Pigalle (narration)
Pigalle (original title Rue Pigalle ) is a short story by Georges Simenon , in which Commissioner Maigret investigates in the Parisian entertainment district of the same name . The work belonging to the series of Maigret novels and stories, one of the shortest Maigret stories, was written in October 1936 in Neuilly-sur-Seine . The story first appeared on November 28 and December 5, 1936 in the Paris-Soir- Dimanche newspaper and again in the same newspaper on November 29, 1944 under the title Inspector Maigret Investigates .
The story was published in book form in 1944 in the volume of stories Les Nouvelles Enquêtes de Maigret by Gallimard . The story was first published in 1976 by Kiepenheuer and Witsch in a German translation by Hansjürgen Wille and Barbara Klau, and in a new translation by Inge Giese in 1980 in the volume Madame Maigret's Lovers published by Diogenes Verlag .
action
One morning Maigret received an anonymous phone call on the Quai des Orfèvres that sent him to the Pigalle entertainment district. There he is supposed to learn something about a certain Martino from Antibes , whose brother was allegedly sent to French Guiana . Now he is sitting in the Chez Marina restaurant and observing a group of gangsters, each of whom he knows well. There he finds Lucien, the owner, together with Christiani, whom he holed ten years earlier and who had knocked out two of his teeth on this occasion. Then there is René Lecoeur, known as the “accountant” who was Christiani's recruit, and Fred, Christiani's accomplice. Then there are Marina and Julie, a Breton. A mirror was broken. Across the street, in a bar run by a man from Auvergne , Maigret sees Niçois and Pepito sitting, two figures from a rival gang who are just as patiently waiting. Maigret collects Fred and Christiani's weapons, but Lecoeur has no weapon. The inspector knows that the men across the street think Christiani has turned into Martino's brother. But where was the body? Finally Maigret realizes that a passing van is stopping; he makes Lucas stop the car and one finds Martino's corpse packed in the luggage compartment, which was delivered by a resident from the second floor. Meanwhile, Lucas is looking for the tenant, who is found tied up. Martino must have come to cause trouble. Christiani tried to shoot, but only hit the mirror. Lecoeur shot him to death, and then the body was carried up to the second floor to get the van. Lecouer's rifle is eventually found on the roof.
expenditure
After it was first published in the Paris-Soir-Dimanche (supplément, n ° 49), the story appeared in the anthology Les nouvelles enquêtes de Maigret (Paris, Gallimard, NRF., 1944). It was included in the Simenon works Œuvres complètes (Lausanne, Editions Rencontre, 1967–1973) in Volume IX, in Tout Simenon (Paris, Presses de la Cité, 1988–1993) in Volume 24 and in Tout Simenon (Paris, Omnibus, 2002–2004) included in volume 24. It is also available in German translation in the anthology Complete Maigret Stories ( ISBN 978-3-257-06682-1 ) published by Diogenes in 2009 .
Web links
- Pigalle at Maigret.de
- Tout Simenon
- Repérage
- Maigret of the month: Rue Pigalle