The Door (Simenon novel)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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La Porte (1962, The Door) is a 'roman dur' by Georges Simenon. The story of a married man who's lost his hands in a war accident and in his later years becomes morbidly jealous of his wife and unwittingly drives her in the hands of another man. There is a typical tragic ending.
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Plot
In their apartment on the rue de Turenne, Bernard and Nelly Foy lead a peaceful and monotonous existence, he finding, thanks to prostheses that replace both his hands, a semblance of activity that allows him to paint lampshades and to take care of the household, she working outside in an important trimmings company. Every day, one of Nelly's colleagues, Gisèle, sends her an errand or a message for her brother Pierre, a young draughtsman, paralyzed from the waist down by polio, who lives on the second floor of the Foy building. The visits, always very brief, that Nelly - a very pretty woman - makes regularly to this mysterious character worry Bernard. Without any plausible reason, however, because the couple is very united and Nelly tries to multiply the proofs of attention and tenderness for her husband. But jealousy gradually eats away at this man "hypnotized by a door, by a button of ivory earthenware to the point of wanting to feel it with the end of his hook."
One morning, on the eve of the day when the annual vacation would interrupt Nelly's visits to the invalid for three weeks, Bernard leaves the apartment a few moments after she does in order to go shopping. He passes in front of the half-open door of the second floor, while his wife has just entered: time enough to see her, "from behind, leaning on a seated man who is hugging her". Before she can get out of the way, suspecting a presence behind her, Bernard flees. In deepest turmoil, he wanders the streets of the neighborhood and, when he returns, finds his wife lying bloody on the bed, the wrist of one hand cut. She has committed suicide. He follows suite by taking sleeping pills.
Blurb
World War II veteran Bernard Foy determinedly carries on a normal life despite having had his hands blown off in the war, but the fidelity of his beautiful wife, Nelly, and her activities behind a door three flights down become an obsession for the embittered man
Particular aspects of the novel
A story that describes the progression of cloudy feelings that end up altering the character of the protagonist and the serenity of his wife. Several flashbacks. The denouement finds the reader unprepared for such a suddenly tragic ending.
Technical details
Space and time
Space
Paris (quartier du Temple). References to Epinal.
Time
Contemporary time. (A few years after World War II).
Characters
Main
Bernard Foy, a former garage mechanic, a major war invalid (both hands amputated). Married, no children. 42 years old.
Other characters
- Nelly, his wife, employee, 38 years old
- Pierre Mazeron, handicapped, 28 years old (a character who is mentioned, without ever appearing).
Editions
- Édition originale : Presses de la Cité, 1962
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. 214-215
See also
