A Battle of Nerves
First edition | |
Author | Georges Simenon |
---|---|
Original title | La Tête d'un homme |
Translator | Geoffrey Sainsbury |
Language | French |
Series | Inspector Jules Maigret |
Genre | Detective fiction |
Publisher | Fayard |
Publication date | 1931 |
Publication place | Belgium |
Published in English | 1939 |
Media type | |
Preceded by | The Crime of Inspector Maigret |
Followed by | Maigret and the Yellow Dog |
A Battle of Nerves (French: La Tête d'un homme, also known as A Man's Head) is a detective novel by Belgian writer Georges Simenon, featuring his character Inspector Jules Maigret. Published in 1931, it is one of the earliest of Simenon's "Maigret" novels, and one of eleven he had published that year.
It was one of the most successful of the early titles and among the first Maigrets to be filmed.
Plot summary
Maigret had been investigating the murder of Mme. Henderson, a rich American woman, and her maid, at her house in Saint-Cloud. Despite the evidence against the main suspect, Joseph Heurtin, which earned him the death sentence, Maigret feels sure Heurtin is not the guilty party. Convinced Heurtin knows the real killer, he contrives to let the man escape, following him to see where he leads. Heurtin heads for a small inn on the Seine, the Citanguette, where he lies low. Meanwhile Maigret pursues another lead, a note written from the Hotel Coupole. At the hotel, he finds William Kirby, Mme. Henderson's nephew, and an impoverished medical student, Johann Radek. While Maigret is there, Heurtin arrives, at which Radek contrives to have himself arrested on a minor charge. While in custody, Radek taunts Maigret over his lack of success in the case, hinting that he knows the full story and who the real killer is.
Maigret has to endure Radek's needling while pursuing his investigation until he is able to turn the tables on him and unmask the real killer.[1][2]
Other titles
The book has been translated twice into English; in 1939 by Geoffrey Sainsbury as A Battle of Nerves (and variously reprinted as A Man's Head, The Patience of Maigret and Maigret's War of Nerves) and in 2015 by David Coward as A Man's Head.[3]
Adaptations
A Man's Head has been dramatized numerous times, in several languages. First filmed in 1933, just two years after publication, and was among the first to be filmed.
The story has been filmed twice: In French, in 1933, as A Man's Neck; starring Harry Baur in the title role,[4] and in English, in 1950, as The Man on the Eiffel Tower (with Charles Laughton).[5]
It has also been adapted for television seven times: in 1963, the title was changed to Death in Mind and it was filmed for the BBC series starring Rupert Davies; in Italian in 1965 (Gino Cervi) for Le inchieste del commissario Maigret; in Dutch in 1969 (Jan Teulings); and in Russian in 1992 (Vladimir Samoilov). It has been adapted for French TV on three occasions: in 1967, for the Jean Richard series, and re-made for that series in 1983; and in 1996 for the French television series starring Bruno Cremer.[6]
Notes
- ^ Simenon, tr. Sainsbury
- ^ La Tête d'un homme at trussel.com.; retrieved 17 May 2016
- ^ Publication notes at trussel.com; retrieved 17 May 2016
- ^ "Julien Duvivier: Poetic Craftsman of Cinema". Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
- ^ "The Screen In Review; 'The Man on the Eiffel Tower,' From Novel by Simenon, Opens at the Criterion". The New York Times. 30 January 1950. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
- ^ Film history at trussel.com.; retrieved 17 May 2016
References
- Georges Simenon A Man's Head (1931; translated G Sainsbury, reprinted 2006) Penguin Red Classics, London ISBN 978-0-141-02589-6
External links
- Maigret at trussel.com
- A Man's Head by Patrick Marnham (2003) at trussel.com.
- v
- t
- e
novels
- The Strange Case of Peter the Lett (1931)
- The Crime at Lock 14 (1931)
- The Death of Monsieur Gallet (1931)
- The Crime of Inspector Maigret (1931)
- A Battle of Nerves (1931)
- Maigret and the Yellow Dog (1931)
- Maigret at the Crossroads (1931)
- The Sailors' Rendezvous (1931)
- Maigret at the Gai-Moulin (1931)
- Guinguette by the Seine (1931)
- The Shadow in the Courtyard (1932)
- Maigret Goes Home (1932)
- The Flemish Shop (1932)
- Death of a Harbour Master (1932)
- The Madman of Bergerac (1932)
- Maigret in Exile (1940)
- Maigret and the Hotel Majestic (1942)
- Maigret and the Spinster (1942)
- To Any Lengths (1944)
- Maigret and the Toy Village (1944)
- Maigret in Retirement (1947)
- Maigret in New York (1947)
- A Summer Holiday (1948)
- Maigret's Dead Man (1948)
- Maigret's First Case (1948)
- My Friend Maigret (1949)
- Maigret and the Coroner (1949)
- Maigret and the Old Lady (1950)
- Madame Maigret's Own Case (1950)
- Maigret's Memoirs (1950)
- Inspector Maigret and the Strangled Stripper (1950)
- Maigret and the Burglar's Wife (1951)
- Maigret, Lognon and the Gangsters (1951)
- Maigret's Revolver (1952)
- Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard (1953)
- Maigret's Mistake (1953)
- Maigret Goes to School (1954)
- Maigret and the Headless Corpse (1955)
- Maigret Sets a Trap (1955)
- Maigret's Failure (1956)
- Maigret Has Scruples (1958)
- Maigret and the Lazy Burglar (1961)
- Maigret and the Saturday Caller (1962)
- Maigret and the Dosser (1963)
- Maigret on the Defensive (1964)
- The Patience of Maigret (1965)
- Maigret Hesitates (1968)
- Maigret and the Killer (1969)
- Maigret and the Mad Woman (1970)
- Maigret and the Loner (1971)
- Maigret and Monsieur Charles (1972)
- Les Fiançailles de M. Hire (1933)
- The Night Club (1933)
- Tropic Moon (1933)
- Chit of a Girl (1938)
- The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By (1938)
- Le Bourgmestre de Furnes (1939)
- The Strangers in the House (1940)
- Strange Inheritance (1941)
- La Veuve Couderc (1942)
- Young Cardinaud (1942)
- Act of Passion (1946)
- The Mahé Circle (1946)
- The Couple from Poitiers (1946)
- Pedigree (1948)
- The Bottom of the Bottle (1949)
- Belle (1952)
- Red Lights (1953)
- The Watchmaker of Everton (1954)
- The Little Man from Archangel (1956)
- The Cat (1967)
- The Man on the Bench in the Barn (1968)
- The Prison (1968)
- The Disappearance of Odile (1971)
- The Glass Cage (1971)
- The Man Who Wasn't Maigret (1992 biography)