Aunt Jeanne (Simenon novel)
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Tante Jeanne (1951, English: Aunt Jeanne) is a 'roman dur' by Georges Simenon.
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Plot
An elderly woman returns to her village after forty years of absence. Tired, unwell and weary of life, she seeks asylum and safety. When she decides to visit her brother Robert, who had taken over his father's wine business, she finds him hanged: it is later revealed that he was on the verge of bankruptcy. Instead of the comfort she had hoped for, Jeanne Martineau discovers a family that has lost its way. Louise, her sister-in-law, drinks and is prone to hysteria. Alice, the twenty-year-old widow of a Martineau son, displays a haughty indifference, chases her boredom with unknown friends and would willingly abandon a very cumbersome baby. Henri, the son, with a weak character, as well as Madeleine, the daughter, proud and hurt by her own vices, despise their mother.
Faced with the drama that has just erupted, Jeanne takes charge of the household, revealing an efficiency that will earn her the trust of this torn family. As each of them confesses to her, a feeling of guilt linked to the memory of her past appears in her: if she considers herself the emblem of the Martineau's destiny, isn't she also the proof that there is a way to master it, to overcome it? This is what Aunt Jeanne will do. She helps Henri to come to terms with his mediocrity, dissuades Madeleine from running away as she herself had done, and strives to give Louise back her responsibility as a wife and mother.
The bankruptcy of Robert Martineau, which leads to the sale of the property after seizure, will force the family to leave. Jeanne decides to follow her to Poitiers, despite the aggravation of an edema in her leg that should force her to rest. The new fatigues that she accepts, the incomprehension or the ingratitude that she will perhaps meet at those that she will have surrounded and helped will not be able to prevent Aunt Jeanne from assuming her role until the end.
Special aspects of the novel
The rescue of a family adrift gives a reason to live to a distraught person who, through this form of self-transcendence, finds redemption for an old fault.
Work description
Space and time frame
Space
Pont-Saint-Jean, a town near Poitiers. Reference to North Africa.
Time
The action takes place after the Second World War.
The characters
Main character
Jeanne Martineau. Without profession, "widow" (without having been married) of an adventurer, Lauer, for whom she left her family. 57 years old.
Other characters
- Robert Martineau, brother of Jeanne
- Louise Martineau, his wife
- Henri Martineau, son of Robert, single, 18 years old
- Madeleine Martineau, daughter of Robert, single, 18 years old
- Alice, widow of Julien Martineau (Robert's third child).
See also
