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"Cuando Émile Maugin, un célebre actor veterano, descubre que un problema cardíaco amenaza seriamente su salud, decide reflexionar sobre su vida. Soberbio, brusco y cínico, aunque en el fondo generoso, reina como un tirano sobre el pequeño grupo de devotos súbditos que lo rodean, incluida Alice, su jovencísima segunda esposa. El miedo a la muerte, sin embargo, se cierne irremediablemente sobre él y lo lleva a soñar con hacer realidad una antigua aspiración de su primera mujer: show more vivir en una casa con postigos verdes, símbolo del éxito material pero también de la apacible seguridad que siempre lo ha eludido. ¿Será capaz de reconocer la felicidad a su alcance antes de que sea demasiado tarde?"--Back cover. Maugin is France's most famous stage and film actor. At the age of 60, he is at the height of his fame when he hears that he has the heart of a 75 year old. This announcement changes his life. He stops working, but not drinking, and goes to live on the Mediterranean with his young wife and her little daughter. He reflects on his life there. During a fishing trip he falls into a fishing hook, pays no attention to it and eventually dies of blood poisoning. show lessTags
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I wonder if this one was particularly close to Simenon's heart? It strikes me as he writes about the artist, who lives only for his work, and the way in which his life is conducted that it shares much with Simenon's own existence. I am thinking of his famous interview in The Paris Review:
Much in this story echoes those words as the great actor realises he has always been searching for something, running from....and running to. The character is ghastly and yet we feel sympathy for him, that uneasy sympathy that Simenon (and Highsmith) invoke, uneasy because we know this is a truly awful person and yet...
From the Paris Review interview again:
Poor artist. Poor Simenon. show less
show more
INTERVIEWER
Is there anything else you can say to beginning writers?
SIMENON
Writing is considered a profession, and I don’t think it is a profession. I think that everyone who does not need to be a writer, who thinks he can do something else, ought to do something else. Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness. I don’t think an artist can ever be happy.
INTERVIEWER
Why?
SIMENON
Because, first, I think that if a man has the urge to be an
artist, it is because he needs to find himself. Every writer tries to find himself through his characters, through all his writing.
INTERVIEWER
He is writing for himself?
SIMENON
Yes. Certainly.
INTERVIEWER
Are you conscious there will be readers of the novel?
SIMENON
I know that there are many men who have more or less the same problems I have, with more or less intensity, and who will be happy to read the book to find the answer—if the answer can possibly be found.
Much in this story echoes those words as the great actor realises he has always been searching for something, running from....and running to. The character is ghastly and yet we feel sympathy for him, that uneasy sympathy that Simenon (and Highsmith) invoke, uneasy because we know this is a truly awful person and yet...
From the Paris Review interview again:
SIMENON
When I did a commercial novel I didn’t think about that novel except in the hours of writing it. But when I am doing a novel now I don’t see anybody, I don’t speak to anybody, I don’t take a phone call—I live just like a monk. All the day I am one of my characters. I feel what he feels.
INTERVIEWER
You are the same character all the way through the writing of that novel?
SIMENON
Always, because most of my novels show what happens around one character. The other characters are always seen by him. So it is in this character’s skin I have to be. And it’s almost unbearable after five or six days. That is one of the reasons my novels are so short; after eleven days I can’t—it’s impossible. I have to—it’s physical. I am too tired.
INTERVIEWER
I should think so. Especially if you drive the main character to his limit.
SIMENON
Yes, yes.
INTERVIEWER
And you are playing this role with him, you are—
SIMENON
Yes. And it’s awful. That is why, before I start a novel—this may sound foolish here, but it is the truth—generally a few days before the start of a novel I look to see that I don’t have any appointments for eleven days. Then I call the doctor. He takes my blood pressure, he checks everything. And he says, “Okay.”
Poor artist. Poor Simenon. show less
I wonder if this one was particularly close to Simenon's heart? It strikes me as he writes about the artist, who lives only for his work, and the way in which his life is conducted that it shares much with Simenon's own existence. I am thinking of his famous interview in The Paris Review:
Much in this story echoes those words as the great actor realises he has always been searching for something, running from....and running to. The character is ghastly and yet we feel sympathy for him, that uneasy sympathy that Simenon (and Highsmith) invoke, uneasy because we know this is a truly awful person and yet...
