The Venice Train (Simenon novel)
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Le Train de Venise (1965, The Venice Train) is a 'roman dur' by Georges Simenon, the story of a family man in his forties who comes into possession of a large fortune which will lead to his demise.
The problem of finding a large amount of money was also the subject of The Man from London (1934) and The Mouse (1938).
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Résumé
Back from vacation, Justin Calmar takes the train from Venice to Paris alone; his wife and children will return a few days later. In his compartment, a stranger cleverly manages to obtain all sorts of information about him. Calmar is ashamed of his complacency, but this does not prevent him from accepting the mission entrusted to him by the stranger: in Lausanne, where Calmar has two hours to wait before his connecting train, he has to take a small suitcase from the station's cloakroom and carry it to a nearby street, to the home of a certain Arlette Staub. The stranger, who was to continue his journey to Geneva, leaves the compartment at some point and does not appear again.
Confused, Calmar goes to Arlette Staub's house, only to discover the body of a murdered young woman. He runs away, returns home to Paris with the suitcase and finds that it contains a fortune in American and English money.
Then begins the torment of the honest Justin Calmar. What to do? The police? They wouldn't believe him: his story is unbelievable. Keep the money? But where? After some hesitation, the station lockers seemed a safer place than his apartment to deposit the briefcase that has replaced the compromising suitcase. Only, she has to move it and go regularly from one station to another. However, reading "La tribune de Lausanne" informs him about the investigation opened after the death of Arlette Staub. Is he not in danger? At work and at home, people are worried about his poor appearance. He feels trapped by the lies he uses to justify certain unusual expenses. Calmar discovers that he has never had a truly personal life since he depends on others more than on himself.
But now he has one, thanks to this briefcase that has become a cornucopia for him. The gifts offered to his wife and children are explained by alleged winnings in the trifecta. But, in the midst of his increasingly painful solitude, nobody can understand him... And yet, someone can: an office colleague, the ugly Mrs. Denave, who meets him one day at the locker of the Gare de l'Est, while he is changing his briefcase. She thinks she has guessed that he needs money and she would like to help him: she offers herself to him, body and soul. It happens in the office, on a Saturday afternoon. Calmar lets himself be possessed more than he possesses this woman he does not desire. And when he gets up, it is to see that his boss, who was thought to be far from Paris, has been the witness of this grotesque scene. Then, Calmar, ashamed and desperate, half unconscious, throws himself out the window.
Aspects particuliers du roman
Le récit suit un processus psychologique qui analyse l’inquiétude croissante du héros, à travers des monologues intérieurs, souvent traités en style indirect libre.
Technical data
Space and time
Space
The Venice-Lausanne-Paris train journey. Paris.
Time
Contemporary time.
The characters
Main character
Justin Calmar. Former language teacher in a high school, executive in a company. Married, two children. In his forties.
Other characters
- The stranger on the train: a foreigner, Slavic no doubt, of mature age
- Dominique, wife of Justin Calmar
- Mlle Denave, secretary, 32 years old.
Éditions
- Prépublication en feuilleton dans le mensuel La Revue de Paris, n° 10-12, d'octobre, novembre et décembre 1965
- Édition originale : Presses de la Cité, 1965
- Tout Simenon, tome 12, Omnibus, 2003 Template:ISBN
- Livre de Poche, n° 32148, 2011 Template:ISBN
- Romans durs, tome 11, Omnibus, 2013 Template:ISBN
Adaptations
- Sous le titre Le Train de Vienne, téléfilm réalisé par Caroline Huppert, avec Roland Blanche (Vincent), Thérèse Liotard (Suzanne), Christophe Odent (Fabrice), Jean-Yves Berteloot (Camille Lemoine), François Morel, diffusé en 1989.
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. 226-227 Template:ISBN
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