Tropic Moon
Encyclopedia
Coup de Lune literally "moonburn" or "moonstroke" in French
, but translated into English
as Tropic Moon, is the title of a novel
by Belgian
writer Georges Simenon
. It is among 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.
In a larger context, the novel deals with French attitudes towards Africa
ns and the French colonial
experience. Coup de lune has much in common with the noir fiction subgenre of hardboiled
detective fiction, and could be described as being a "colonial noir" story, though arguably there are also some existential
elements present in the narrative. In his introduction to the New York Review Books
edition, Norman Rush
finds certain parallels between this work and Journey to the End of the Night
by Céline
.
The novel is divided into thirteen chapters and is written using the third person limited narrative voice.
, who travels from La Rochelle
to Libreville
in Gabon
to work at a job his uncle
has arranged for him at SACOVA, a logging
business. Upon arriving, he discovers the job is not available; unsure of what to do, he finds temporary residence at a local hotel
where he ends up spending his time drinking and playing billiards
with a group of hotel regulars: an assortment of loggers and minor government officials. After the first night of his stay, Timar awakens to an unexpected sexual encounter with Adèle, the proprietor's wife. Shortly thereafter, a black servant, Thomas, is found murdered and Adèle's ailing husband Eugène finally dies of snail fever.
The night before Eugène's funeral
, using the pretence of leaving Adèle alone to grieve, the regulars convince Timar to come with them on a late night jaunt to a native village. Here the group picks up African women, one of whom is married, but whose husband seems used to his wife being treated as a whore by the white colonials. The group drives to a clearing in woods and a drunken party ensues. Timar stands by while the others steal the women's clothing and drive off laughing.
After the funeral, Adèle convinces Timar to use his uncle's influence to acquire a concession
for the two of them for which she will provide the capital
. Despite a growing suspicion that Adèle is being less than honest with him, Timar agrees. The details are worked out, and the two begin the journey by riverboat
to their new territory. They pause at a village where Adèle inexplicably disappears into a native hut for a time before returning. Timar contracts dengue fever
along the way, and spends the rest of the trip in a state of delirium
.
translations of Coup de Lune: the first is by Stuart Gilbert
for Harcourt Brace Jovanovich as part of an anthology
of Simenon's works entitled African Trio (1979), the second is by Marc Romano for the New York Review Books Classics series.
by Serge Gainsbourg
in 1983.
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, but translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as Tropic Moon, is the title of a novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
writer Georges Simenon
Georges Simenon
Georges Joseph Christian Simenon was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 200 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known for the creation of the fictional detective Maigret.-Early life and education:...
. It is among 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.
In a larger context, the novel deals with French attitudes towards Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
ns and the French colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
experience. Coup de lune has much in common with the noir fiction subgenre of hardboiled
Hardboiled
Hardboiled crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly associated with detective stories, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex. The style was pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the decade, and refined...
detective fiction, and could be described as being a "colonial noir" story, though arguably there are also some existential
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
elements present in the narrative. In his introduction to the New York Review Books
New York Review Books
New York Review Books is the publishing house of The New York Review of Books. Its imprints are New York Review Books Classics, New York Review Books Collections, and The New York Review Children's Collection....
edition, Norman Rush
Norman Rush
Norman Rush is an American novelist whose introspective novels and short stories are set in Botswana in the 1980s. He is the son of Roger and Leslie Rush...
finds certain parallels between this work and Journey to the End of the Night
Journey to the End of the Night
Journey to the End of Night is the first novel of Louis-Ferdinand Céline. This semi-autobiographical work describes antihero Ferdinand Bardamu....
by Céline
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Louis-Ferdinand Céline was the pen name of French writer and physician Louis-Ferdinand Destouches . Céline was chosen after his grandmother's first name. He is considered one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, developing a new style of writing that modernized both French and...
.
The novel is divided into thirteen chapters and is written using the third person limited narrative voice.
Plot
The story concerns Joseph Timar, a sensitive young FrenchmanFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, who travels from La Rochelle
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
to Libreville
Libreville
Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon, in west central Africa. The city is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea, and a trade center for a timber region. As of 2005, it has a population of 578,156.- History :...
in Gabon
Gabon
Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
to work at a job his uncle
Uncle
An uncle is a type of familial relationship.Uncle may also refer to:* Uncle , by J. P. Martin* U.N.C.L.E., a fictional organization in the TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E....
has arranged for him at SACOVA, a logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
business. Upon arriving, he discovers the job is not available; unsure of what to do, he finds temporary residence at a local hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
where he ends up spending his time drinking and playing billiards
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
with a group of hotel regulars: an assortment of loggers and minor government officials. After the first night of his stay, Timar awakens to an unexpected sexual encounter with Adèle, the proprietor's wife. Shortly thereafter, a black servant, Thomas, is found murdered and Adèle's ailing husband Eugène finally dies of snail fever.
The night before Eugène's funeral
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
, using the pretence of leaving Adèle alone to grieve, the regulars convince Timar to come with them on a late night jaunt to a native village. Here the group picks up African women, one of whom is married, but whose husband seems used to his wife being treated as a whore by the white colonials. The group drives to a clearing in woods and a drunken party ensues. Timar stands by while the others steal the women's clothing and drive off laughing.
After the funeral, Adèle convinces Timar to use his uncle's influence to acquire a concession
Concession (contract)
A concession is a business operated under a contract or license associated with a degree of exclusivity in business within a certain geographical area. For example, sports arenas or public parks may have concession stands. Many department stores contain numerous concessions operated by other...
for the two of them for which she will provide the capital
Financial capital
Financial capital can refer to money used by entrepreneurs and businesses to buy what they need to make their products or provide their services or to that sector of the economy based on its operation, i.e. retail, corporate, investment banking, etc....
. Despite a growing suspicion that Adèle is being less than honest with him, Timar agrees. The details are worked out, and the two begin the journey by riverboat
Riverboat
A riverboat is a ship built boat designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury units constructed for entertainment enterprises, such...
to their new territory. They pause at a village where Adèle inexplicably disappears into a native hut for a time before returning. Timar contracts dengue fever
Dengue fever
Dengue fever , also known as breakbone fever, is an infectious tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles...
along the way, and spends the rest of the trip in a state of delirium
Delirium
Delirium or acute confusional state is a common and severe neuropsychiatric syndrome with core features of acute onset and fluctuating course, attentional deficits and generalized severe disorganization of behavior...
.
English language editions
There are two EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
translations of Coup de Lune: the first is by Stuart Gilbert
Stuart Gilbert
Stuart Gilbert was an English literary scholar and translator. Among his translations into English are works by André Malraux, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Georges Simenon, Jean Cocteau, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre...
for Harcourt Brace Jovanovich as part of an anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
of Simenon's works entitled African Trio (1979), the second is by Marc Romano for the New York Review Books Classics series.
Film versions
Coup de Lune has been filmed as ÉquateurÉquateur (film)
Équateur is a 1983 French drama film directed by Serge Gainsbourg. It was screened out of competition at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival.About Timar's trip to black Africa and his unfortunate passion for Adele, a murderess whose amorality sends a disillusioned Timar back to Europe.- Cast :* Francis...
by Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
in 1983.