Editing Georges Simenon (section)

==Works and critical reception==
Simenon's published works include 192 novels written under his own name,<ref name=":05">{{Cite book |last=Alavoine |first=Bernard |title=Georges Simenon, Parcours d'une œuvre |publisher=Encrage Édition |year=1998 |isbn=978-2-36058-943-2 |pages=94 |language=fr}}</ref> over 200 novels written under various pseudonyms, four autobiographies and 21 volumes of memoirs.<ref name=":03">Marnham (1994). pp. 2-3</ref> He also wrote a large quantity of short fiction. His novels had sold over 500 million copies by the time of his death, making him one of the highest selling novelists in history.<ref name=":03" /> In 2008, [[The Times]] named Simenon the second greatest crime writer of all time after [[Patricia Highsmith]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Forshaw|first1=Barry|title=The 50 Greatest Crime Writers, No 2: Georges Simenon|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3767261.ece|date=April 17, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706140904/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3767261.ece |archive-date=6 July 2008 }}</ref>

Simenon's fiction is often classified into his early pseudonymous popular novels, the last of which was written in 1933;<ref>Marnham (1994) p. 147</ref> his fiction featuring police commissioner Jules Maigret (75 novels and 28 short stories);<ref name=":05" /> and his 117 literary novels which he called ''romans durs'' ("hard novels").<ref>Marnham (1994). pp. 147, 329</ref>

=== Maigret novels ===
{{Main|Jules Maigret}}
The first Maigret novel published under Simenon's name was ''Pietr-le-Letton'' (''Pietr the Latvian'') which was serialised in 1930. The last Maigret novel was ''Maigret et M. Charles'' (''Maigret and Monsieur Charles'') published in 1972.<ref>Marnham (1994). pp. 131-2, 329</ref>

The early Maigret novels generally received positive reviews and were acknowledged as an attempt to raise the standard of the French crime novel. Several critics, however, made fun of the speed with which they were written. ''[[Le Canard enchaîné|Le Canard Enchaîné]]'' told its readers, "Monsieur Georges Simenon makes his living by killing someone every month and then discovering the murderer."<ref>Marnham (1994). pp. 134, 158</ref>[[File:2003 Belgium 10 euro Georges Simenon back.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Euro gold and silver commemorative coins (Belgium)#2003coinage|The 100 Years of Georges Simenon coin]]]]The Maigret stories are short and characterised by their simple writing style and a deliberately restricted vocabulary (which Simenon estimated was limited to 2000 words). Simenon stated that his Maigret novels were designed to be read by people of average education in a single sitting.<ref>Marnham (1994). pp. 141-2</ref><ref>Besler (1983). p. 2</ref>

[[Patrick Marnham]], [[Scott Bradfield]] and others state that the early Maigrets were innovative because the detective doesn't hunt for clues or use deduction to find the guilty party, but rather immerses himself in the life and environment of the victim and suspected criminal. In most cases, Maigret seeks to understand the criminal rather than judge him.<ref>Marnham (1994). pp. 132-3, 136.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bradfield |first=Scott |date=20 February 2015 |title=The case of Georges Simenon |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/books/review/the-case-of-georges-simenon.html |access-date=5 February 2023 |website=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>Besler (1983) p 79</ref>

Simenon stated that his Maigret stories often deal with more serious themes than those of his other novels.<ref>Besler p. 83-4</ref> Recurrent themes include political influence over the justice system, snobbery and class divisions, and the role of social background and pure chance in determining whether an individual becomes a criminal or a respected member of society.<ref>Marnham (1994) p. 135, 145-46</ref>

