der erste Non.Maigret ( )

La conserje tosió antes de llamar, articuló, mirando el catálogo de Belle-Jardiniere que tenía en la mano: "Es una carta para usted, Monsieur Hire". »
Y se ciñó el chal alrededor del pecho. Nos movimos detrás de la puerta marrón. Era ya a la izquierda, ya a la derecha, ya pisadas, ya un suave susurro de telas o un choque de lozas, y los ojos grises del conserje parecían, a través del panel, seguir la estela del ruido invisible. Finalmente se acercó. La cabeza giró. Apareció un rectángulo de luz, un tapiz de flores amarillas, el mármol de un lavabo. Un hombre le tendió la mano, pero el portero no lo vio, o lo vio mal, en todo caso no le hizo caso porque su mirada inquisitiva se había fijado en otro objeto: una toalla empapada en sangre cuyo rojo oscuro contrastaba con el marmol frio...

Poor Monsier Hire is thought to be a killer, but really he is just an active peeping tom. The girl of his interest allows him to put his knees in her back at a soccer match (she is attending with her boyfriend, who is the real killer) and this is something. but ... finally she betrays him and he has an unpleasant end. Super, super. ( )

Hounded to Death
Review of the Penguin Classics paperback edition (2020) of a translation by Anna Moschovakis* of the French language original "Les Fiançailles de M.Hire" (1933)

Mr Hire's Engagement is a parable for the dangers of mob mentality and the persecution of "the other," but it is disguised as a thriller about obsession and betrayal. The protagonist Mr. Hire is portrayed as not likeable. He runs a small-time mail-order scam business in the 'get rich quick' category. He is a voyeur, particularly of a neighbour woman named Alice. He is a frequenter of prostitutes, although he seems to be of the 'I only want to talk' variety, from the one scene that we observe. Another aspect of his 'otherness' is in his Jewish origins. This is not emphasized very much in the book, but became a key element in the post-WWII film adaptation "Panique" (1946) (see Trivia and Link below).

Regardless of those factors, Hire still becomes our object of sympathy as he is framed for the murder of a woman whose body has been found in the neighbourhood. His appearance, his solitary habits, his awkwardness, his 'otherness,' make him the target for suspicion by his neighbours and the police. His obsession with his neighbour Alice (whose boyfriend is the real murderer) leads to his targeting and final destruction. There is a slight indication that justice might be served in the end if a message he has sent to the police gets through and is acted on, but given the overall atmosphere that is portrayed it seems very unlikely.

See cover image at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8c/LesFian%C3%A7aillesDeMHire.jpg
Cover of the first French language edition published by Fayard in 1933. Image sourced from Wikipedia

I've now read over a dozen of the early Simenon novellas/novels in the past five weeks and they continue to impress with how different they are not only from each other, but also from other "Golden Age of Crime" novels of that interwar era. I'm going to read a dozen of the Chief Inspector Maigret books and a half-dozen of the non-Maigret in this deep dive of the early Simenon. Many of the non-Maigret books are being translated into English for the first time and with 500 books in total there are probably quite a few yet to go.

Mr Hire's Engagement is the second of my readings of Georges Simenon's romans durs** (French: hard novels) which was his personal category for his non-Chief Inspector Maigret fiction. This is like Graham Greene, who divided his work into his "entertainments" and his actual "novels." Similar to Greene, the borders between the two areas are quite flexible as we are often still dealing with crime and the issues of morals and ethics. Simenon's romans durs are definitely in the noir category though, as compared to the sometimes lighter Maigrets where the often cantankerous Chief Inspector provides a solution and the guilty are brought to justice.

Trivia and Links
* This is the same translation by Anna Moschovakis as was previously issued as The Engagement (2007) by NYRB (New York Review of Books). That earlier edition includes an Afterword by John N. Gray which is not provided in the Penguin edition. Bonus Trivia: Anna Moschovakis was the translator for the 2021 International Booker Prize winner At Night All Blood Is Black (2020), translated from the French language original Frère d'âme (2018) by David Diop.

** There is a limited selection of 100 books in the Goodreads' Listopia of Simenon's romans durs which you can see here. Other sources say there are at least 117 of them, such as listed at Art and Popular Culture.

Mr. Hire's Engagement has been adapted 3 (some sources say 4) times as a feature film. The 1st film adaptation was the French language "Panique" (1946) dir. Julien Duvivier. This has been described as one of the finest adaptations of Simenon on film ever made. In a restored and expanded edition for Criterion it is described as a "noirish critique of the dangers of mob mentality during wartime." A trailer of the restored version with English subtitles can be viewed on YouTube here.

The 2nd and 3rd adaptation was as the Portuguese language Viela, Rua Sem Sol (The Alley, A Street Without Sun) (1947) and the Spanish language "Barrio (Neighbourhood) (1947) by director Ladislao Vajda. For some reason these are listed as 2 separate films on sources such as IMDb, so perhaps it is a case of different editing rather than simply different language versions. A non-English subtitled trailer can be viewed on YouTube here.

The 4th film adaptation was the French language "Monsieur Hire" (1989) dir. Patrice Leconte. Popular film critic Roger Ebert (1942-2013) included it in his list of Great Movies and you can read his review here. A trailer with English subtitles can be viewed on YouTube here. ( )

In The Engagement, an ironical title, the tension begins early and never lets up. In 1930s Paris, Mr. Hire, a milquetoast, loner fat man, a ready-made scapegoat, is accused of and basically framed for the murder of a woman. He has some unfortunate tendencies - voyeurism, an iffy way of making a living, and an unsavory arrest in the past.

The woman he has been peeking on conspires with her slimy boyfriend - the actual murderer - to draw suspicion to Mr. Hire. The world in the story is flattened morally - nobody appears to have purely good intentions. ( )