Georges Simenon, Inspector Maigret and his relevance to the practice of Neurology

Abstract

The links between neurology and the nineteenth century novel have long been a source of scholarly interest but connections with detective fiction have only recently begun to be explored 1,2,3 . Forensic medicine and neurology both emerged as distinct specialties in the middle of the nineteenth century and some of the early neurologists like Brouardel in Paris and Ferrier in England held joint appointments between the two disciplines 3,4 . Many authors of crime novels such as Edgar Allan Poe (detective Auguste Dupin), Agatha Christie (Hercule Poirot), Raymond Chandler (Philip Marlowe), Dashiell Hammett (Sam Spade), Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes) and Georges Simenon (Jules Maigret), are popular reading material for numerous neurologists and some even turned their hand to writing detective fiction.3 The Maigret detective novels were a phenomenal commercial success, but like Sherlock Holmes for Doyle, the fictional creation became a millstone round Simenon' s neck as he strived for serious literary acclaim 5,6,7,8,9 . GEORGES SIMENONGeorges Joseph Christian Simenon was born in Liège, Belgium (Figure 1) and, while still young, moved to Paris, France 5,6,7,8,9 . ABSTRACT Georges Simenon's work, including his famous 'romans durs' novels and the forensic investigations carried out by his artistic creation, Inspector Maigret, bear many similarities to some of the diagnostic methods of the founders of Neurology, particularly Jean-Martin Charcot.