From the Paris Review interview again:
Poor artist. Poor Simenon. show less
show more
INTERVIEWER
Is there anything else you can say to beginning writers?
SIMENON
Writing is considered a profession, and I don’t think it is a profession. I think that everyone who does not need to be a writer, who thinks he can do something else, ought to do something else. Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness. I don’t think an artist can ever be happy.
INTERVIEWER
Why?
SIMENON
Because, first, I think that if a man has the urge to be an
artist, it is because he needs to find himself. Every writer tries to find himself through his characters, through all his writing.
INTERVIEWER
He is writing for himself?
SIMENON
Yes. Certainly.
INTERVIEWER
Are you conscious there will be readers of the novel?
SIMENON
I know that there are many men who have more or less the same problems I have, with more or less intensity, and who will be happy to read the book to find the answer—if the answer can possibly be found.
Much in this story echoes those words as the great actor realises he has always been searching for something, running from....and running to. The character is ghastly and yet we feel sympathy for him, that uneasy sympathy that Simenon (and Highsmith) invoke, uneasy because we know this is a truly awful person and yet...
From the Paris Review interview again:
SIMENON
When I did a commercial novel I didn’t think about that novel except in the hours of writing it. But when I am doing a novel now I don’t see anybody, I don’t speak to anybody, I don’t take a phone call—I live just like a monk. All the day I am one of my characters. I feel what he feels.
INTERVIEWER
You are the same character all the way through the writing of that novel?
SIMENON
Always, because most of my novels show what happens around one character. The other characters are always seen by him. So it is in this character’s skin I have to be. And it’s almost unbearable after five or six days. That is one of the reasons my novels are so short; after eleven days I can’t—it’s impossible. I have to—it’s physical. I am too tired.
INTERVIEWER
I should think so. Especially if you drive the main character to his limit.
SIMENON
Yes, yes.
INTERVIEWER
And you are playing this role with him, you are—
SIMENON
Yes. And it’s awful. That is why, before I start a novel—this may sound foolish here, but it is the truth—generally a few days before the start of a novel I look to see that I don’t have any appointments for eleven days. Then I call the doctor. He takes my blood pressure, he checks everything. And he says, “Okay.”
Poor artist. Poor Simenon. show less
Émile Maugin es un actor parisino de teatro y cine que, a sus cincuenta y nueve años, saborea el éxito y el reconocimiento, al tiempo que vive felizmente casado en terceras nupcias. Sin embargo, durante una visita rutinaria al médico, éste le diagnostica un problema de corazón y le recomienda evitar los excesos. Llega entonces el momento de reflexionar: Maugin tiene cinco películas en perspectiva, más una obra de teatro en cartelera, poco tiempo y ciertos vicios «ineludibles». En casa se muestra igual de caprichoso e imperativo que entre bambalinas. Poco a poco, el miedo a morir lo lleva a recordar su pasado: sus orígenes humildes, sus anteriores mujeres... Para paliar la angustia, decide descansar por vez primera en su vida, show more y se marcha una temporada con su familia al sur de Francia, con la esperanza de recuperar su salud. Quién sabe si aún está a tiempo de restablecerse, o, al menos, de encontrar un sentido a su vida. show less
Feb 24, 2023Spanish
Il n’est pas vraiment vieux mais au top de sa célébrité. Il n’est pas vraiment malade, mais son médecin vient de lui dire que la machine est irrémédiablement usée. C’est un bourreau de travail mais franchement alcoolique. Homme à femmes, tyran à l’âme vide.
C’est le bout du chemin. Et maintenant ?
La star se met à douter, à regretter, à chercher un sens et à prendre peur. Seul devant sa fin.
Mais la sauce ne prend pas vraiment, tout semble là, les anecdotes sonnent juste, mais ces volets verts peinent à s’ouvrir
C’est le bout du chemin. Et maintenant ?
La star se met à douter, à regretter, à chercher un sens et à prendre peur. Seul devant sa fin.
