Talk:Georges Simenon

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This article is written in British English, which has its own spelling conventions (colour, travelled, centre, defence, artefact, analyse) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

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France, 1922-45

Hello all

I have expanded this section considerably. I have added new sourced information and have replaced some unsourced and incorrect information with reliably sourced information. I have added sub-headings to make the contents easier to follow. Happy to discuss. Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 06:31, 2 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

"Mad Years"

There isn't anything described in the "Mad Years" section that makes the title make obvious sense. Why are we calling these years the "mad" ones? Tuptastic (talk) 21:32, 3 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I see your point. The French equivalent for the Roaring 20s is Les années folles, but I thought a French sub-heading would be too obscure on the English language Simenon page. I'm not wedded to the sub-heading, but couldn't think of anything better. Happy for any suggestions. Perhaps it would be easier if I put a reference to it in the section. Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 23:19, 3 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I have changed it to "Literary apprenticeship". It still doesn't seem quite right, seeing that Colette advised Sim to be "less literary"! Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 23:28, 3 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Birth date

Hello all,

I have changed the birth date in the info box to 12 February. This is the birthdate recorded on his birth certificate.^[1] Simenon later said that according to family legend his was actually born at 12.10 am on Friday, 13 February and that his mother made his father falsify the date on the birth cetificate due to her superstition about Friday 13th.^[1] However, Simenon later conceded that he wasn't sure about his real birthday.(See Simenon, Georges (1978). Au-delà de ma porte-fenêtre. p. 183). The Belgian National Biography gives his birth date as 12 February.^[2] So I think the most reliable evidence supports the 12 February birthdate. Happy to discuss. Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 04:50, 10 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ ^a ^b Marnham, Patrick (1994). The Man who Wasn't Maigret, a portrait of Georges Simenon. Harvest Books. pp. 10–11. ISBN 0156000598.
^ Acadamé Royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique (1997). Nouvelle Biographie Nationale (in French). Vol. 4. Brussels: Acadamé Royale de Belgique. pp. 354–9.

British English

Hello all

I have added a Btitish English template because this is the predominant form of English used in the article and it is best to keep this consistent. Although Simenon lived in the US and Canada for several years, the article has no strong ties to any particular form of English. Therefore I think it is best to go with the current standard.

Happy to discuss Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 02:19, 2 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Length of Maigret novels as compared to the hard novels

While this is not of major importance, it is incorrect to state that the Maigret stories are of shorter length. There certainly are no Maigrets that compare in length to Dirty Snow, or Le testament Donadieu but the fact remains that the overwhelming majority of the hard novels are approximately the same length as the Maigrets, something that is easy to verify simply by looking at the table of contents of any of the 25 volumes of Tout Simenon, which contains all of Simenon's novels published under his own name. As an example, in vol. 20 (novels from the mid-1930s), only Le Testament Donadieu (a whooping 240 pages) and Les rescapés du Télémaque (112 pages) exceed 100 pages. The other five hard novels (L'assassin, Le blanc à lunettes, Faubourg, Ceux de la soif, Chemin sans issue) only have between 86 and 100 pages. In vol. 7 (mid-1950s), the four Maigrets and the four hard novels are all between 102 and 112 pages). In vol. 19 (1932–1934), the eight hard novels average 92 pages, save Long cours (140 pages). I could go on and on. Lubiesque (talk) 15:03, 11 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Lubiesque Would you be happy if I changed it to: "the Maigret novels are short and characterised by..." etc. The point is that Simenon deliberately made them short and easy to read so they could be read in one sitting. Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 22:19, 11 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

[:0-1] Marnham, Patrick (1994). The Man who Wasn't Maigret, a portrait of Georges Simenon. Harvest Books. pp. 10–11. ISBN 0156000598.

[:5-2] Acadamé Royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique (1997). Nouvelle Biographie Nationale (in French). Vol. 4. Brussels: Acadamé Royale de Belgique. pp. 354–9.

[1]

[2]