Simenon is synonymous with great literature

Barcelona"He folded the diary, which first unfolded on his knees and then slid slowly down before landing on the waxed parquet floor. You would have thought he had just fallen asleep if it weren't for the thin slit that occasionally appeared between his eyelids." This is the lazy and narcotic—yet also direct and addictive—opening of The cat (1966), one of the great novels by Georges Simenon (1903-1989), has been chosen from the outset by Quaderns Crema and Acantilado to begin their re-release, starting October 13th, of the literary legacy of one of the essential writers of the 20th century. Editor Jaume Vallcorba intends to publish it "with the respect due to great writers," combining the so-called harsh Romans With 72 novels featuring the celebrated Inspector Maigret, always with his pipe in hand and paying attention to the smallest and most revealing details. The Maigret series will begin with Pietr, the Latvian and will continue in November with The Yellow Dog One month later The cat will arrive The canal house

"Simenon's style is unique: perhaps that's why he's so popular today," explains John Simenon, the second of the writer's four children, who has managed his father's copyright since 1995. "He writes with an instantaneous ability to communicate, but the substance of what is said is conveyed quickly and with a great deal of speed and first impression. Simenon's prose transmits with immediacy, but with a wide variety of universal themes." Pierre Assouline, who published a biography of the writer of more than 1,000 pages in 1992, listed in the article... What's new? (2011) a non-exhaustive list of Simenon's interests. It cites, among others, loneliness, anguish, self-hatred, alcohol, envy, lying, ambition, moral depravity, piety, fear of the other, adultery, and jealousy. "Things that say everything to everyone everywhere," Assouline remarks. The 550 million copies sold of his 191 novels—to which numerous sheep and stories—probably corroborate the universality of an author who began writing under multiple pseudonyms in the 1920s and in collections good march , a creative workshop that, through accelerated experimentation, would eventually lead to the creation of Maigret in 1930 and begin a prolific career, popular and of literary demand.

A protective figure

From 1932 onward, Simenon's literary universe would be adapted for film, a trend that grew during World War II thanks to the productions of Continental Films, a company financed with German capital during the occupation. Meanwhile, Simenon lived a semi-retired life in the small French town of Nieul-sur-Mer—producing his novels at a significant pace—and in 1945 he emigrated to the United States. The son of the writer's second marriage, to Denise Ouimet, John Simenon still remembers his early American childhood with idealism. The eighteen rooms of the house at Shadow Rock Farm were the oasis of comfort and luxury that would precede the marital problems between Simenon and Ouimet. "The image I have of my father is that of a protective figure," John Simenon recalls. "He took care of us and gave us all the time we asked for." However, father and son drifted apart to the point that they both traveled to Barcelona in 1964 to mend things: "It was the first time we were alone. The trip helped me rediscover him." A year earlier, Ouimet had left the lavish Épalinges mansion where the Simenons had lived since 1957.

"When I started reading my father's novels, I was too young and unprepared for what I would find: I didn't have enough life experience," explains John Simenon. "There were external differences between the characters and our family life. What impresses me now when I read them is discovering echoes of his own life and moods." John Simenon didn't come across Maigret until after several readings: "He didn't need any authority figure because he already had his father by his side," he acknowledges before admitting that only now are we beginning "to understand the depth of what he wrote." Simenon's son, who is currently preparing an interpretation center for the writer's work in Liège, is very pleased with the contract he signed a year ago with Jaume Vallcorba: "His publishing house has an impeccable track record and is dedicated to books with great care and expertise." "It's the ideal editor for Simenon."

Jaume Vallcorba: "Simenon's style is deceptively simple."

Why have you decided to publish Simenon's work right now?

— When I learned that the publishers were releasing their rights, I was immediately interested. I practically jumped at the chance. My intention is to publish Simenon with the respect due to the great authors.

He must have lived with his novels for more than four decades.

— At 13, I discovered 'The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By,' which had been published in La Cua de Palla. I read it as a genre novel at the time. It wasn't until a few years later that Martí de Riquer told me about it: that's when I discovered Maigret, but also the tough Roman women.

What captivated you about Simenon?

— Simenon's remarkable ability to expose the human condition and reveal it, at times, in its stark reality. His characters live ordinary lives, sheltered by a thin layer of ice that inevitably cracks. In The House on the Canal, for example, the arrival of a city cousin immediately foreshadows misfortune.

What does Simenon tell me?

— It is deceptively simple. It uses extraordinarily precise language: despite its lexical and syntactic simplicity, its complexity only becomes apparent when one attempts to translate it.

The only time Simenon agreed to detail the structure that motivated his novels, he wrote: "Crisis, past, drama, and resolution." The structure of Greek tragedy.

— He's an author who always addresses fundamental questions about humanity. When you finish reading his books, you think about them for a while. There are authors who may belong to a specific genre but go far beyond it.

Why has he decided to alternate between Maigret cases and singular novels?

— I don't think distinctions should be made between one book and another. We will indicate this when they are Maigret novels, though.

This October, two titles will be released in Spanish and one in Catalan, and more in November.

— The aim is to see how people receive 'The Cat' and 'The Yellow Dog'. The pace in Catalan will depend somewhat on how well it performs. Six more Simenon films will be released during 2013, including 'The Snow Was Dirty', 'The Saint-Fiacre Affair', and 'The Lacroix Sisters'.

In the introductory text for the Simenon edition in Quaderns Crema and Acantilado, he writes that popularity and excellence are not "two irreconcilable qualities" in the Belgian author.

— His case is similar to that of Stefan Zweig, Honoré de Balzac, Tirant lo Blanc and Don Quixote: sometimes what is limited is not the scope of the work, but the reading ability of some critics.