The Ostenders
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Le Clan des Ostendais (1947) is a 'roman dur' by Georges Simenon.
It was translated as The Ostenders in English and as Vlucht uit Oostende in Dutch.
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Summary
To escape the onset of WWII, Omer Petermans loads his family and that of his sailors, along with all their belongings, onto his five trawlers. But in the port of La Rochelle, the French authorities requisition the boats. The Ostenders are therefore forced to settle in the city. They are separated from the French by language, and from the other refugees by their material wealth. Thanks to his calm will, Omer obtains the authorization to fish. Each time he returns, he deposits part of his catch at the reception center and at the town hall.
But the war continues. First the Belgians surrender, then there are bombings, then the Germans arrive. Omer serves as an intermediary between the Germans and the French, which contributes to making him look bad to the latter. He obtains from the German authorities the necessary papers to continue fishing. However, the difficulties accumulate for the head of the clan: when Mina and her mother are too welcoming to the German occupiers, when one of his trawlers is blown up by a mine, he sinks a little more into his silence each time. Maria, his wife, wonders about his silences, about his attitude that is believed to be favorable to the Germans, about his secrets. A second boat blows up, causing new deaths and new pain in the Ostend clan. It is then that Omer speaks to his wife to inform her of his decisions. The German occupation that they wanted to flee has reached them: they have to leave on board the trawlers in the greatest secrecy. However, a third boat is blown up, and more despair follows. So Omer, that very night, precipitates the departure.
The next day, they are in sight of the white cliffs of England. Omer Petermans has only two boats left out of five, he has only one son left out of three. But to stay together, without constriction, he has paid a high price, the price of a freedom that finally makes him smile.
Special aspects of the novel
Faced with the common boredom responsible for the war, a conflict is born that opposes people of different language and morals: French from the West and Flemish from Ostend. In the latter group, other differences, based on the social hierarchy, are apparent.
Data sheet of the work
Spatial and temporal framework
Space
La Rochelle and its surroundings.
Time
Characters
Main character
Omer Petermans, Belgian (Flemish). Captain of a trawler fishing in the seas of Iceland. Married, three sons, two daughters. In his fifties.
Other characters
- Maria Petermans, wife of Omer
- Young Maria, daughter-in-law of the Petermans, pregnant
- Mina, daughter of a fisherman employed by Omer, 16 or 17 years old.
Éditions
- Édition originale : Gallimard, 1947
- Tout Simenon, tome 25, Omnibus, 2003 Template:ISBN
- Folio Policier n° 558, 2009 Template:ISBN
- Romans durs, tome 6, Omnibus, 2012 Template:ISBN
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. 130-131 Template:ISBN
Article connexe
Liste des œuvres de Georges Simenon
See also
