The Man With the Little Dog

by Georges Simenon, Jean Stewart (Translator)

Monsieur Felix is determined to end his life, until a chance encounter stirs up old memories, and a new desire to live

Genres: Fiction, French Literature, France

169 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (1903 – 1989) was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, Simenon 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.

Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. 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 (1960-63 and 1992-93) have been made in Great Britain.

During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946), Maigret à New York (1947), Maigret se fâche (1947)).

Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels", such as La neige était sale (1948) or Le fils (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular Je me souviens (1945), Pedigree (1948), Mémoires intimes (1981).

In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.

In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 77th place. In the Walloon version he ended 10th place.

Reviews

[Meltem Sağlam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nisan Yayınlarının Simenon Serisinin 12 numaralı kitabı Küçük Köpekli Adam.

Şimdiye kadar okuduğum Simenon kitapları arasında, beni en çok etkileyen kurgu ve anlatıma sahip olan roman olarak değerlendirebilirim.

Gizem, akıcı anlatım, kitabın sonuna kadar devam ediyor.

Çok beğendim.

[Phillip Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Man with the Little Dog was first published as L’Homme au petit chien in 1964. It was translated by Jean Stewart. I once heard a religious drama broadcast when I was a child, I think it was called ‘The Hour of St Francis’. It was about a man who had died in the street, and who had no identification. Nobody knew who he was. Eventually, someone recognised him, and he was taken to the apartment where he had lived. There, it transpired, nobody knew anything about him. He had lived his life without, it appeared, human contact. As far as other people were concerned, he was a cypher. The point of the broadcast was, I think, that such a life might appear to be meaningless, but it was not meaningless to god. The Man with the Little Dog is Simenon’s take on this story, about a little man, who in this case had at least a little dog he cared for, who dies in the street and seems to be a nobody, with no other human being to care for him, whose life appears to have been meaningless.

Felix Allard and his little dog Bib have their story told by Simenon, and so Felix turns out to be far from a nobody. Felix keeps a notebook. He is ill, and has resolved to kill himself by an overdose of sleeping tablets before his illness can incapacitate him. Before doing this, he attempts a summing up. It turns out to be the life story of a rather frigid, complacent man, well-off, learned, who ineffectually drifts through life until overtaken by financial ruin, jealousy and, finally, crime. It’s the story of a man here purely because a spermatozoa fertilised an egg, bound to develop in a certain way because of biological processes he has no control over, living in a society which determines his opportunities, and through that, his personality. A cypher. Simenon’s genius makes him an everyman.

It’s hard not to be moved by this book. Felix’s attitudes are limited, and many of his actions are foolish. His attitude, though, and his reflections, are those of any person who has ever reflected on the question, “why?” His plight is that of every human being who has ever lived. Not that different from Bib the dog, who gives his affection, performs his tricks, follows his instincts, and is rescued from one animal shelter only to end up, at Felix’s death, in another.

[Buket · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roman hem merak uyandirici hem aciklayici sekilde o kadar incelikle yazilmis ki hayran olmamak mumkun degil. Cok ince olmasina ragmen karakter gelisimini takip edebiliyorsunuz, bu kadar az sözle bu derinlikte yazabilmek cok sik rastlanir degil. Kullanilan dil gercekten olgun bir yazara yakisan laf ebeligine, uzun cümleleri evirip cevirip yapay bir zeka gosterisine kacmadan, sasirtici netlikte ve vuruculukta. Cevirmen de bes yildizi hak ediyor, kitap Turkce yazilsa bu kadar yazilabilirdi. Uzun zamandir bu kadar keyifle kitap okumamistim.

[Emre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Küçük köpeğiyle, kümese benzettiği, virane, birkaç zorunlu az sayıdaki eşyasıyla oturduğu gözlerden uzak yuvasında, sıradan, kendi halinde, sessiz ve münzevi bir hayatı sürdürmekte olan karakterimizin, yaşadıklarını rastgele edindiği defterlerine yazmaya başlamasıyla, başta edinilen izlenimin aksine, ne kadar şatafatlı,fırtınalı ve bir o kadar macera dolu bir hayatı hangi sebeplerle geride bırakmak zorunda kaldığını öğreniyoruz.

