The Burgomaster of Furnes
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Le Bourgmestre de Furnes is a Belgian novel by Georges Simenon. It was first published in 1939.
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Summary
It was through intrigue that Joris Terlinck got a cigar factory and became mayor of Furnes, a small town near Ostend. Respected or rather hated by everyone, he is called the Baas (boss). His employee Jef Claes comes to ask him for a thousand francs to finance the abortion of his friend Lina, daughter of the conservative leader and worst political enemy of the Baas, Léonard Van Hamme. Terlinck refuses the request. At the end of his tether, Jef commits suicide after a vain attempt to kill Lina.
Terlinck is shocked, but the fright does not change his character. He tries to get closer to Lina, whom Léonard has sent to Ostend to remove her from the eyes of the Furnois. His solicitude goes as far as paying her money, because Léonard hopes to hold her by the money to ensure her conduct.
While his trips to Ostend are the talk of the town, Terlinck apostrophizes Léonard in public: "I have just bought your daughter! "The Baas having gone over the edge, the members of the town council try to destabilize him by helping Jef Claes' mother, who wants to bring the Baas to justice because of the kidnapping of her daughter. The final blow was dealt by the vote of no confidence during the last town council meeting, where Terlinck speaks about his vision for the future of his town.
Further reading
Joris Terlinck, mayor of Veurne (the Baas, as he is called with fearful respect), is a dry, authoritarian, contemptuous man who, from a humble family, has made an enviable position for himself by the strength of his wrists, with few scruples. His harshness does not spare those around him - wife, servant, collaborators - with the exception of his daughter Emilia, a mentally ill woman whom he surrounds, without showing off, with constant and touching care. The opposition to the mayor was represented by the Catholic Circle, presided over by Léonard Van Hamme, Terlinck's only serious rival. The latter refused one day to give a young employee of his factory an advance of one day to a young employee of his factory to get an abortion for his friend Lina, whom he cannot marry at the moment and who is none other than Van Hamme's own daughter. At the height of despair, the young man commits suicide, as he had announced.
To save face, Van Hamme rejects his daughter, who goes to live in Ostend where she will give birth. In the meantime, Terlinck, tormented by the tragedy he could have prevented, goes regularly to visit Lina. His frequent trips to Ostend, soon to be known in Furnes, are misinterpreted, and Lina's friend, who lives with her, is surprised that he does not think of supporting the future young mother. He was content to feel, in this feminine presence, "something sweet, something shy" that was not usual for him. The illness of Theresa Terlinck, suffering from cancer, worsened rapidly. On the political front, tension was growing, fueled by the intractable character of the mayor. The conflict takes an acute turn when Terlinck, cynically, tells Van Hamme, Lina's oblivious father, that he has just bought his daughter... During a meeting of the town council, where he says what is in his heart in a courageous speech that completes the vacuum around him, the mayor of Veurne resigns. In the meantime, his wife dies, his daughter is taken away from him by court order to be placed in an asylum, the natural son he once had from his maid Maria manages to get money from him (the money he refused to give to Lina's friend) and his sister-in-law Martha, who cared for his wife and whom he hates, will take the place of the dead wife. For the house must go on. However, Lina, Ostend: if he had wanted...
Special aspects of the novel
The story is centered on the psychological study of a man of character, who has his own morals, with which he does not compromise. A tragic incident will shake this monolith, where secretly painful cracks are revealed.
See also
