Les Fiançailles de M. Hire

*The Engagement*
	First edition
Author	Georges Simenon
Original title	Les Fiançailles de M. Hire
Translator	Anna Moschovakis
Language	French
Genre	Mystery Novel
Publisher	Éditions Fayard
Publication date	1933
Media type	Print
Pages	135 (NYRB)

Les Fiançailles de M. Hire (Monsieur Hire's Engagement) is a short novel by Belgian writer Georges Simenon. It is one of the author's first self-described roman durs or "hard novels" to distinguish it from his romans populaires or "popular novels," which are primarily mysteries that usually feature his famous Inspector Maigret character.

The novel is divided into eleven chapters, and is written using the third-person narrative mode.

Plot[]

Monsieur Hire, a small-time crook of Jewish origin, lives a lonely isolated life without female companionship (apart from his visits to the brothel). Unpopular with his neighbors, he becomes the ideal suspect for the murder of a young prostitute whose corpse is found in a vacant lot near his home. The police place him under 24-hour surveillance and wait for him to do anything suspicious.

Once a week, Hire is the unlikely star of a Parisian bowling club, where people think he works for the police. Apart from his passion for bowling, Hire is a peeping Tom and obsessed with the voyeuristic observation of his neighbor Alice. During his nocturnal observations, he is able to identify the perpetrator of the crime who is none other than Alice's boyfriend. Believing that Alice loves him, he does not denounce her boyfriend in order to protect her. At the moment of his arrest, with a lynch mob pursuing him, Hire takes refuge on the roof of a building but falls to his death and dies in the arms of firefighters.^[1]

English language editions[]

Les Fiançailles de M. Hire has been translated into English twice: once by Daphne Woodward as Mr. Hire's Engagement for Hamish Hamilton in 1956, and a second time by Anna Moschovakis as The Engagement for New York Review Books in 2007.^[1] The former version also appeared as The Sacrifice, comprising Mr. Hire's Engagement and Young Cardinaud as well as in one of the Simenon Omnibuses; the latter edition contains an afterword by John N. Gray.

Film versions[]

The book has been filmed four times:

as Panique by Julien Duvivier in 1947, starring Michel Simon and Viviane Romance^[2]
in a Spanish language version as by Ladislao Vajda in 1947^[3] and then in a Portuguese version as Viela (Rua Sem Sol)^[4]
and finally as Monsieur Hire by Patrice Leconte in 1989, starring Michel Blanc and Sandrine Bonnaire^[5]

References[]

^ ^a ^b Simenon, Georges (2007). The engagement. Anna Moschovakis, John Gray. New York: New York Review Books. ISBN 978-1-59017-228-5. OCLC 76183748.
^ Duvivier, Julien (1947-11-26), Panique (Crime, Drama), Filmsonor, retrieved 2021-10-17
^ Vajda, Ladislao (1947-11-24), Barrio (Crime, Drama), Ediciones Cinematográficas Faro, Doperfilme, retrieved 2021-10-17
^ Vajda, Ladislao (1947-09-19), Viela, Rua Sem Sol (Crime, Drama), Doperfilme, retrieved 2021-10-17
^ Leconte, Patrice, Monsieur Hire (Crime, Drama, Romance), Cinéa, Hachette Première, FR3 Films Production, retrieved 2021-10-17

[:0-1] Simenon, Georges (2007). The engagement. Anna Moschovakis, John Gray. New York: New York Review Books. ISBN 978-1-59017-228-5. OCLC 76183748.

[2] Duvivier, Julien (1947-11-26), Panique (Crime, Drama), Filmsonor, retrieved 2021-10-17

[3] Vajda, Ladislao (1947-11-24), Barrio (Crime, Drama), Ediciones Cinematográficas Faro, Doperfilme, retrieved 2021-10-17

[4] Vajda, Ladislao (1947-09-19), Viela, Rua Sem Sol (Crime, Drama), Doperfilme, retrieved 2021-10-17

[5] Leconte, Patrice, Monsieur Hire (Crime, Drama, Romance), Cinéa, Hachette Première, FR3 Films Production, retrieved 2021-10-17

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]