“Maigret’s Anger” flares up in Iranian bookstores

August 31, 2022 - 18:3

TEHRAN – “Maigret’s Anger”, a detective novel by Belgian author Georges Simenon, has been published in Persian.

Jahan-e Ketab is the publisher of the book rendered into Persian by Abbas Agahi, a prominent Iranian translator of French literature.

His translation of Simenon’s other books, including “Maigret Is Having Fun” and “Maigret and the Killer”, have previously been published by the publisher.

An English translation of “Maigret’s Anger” by Gareth Armstrong came out in 2021.

During a quiet spell in June, Maigret is called to investigate the disappearance of a reputable businessman. 

When a body is discovered near the famous Père Lachaise cemetery, Maigret struggles to find any clues pointing to the perpetrator and loses his temper when his own reputation is threatened by the case.  

Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels in new translations. This novel has been published in a previous translation as “Maigret Loses His Temper”.

Simenon was a prolific author who published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works. He is best known as the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret.

Although he never resided in Belgium after 1922, he remained a Belgian citizen throughout his life.

His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed.

He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, “Pietr-le-Letton”, appeared in 1931. The last one, “Maigret et M. Charles”, was published in 1972. 

The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Two television series based upon them have been made in Great Britain.

Photo: A combination photo shows Georges Simenon and the front cover of the Persian edition of his novel “Maigret’s Anger”.

MMS/YAW

Leave a Comment