This is noir fiction, of course, because it's fatalistic, seedy, atmospherically oppressive & because there is a corpse at the end. Actually three murders, that of Adil Bey's predecessor at the Turkish consulate in Batum, in Stalinist Russia; that of the Turk (le passeur) who helps people cross the Russian/Turkish border illegally; and, at the end of the novel, that of Sonia, the young Russian woman who is Adil bey's secretary, lover & poisoner, as well as the sister of Koline, the neighbor across the way, who is an officer of the Guépéou (the port police). Surveillance is ubiquitous, as are famine & resigned desperation. Adil bey is an innocent when he arrives and despite acquiring some experience with "the way things are" in Batum, remains one up to the denouement of the novel. And innocence here is dangerous & deadly. In fact, Adil bey's naivete can be said to cause the deaths of both the Turkish "coyote" and Sonia. Here, Adil bey takes on the role often played by the American in a Graham Greene novel. The fact that he is Turkish is largely irrelevant, except for the fact that Turkey does indeed share a border with Russia. Adil bey's innocence may also be that of the newly-established Turkish republic, fresh from its own War of Independence. The material and cultural abundance of Stambul that Adil bey contrasts with Batum's general impoverishment & corruption (while there is often nothing to be had in the cooperative shops open to the citizenry, with foreign currency, one can buy exotic food at the store for foreigners) is the fantasy with which he entices Sonia. This novel has been labeled as anti-communist & certainly it paints a grim picture of life in Stalinist Russia. But we can not be so sure that life is really different elsewhere. A man's fate may everywhere be just as absurd and out of his own control. Ironically, the one character who seems to have carved out a niche for himself in such a world is the American, John, who is both a dissipated alcoholic & the powerful American representative of Standard Oil in Batum (he knows everyone here whom it is useful to know & they all probably owe him a favor or two). He takes on the role of a kind of Kurtz in this version of the Heart of Darkness. When Adil bey asks him how long he expects to stay in the country, he replies, probably forever. Asked why, he answers, out of habit. ( )

Les impressions défavorables ressenties par Adil bey à son arrivée dans la petite ville populeuse et maussade où l'appellent ses fonctions de consul se précisent de jour en jour, l'inconfort de son installation, contacts décevants avec le public et l'administration soviétiques, méfiance des gens qui l'entourent. Elles se concrétisent notamment par la curiosité d'un couple qui semble l'épier des fenêtres d'en face : les Koline, chez qui vit la sœur du mari, Sonia. Celle-ci, jeune fille d'allure frêle, est la secrétaire d'Adil bey. Correcte et ponctuelle dans son travail, elle participe du même monde fermé auquel se heurte le consul, prisonnier d'une solitude qui lui pèse et dont la santé s'altère peu à peu : ne serait-on pas en train de l'empoisonner, comme son prédécesseur ? Cependant, le comportement de Sonia ne cesse d'intriguer Adil bey qui tente de se rapprocher de la jeune fille ; elle lui cédera mais, devenue sa maîtresse, elle ne se livre pas pour autant. Jusqu'au jour où, le consul devinant que c'est elle qui a reçu l'ordre de mêler à sa nourriture de l'arsenic, une scène violente, qui les bouleverse tous deux, finit par les réunir dans la détermination de quitter le pays ensemble et de se marier. Ce qui, pour le consul, est un départ régulier devient pour Sonia une fuite clandestine. Un projet est mis au point avec la complicité du capitaine d'un navire belge. Mais dans cette ville où la surveillance est trop bien faite, Sonia ne viendra pas rejoindre Adil bey : elle a été exécutée.

http://www.internetbookshop.it/code/9788845916892/simenon-georges/finestre-front... ( )

Fiction, First published serialized in the Magazine "Les annales" september - october 1933, in book form by A. Fayard & Cie, "Les Gens d'en face", 1933, 251 pp., First UK edition, "The window over the way", London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1951, hardcover, 291 pp., Two stories: "The Window over the Way", "The Gendarme's Report" translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury; published by Hamish Hamilton London, 1962, translated by Robert Baldick, also released as: "Danger Ashore", First Italian edition, "Le finestre di fronte", Adelphi, translated by Paola Zallio Messori, 175 pp., Film TV, 2004, directed by Jean-Claude Riga and Léon Michaux ( )

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