him, but what about his vision of the world
and of the man who is represented in his major works, and the origin
of this approach?
Often Simenon gave standard answers to this
type of question, or tried to muddy the waters by giving contradictory
declarations, in which he scattered traces from his works, evoked
for the occasion, which were superficial and often refuted by other
examples that could be found there. But let's not deceive ourselves,
for there really was a Simeon universe and it belonged to him, a
universe that had permanent features. And it wasn't only the grey
ambience - or the absence of humour. To define Simenon's character,
his intimate convictions, the personal mechanisms that allowed him
to live, one cannot depend too much on the declarations of the great
author to help us. Except at certain moments, often very brief, when
light is shed on the portrait by real clues about the man Simenon
that appear in his oeuvre and in a few of his confidences. It is
the hunt for these moments that Anne Richter has embarked upon in
her essay Simenon behind
the mask.
As if to illustrate this point, the photo chosen for the book cover
is one of the most artificial, most conventional portraits of Simenon,
taken by the Parisian photographer to the stars and personalities,
the Studio Harcourt. Yet it is also one of the aspects of the character,
ready to assume his role as a publishing star, he who never hid from
publicity, fame, nor the opportunities or luxuries obtained by money.
A role behind which, once more, the real Simenon hid.
A large part of Anne Richter's search
is that of a psychological explanation that borders on psychoanalysis,
according to which Simenon did not wish to explore human personality
in depth for fear of discovering himself and of exploring the profundities
of his own personality. It is certain that Simenon never explored
writing in depth, but I think that it was a self-imposed voluntary
restraint by this author, who did not want to be ‘swallowed' by
his art and become perpetually unsatisfied in the search for excellent
writing and the ultimate novel. Like many literary geniuses. Added
to that I remain convinced that Simenon had a limited literary
register, despite the spectacular advances he made during the second
part of his career (from the 1930s onwards) and the masterpieces
he has left us. And he knew it. But far from it being a shortcoming
or weakness, he made it his true style, working economically in
his novels where the suggested has just as important a role as
the described, and always with man at the centre of his preoccupations.
Already in his Maigret series, and especially in his novels ‘of
fate', which were of a more literary calling that he himself qualified
as ‘difficult'. In her analysis,
Anne Richter discusses, amongst others, two of Georges Simenon's
best novels: La neige était sale (The
snow was dirty) and Les anneaux de Bicêtre
(Bicetre's rings), the first is without a doubt his chef-d'oeuvre,
an exceptional existential thriller. She examines also, with pertinence,
why certain literary personalities were interested in Simenon, André Gide
(a well-known case) and Henry Miller (less well-known and at first
sight against the grain when considering the sulphurous and hedonistic
nature of Miller, this writer of genius, in his life and…in his oeuvre).
Or again when evoking his relationship with Carl Gustav Jung who
admired him.
In this short essay, Anne Richter also
tackles a large number of the facets of Simenon's character, trying
to decode the facts about his family life - professional and relational
- to capture the truth, that should help us understand who really
was the man behind the façade. Simenon behind the mask manages
to highlight facts that allow us to start opening the door on the
discovery of this author's true personality, to orientate our own
thoughts, our own research, our comprehension of the man and the
author. That is not bad considering the inhuman dimensions of this
oeuvre. Inhuman because it conveys qualities far superior to the
literary standards of its day; inhuman because of its size in numbers
of volumes, with 76 novels about Maigret, 117 novels ‘of fate', his
numerous autobiographical writings, his reports, to only cite the
most important part.
One should note that the last chapter
entitled: ‘Simenon, an imbecile
or a genius?' is very pertinent to the argument and clearly explains
Anne Richter's method in the search for the real Simenon. I could
even advise future readers of this essay to – of course – read the
first chapter that serves as an introduction and then to go directly
to the last, in order to have from the beginning an outline of the
essay and the route it takes, and to discover a solid synthesis of
what is developed in more detail in the other chapters. Simenon
behind the mask is another stone in the monument built by
critical texts to define Georges Simenon, a more and more complex
edifice, in the image of he who inspired it. Whilst never being completely
sure that the author from Liege can be found completely and definitively
therein.
The ‘Simenon mystery' still has good
times ahead.
Note about the essay and its author
Under the title Simenon behind the
mask, Anne Richter
has had published by Racine a revised and extended version of the essay
she published in 1993 (and reedited in 2002) that was called: Simenon
malgré lui – Simenon despite himself. In 1963, she
had already devoted an essay to Simenon (Georges Simenon et
l'homme désintégré – Georges Simenon and the broken
man) ; she has also collaborated on numerous articles for
the Cahiers Simenon since its creation in 1988.
* Simenon behind the mask
