The Man Who Wasn't Maigret: A Portrait of Georges Simenon - Softcover

Marnham, Patrick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140139273 ISBN 13: 9780140139273

Publisher: Penguin, 1993

Synopsis

Georges Simenon was, during his lifetime, the bestselling writer alive: his sales were over 500 million in 55 languages. He created Chief Inspector Maigret, one of the most-loved and sanest characters in modern fiction, but was himself an alcoholic, a fantasist, a man possessed by the demon of sexual jealousy, a crime writer whose own life was haunted by the possibility of crime. His stated ideal was family life, but he conducted a quarrel with his widowed mother that lasted for 50 years, and his own family life ended in catastrophe with the suicide of his daughter. He married twice and seduced hundreds of women. This book examines Simenon's fascination with crime, and traces the relationship between his life and his tormented fiction.

About this title

Synopsis:

Georges Simenon was, during his lifetime, the bestselling writer alive. He created Chief Inspector Maigret, one of the most-loved and sanest characters in modern fiction, but was himself an alcoholic, a fantasist, a man possessed by the demon of sexual jealousy, a crime writer whose own life was haunted by the possibility of crime. His stated ideal was family life, but he conducted a quarrel with his widowed mother that lasted for 50 years, and his own family life ended in catastrophe with the suicide of his daughter. He married twice and seduced hundreds of women, including Josephine Baker. Simenon's writing life was in itself quite a story. He wrote 193 novels under his own name and 200 under 17 pseudonyms. His sales were over 500 million in 55 languages. His admirers ranged from Celine and Colette to T.S. Eliot, Somerset Maugham, Fellini and George Steiner. The author, in this first portrait since Simenon's death, sets out to explain the connections between his childhood and his lifelong fascination with crime, and traces the relationship between the facts of his life and the tormented fiction he wrote.

The author has interviewed many of the people who knew him, and has drawn upon Simenon's letters, papers and copious writings to produce this biography. Patrick Marnham's books include "Fantastic Invasions: Dispatches from Contemporary Africa", "So far from God: A Journey to Central America" and "Trail of Havoc: In the Steps of Lord Lucan".

About the Author:

Patrick Marnham's books include Fantastic Invasion: Dispatches from Africa, So Far from God: A Journey to Central America, winner of the 1985 Thomas Cook Prize, and Trail of Havoc: In the Steps of Lord Lucan. Patrick Marnham has been a reporter for Private Eye and literary editor of the Spectator. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and lives in Paris.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0140139273
• ISBN 13: 9780140139273
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368