Mais la sauce ne prend pas vraiment, tout semble là, les anecdotes sonnent juste, mais ces volets verts peinent à s’ouvrir
Apr 22, 2025French
Emile Maugin, qui se sent épuisé, apprend du médecin qui l'examine qu'il n'a plus une longue espérance de vie devant lui. Par cette révélation, il est amené à faire un retour sur lui-même : acteur comblé, il règne de manière tyrannique sur son entourage qui vit à ses dépens. Parvenu au faîte de la gloire, il aime à rappeler son enfance misérable dans le Marais vendéen au sein d'une famille répugnante. Cela fait partie de sa légende, qu'il entretient par son impolitesse, ses brusqueries et son penchant pour la boisson. Pourtant, lui aussi rêve confusément, comme le faisait sa première femme, d'une maison aux volets verts, symbole de réussite matérielle, mais également de cette sécurité paisible qui lui a show more toujours fait défaut. Un seul être pourrait le sauver : Alice, jeune femme sincère et désintéressée. Ancienne figurante, elle était enceinte lorsque Maugin l'a rencontrée et en a fait son épouse. Mais ils semblent incapables de former un vrai couple. Refusant le bonheur qui s'offre à lui, Maugin découvre une raison de souffrir, lorsque le hasard le met en présence de l'ancien amant d'Alice, père de Baba, son petit garçon. Cherchant le repos, l'acteur se met en congé et va s'installer avec sa famille dans le Midi, mais ce changement ne résout rien. Désœuvré, livré à des passe-temps dérisoires, il continue à s'enivrer. A Paris, où il est revenu pour rendre visite à un ancien compagnon de jeunesse en train de mourir dans la misère, il doit être hospitalisé pour une blessure à la cheville qui se gangrène. Eloigné des siens, Maugin entre dans la mort sans s'expliquer le sens de sa vie : que poursuivait-il ? que fuyait-il ? show less
Nov 12, 2010French
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1,321+ Works 62,930 Members
The prolific Belgian-born writer Georges Simenon produced hundreds of fictional works under his own name and 17 pseudonyms, in addition to more than 70 books about Inspector Maigret, long "the favorite sleuth of highbrow detective-story readers" (SR). More than 50 "Simenons" have been made into films. In addition to his mystery stories, he wrote show more what he called "hard" books, the serious psychological novels numbering well over 100. The autobiographical Pedigree, set in his native town of Liege, is perhaps his finest work. The publication of Simenon's intimate memoirs also attracted considerable attention. Simenon himself once said that he would never write a "great novel." Yet Gide called him "a great novelist, perhaps the greatest and truest novelist we have in French literature today," and Thornton Wilder (see Vol. 1) found that Simenon's narrative gift extends "to the tips of his fingers." The following are some of Simenon's novels, exclusive of the Maigret detective stories, that are in print. (Bowker Author Biography) Georges Simenon was born on February 13, 1903 in Liege, Belgium. He wrote more than 200 fiction works under 16 different pseudonyms. His first book, The Case of Peter the Lent led to 80 more of the like including the main character, Inspector Maigret. He published over 400 books that were translated into 50 different languages and sold by the millions. He also wrote psychological novels, including The Man Who Watched the Train Go By. He died on September 4, 1989 in Lausanne. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Heart of a Man
- Original title
- Les volets verts
- Alternate titles*
- Los postigos verdes; Las persianas verdes
- Original publication date
- 1950
- People/Characters
- Emile Maugin
- Related movies*
- Les volets verts (2022 | IMDb); Les volets verts (1988 | IMDb)
- First words
- It was curious: the darkness that surrounded him was not the inert, impalpable, negative darkness he was accustomed to.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)When she opened the train at Paris, she saw in enormous black letters on the front page of all the newspapers: Maugin is Dead!
- Original language*
- Francés
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Mystery
- DDC/MDS
- 843.914 — Literature & rhetoric French Literature French fiction 1900- 20th Century 1945-1999
- LCC
- PQ2637 .I53 .V5613 — Language and Literature French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese literatures French literature Modern literature 1900-1960
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 106
- Popularity
- 302,945
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (3.07)
- Languages
- 8 — Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 20
- ASINs
- 8
