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Les Fianailles de M. Hire
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Wikipedia article
'Les Fianailles de M. Hire' ('Monsieur Hire's Engagement') is a short novel by Belgian writer Georges Simenon. It is one of the author's first self-described 'roman durs' or "hard novels" to distinguish it from his 'romans populaires' or "popular novels," which are primarily mysteries that usually feature his famous Inspector Maigret character.
The novel is divided into eleven chapters, and is written using the third-person narrative mode.
Plot
Monsieur Hire, a small-time crook of Jewish origin, lives a lonely isolated life without female companionship (apart from his visits to the brothel). Unpopular with his neighbors, he becomes the ideal suspect for the murder of a young prostitute whose corpse is found in a vacant lot near his home. The police place him under 24-hour surveillance and wait for him to do anything suspicious.
Once a week, Hire is the unlikely star of a Parisian bowling club, where people think he works for the police. Apart from his passion for bowling, Hire is a peeping Tom and obsessed with the voyeuristic observation of his neighbor Alice. During his nocturnal observations, he is able to identify the perpetrator of the crime who is none other than Alice's boyfriend. Believing that Alice loves him, he does not denounce her boyfriend in order to protect her. At the moment of his arrest, with a lynch mob pursuing him, Hire takes refuge on the roof of a building but falls to his death and dies in the arms of firefighters.
English language editions
'Les Fianailles de M. Hire' has been translated into English twice: once by Daphne Woodward as 'Mr. Hire's Engagement' for Hamish Hamilton in 1956, and a second time by Anna Moschovakis as 'The Engagement' for New York Review Books in 2007. The former version also appeared as 'The Sacrifice, comprising Mr. Hire's Engagement and Young Cardinaud' as well as in one of the Simenon Omnibuses; the latter edition contains an afterword by John N. Gray.
Film versions
The book has been filmed four times:
* as 'Panique' by Julien Duvivier in 1947, starring Michel Simon and Viviane Romance
*in a Spanish language version as 'Barrio' by Ladislao Vajda in 1947 and then in a Portuguese version as 'Viela (Rua Sem Sol)'
*and finally as 'Monsieur Hire' by Patrice Leconte in 1989, starring Michel Blanc and Sandrine Bonnaire
References
Category:1933 novels
Category:Novels by Georges Simenon
Category:Belgian novels adapted into films
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