Striptease

Celita is a stripper at the Monico, a nightclub in Cannes, as well as the long-standing mistress of Monsieur Leon, the nightclub's owner. She enjoyed her struggle to win him away from his wife, Madame Florence, but when a new stripper named Maud becomes a star overnight, Celita at once realises that her hold over Leon is threatened. In this artistically-told story from the master of the genre, nothing can prepare us for its violent and startlingly tragic end.

Refining storytelling to near-Spartan brevity, Simenon is bound to provoke intense reactions to his fiction, whether policiers or "straight novels" like this one. Brain's translation of the 1958 French edition, true to the author's original, brings us to the tacky Monico nightclub in Cannes. Celita, a veteran among the semipro entertainers, perceives a threat when Maud shows up to audition as a stripper. Aware of the scheming tramp behind Maud's pose of sweet naivete, Celita fears the new girl will seduce Leon, owner of the Monico, and ruin Celita's chances to win him away from his wife. Desperate to get rid of her rival, Celita becomes the loser in a psychological battle. Although the result is ineluctably tragic, as hinted in mounting events, it comes as a shock, especially since Simenon fills us with pity for all the poor "dancers" who live such loveless, hopeless lives.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This is not another of Inspector Maigret's adventures. Rather, it belongs to the second type of Simenon's fiction: the detailed description (almost cruel in its accuracy) of the world of the very poor, imprisoned in their poverty and existing day by day while trying to escape from their frustrating, dead-end existence. The backdrop is a striptease joint in Cannes called the Monico, and the main focus is on Celita, one of the regular "girls" of the nightly show, who schemes to steal owner Monsieur Leon from his ailing, middle-aged wife. This is not a joyful story, and its ending may leave some readers quite depressed. Still, the translation has captured the heavy, emotionally charged atmosphere, and the book raises interesting questions about human survival in economically and socially adverse conditions. For a Maigret book, see Briefly Noted, p. 168.
- Ed. -- Danielle Mihram, NYU Lib.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.