Monsieur Monde Vanishes
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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La Fuite de Monsieur Monde (1945, English literal translation: "The flight of mister Monde") is a 'roman dur' by Georges Simenon.
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Plot
Norbert Monde is a frustrated man out of touch with himself and disappointed by his family. He has already had the desire to flee, and on his 48th birthday, he decides to leave everything behind, to seek a new life. He therefore disappears, not without taking a sum of 300,000 francs. His wife, a dry and heartless person, has him searched for by the police: a clause in their marriage contract stipulates that she has to prove that he is alive, in order to have access to their vaults in the bank.
Mr. Monde begins by completely changing his appearance: he shaves his mustache, swaps his clothes for a wrinkled suit and will henceforth lead a poor existence, fascinated by his own moral and social humiliation.
Arrived in Marseille in a modest hotel, he prevents a woman in a neighbouring room, Julie, from committing suicide after being abandoned by her lover. Mr. Monde will help Julie, and the connection he is making with her will allow him to discover himself as human and good. One day, his money is stolen from him, without much affecting him.
The couple then goes to Nice to look for work. Mr. Monde is employed at “Monaco”, a dance hall where Julie was hired as a "entraîneuse"; he calls himself Désiré Clouet. It is there that he accidentally sees Thérèse, his first wife, who had become a morphine addict and was being looked after by "the Empress", an old and rich demi-mondaine. When "the Empress" dies, Thérèse is thrown onto the street. Mr. Monde finds her and seeks medical treatment for her. Then, he returns to Paris with her and entrusts her to a doctor-friend who will find her accommodation and take care of her, all at the expense of Mr. Monde.
However, contrary to what Thérèse might have believed, it was not for her that he came back: Mr. Monde returns home, without warning, and, as if nothing had happened, he resumes the daily routine. Inside, however, he has changed: the discomfort before the flight has turned into a "cold serenity".
Analysis
Built on the theme of deviance, the novel, once past the first pages devoted to the disappearance of Norbert Monde, follows the life of a middle-aged man, respectable and respected, who breaks with his environment and his habits. The change is for him like a rebirth which will help him to discover the feelings, the people and especially himself.
Where, when
Paris. Marseille. Nice. Pre-1945. Contemparaneous.
Characters
- Norbert Monde. Director of an import/export company. Divorced. Remarried. Two adult children. 48 years
- Madame Monde, his wife
- Thérèse, his first wife
- Julie, young nightclub hostess in Nice
Adaptation
- 2004 : La Fuite de Monsieur Monde, téléfilm de Claude Goretta, avec Bernard Le Coq.
Source
- Maurice Piron, Michel Lemoine, L'Univers de Simenon, guide des romans et nouvelles (1931-1972) de Georges Simenon, Presses de la Cité, 1983, p. 120-121 Template:ISBN
See also