[Morteza Bahrami]

"Nobody belongs to anyone else.
Nobody has pity on anyone else, either."

[Emine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sondan başa ilerleyip sona dönen, kısa ve merak uyandıran temiz bir anlatım.

[Maeva ( maevareadsbooks_ ) · Rating 4 out of 5]

De Georges Simenon, je ne connaissais que les histoires de l’inspecteur Maigret dont nous avons eu une adaptation en série à la télé pendant des années en France et je n’aimais pas du tout. Je ne savais pas qu’il avait écrit d’autres choses et c’est grâce au challenge « Read the world » de Storygraph que j’ai lu ce livre pour la catégorie Belgique. Je l’ai choisi par hasard, uniquement parce qu’il y avait le mot « chien » dans le titre 😅 et je ne savais pas du tout à quoi m’attendre.

C’est très court, et ça se lit facilement. Par contre c’est triste… C’est difficile d’en dire plus sans spoiler quoi que ce soit de l’histoire ou de la fin. J’ai aimé la part de mystère sur certains événements du passé que l’on ne découvre que vers la fin. J’ai également aimé la relation de ce monsieur avec son petit chien Bib rescapé de la fourrière.

[John Barron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written as both a first person journal of current events and a reading of a journal of past events, the book chronicles the life of Félix Allard, a 48 yr old Frenchman. It is rich with personal philosophy and reflections which are thought provoting and honest.

Félix aims to distance himself from his parents, his sister, his colleagues, and his wife in a manner that it may be hard for the reader to comprehend. Perhaps, his little dog, Bib, is the only individual that he understands.

The book builds in a suspenseful manner until its end when Félix’s crime is revealed and the decision that he has been contemplating throughout the book is made.

This short book is worth reading in terms of its writing and insigt.

3.5 starts –not rounded up to 4 because I’m not sure what I am supposed to get out of reading it.

[Ron Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little gem of a book that I read over 4th of July weekend, when I was cleaning out my bookshelf. I’ve had the book for years but hesitated to read it, expecting it to be a crime mystery. Yes, there is a crime at the heart of the story, but the book is about so much more. A Parisian man, contemplating suicide, reflects on his life in a series of entries in a notebook.

It is a fascinating character study of a man in a certain time and place: Paris 1963 (I’m sure I could map out the streets he describes while walking his little dog ‘Bib’). The mystery is how this middle-ages man came to this point in his life, and it is slowly revealed in a steady progression of details.

It was enough of a good read to make me want to read another Simenon. Namely, ‘The Cat.’

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up at random from our local free book exchange, never having read Simenon before, but definitely going to read more. He draws you right in, with the simple set up of a man trying to escape his back story, now to be revealed as the novel progresses. But the gem of it is the layered emotions, the humanity as he takes care of his dog but not of himself, as he settles into an understanding of the past, and the quiet despair of his isolation. The prose is clean, the storytelling beautifully paced.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot to like in this one. Not a Maigret but also not a Roman durs of all bleak steely edges either. Lots of warm evocative setting and interior rumination in that inimitable Simenon style. Yes, the protagonist is ultimately revealed to have a... complicated... past, but there was a lot of thoughtful stuff even in this examined life.

[Justyna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Książka szybka i przyjemna, choć nie do końca łatwa. Wybrana na szybko w bibliotece - oby częściej udało się tak upolować coś dobrego.

"Wszyscy jesteśmy złodziejami. Kradniemy życia albo skrawki żyć, żeby karmić nimi swoje życie."

[Didine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Premier roman de Simenon, j’ai eu eu mal à me mettre dedans et avais du mal à voir où l’intrigue allait mener jusqu’à ce que Félix Allard fasse un bon dans le passé et nous raconte tout simplement sa vie si mystérieuse.

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best non-Maigret novels by Simenon and, as I've read most of them (in Dutch) that says a lot because I enjoyed nearly every Simenon novel.

[EU · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un « roman dur » bien construit qui, selon l’habitude de Simenon, met à nu une âme tourmentée.

[Pat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read p 7-42 of 207 - enough💤

[Judith Kerr · Rating 4 out of 5]

as usual. simenon very cleverly develops an unexpected plot. Enjoyed very much!!

[Şenol · Rating 3 out of 5]

ne iyi ne kötü