Marnham, Fenton Besler and others have pointed out that the plots of the Maigret novels are often implausible and internally inconsistent.<ref>Marnham (1994). pp. 135, 143</ref><ref>Besler (1983). pp. 78-79</ref> However critics have praised Simenon's ability to evoke concisely the atmosphere of a particular place and to provide insights into human psychology.<ref>Besler (1983) pp. 80-81</ref> Referring to ''The Saint-Fiacre Affair'', John Banville wrote, "The story is silly, as usual, but the evocation of the little town and its people makes such considerations irrelevant."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Banville |first=John |date=11 January 2020 |title=Maigret and the Master |pages=8 |work=Financial Times}}</ref>

=== ''Romans durs'' ("hard novels") ===
Simenon suspended his writing of Maigret stories in 1933 in order to concentrate on the literary novels he called ''romans durs''. In 1937 he stated that his aim was to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1947.<ref>Marnham (1994). pp. 147-8</ref>

Simenon defined the novel as, "a passion which completely possesses and enslaves the writer and permits him to exorcise his demons by giving them form and casting them out into the world."<ref name="Besler 1983. p. 7">Besler (1983). p. 7</ref> His novels were about "the naked man, the one who looks at himself in the mirror while shaving and has no illusions about himself."<ref name="Besler 1983. p. 7"/>

[[Michel Lemoine]] has elaborated on this, stating, "There is hardly a character in all the Simenon canon who does not ask, 'Who am I? What have I done with my life?"<ref>Besler (1983). 103</ref>[[File:Banc Georges Simenon, Liège.jpg|thumb|Bench and sculpture dedicated to Simenon in his home city of Liège]]Biographer Fenton Besler described the ''roman durs'' as "psychological thrillers...in which he explores the darkest corners of the human mind and, in tautly written prose, creates an atmosphere which is sinister and entirely his own."<ref>Besler (1983). pp. 1-2</ref> According to Besler, it doesn't matter whether Simenon's novels are set in France, Africa, Tahiti or America, the characters live the same traumas and despair, only "with their problems and anxieties accentuated by the local setting."<ref>Besler (1983). pp. 103-4</ref>

Biographer Patrick Marnham states that Simenon's earliest ''romans durs'' contain many of Simenon's typical themes: the street life of Paris, prostitution, the drudgery of domestic servants and shop assistants, police corruption and the hope of escape represented by railway stations. He compares Simenon's preoccupation with the "little people" with that of Balzac.<ref name=":3">Marnham (1994). pp. 173-4</ref> According to Marnham, there is also a strong autobiographical strain in his fiction, where events which Simenon had experienced were lightly fictionalised and then taken to a social, criminal or psychological extreme.<ref>Marnham (1994). pp. 174-7</ref>

Simenon's ''romans durs'' soon gained a high reputation among other writers, with Max Jacob, François Mauriac and André Gide among his admirers.<ref>Marnham (1994). p. 173-4</ref> Nevertheless, the academic and critical reception of his novels in France and the United States was mixed, which [[Ralph Ingersoll (PM publisher)|Ralph Ingersoll]], [[Brendan Gill]] and [https://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/bandy/sigaux-collection.php Gilbert Sigaux] have attributed to suspicion about their popularity and the speed with which they were written.<ref>Besler (1983). p. 181</ref>

Simenon's most acclaimed novels include ''Monsieur Hire's Engagement'' (1933),<ref name=":4">{{cite web |title=The Simenon Year - Le Soir magazine - 2003 |url=http://www.trussel.com/maig/ls03-pleiade-e.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303173148/http://www.trussel.com/maig/ls03-pleiade-e.htm |archive-date=3 March 2016 |access-date=23 June 2015 |work=trussel.com}}</ref> ''The Man who Watched the Trains Go By'' (1938),<ref>Marnham (1994). p. 165</ref>  ''Monsieur Monde Vanishes (1945),<ref>Besler (1983). p. 222</ref> Act of Passion (1947),<ref>Marnham (1994). p. 237</ref>'' ''The Snow was Dirty'' (1948),<ref>Marnham (1994). p. 244</ref>  ''Red Lights'' (1953),<ref>Marnham (1994). p.p. 265-6</ref> and ''The Little Saint'' (1967).<ref name=":4" />