La Mirada inocente

by Georges Simenon

Louis Cuchas es el penúltimo de los seis hijos de Gabrielle, una mujer que trata de compaginar a sus sucesivos amantes con su puesto ambulante de fruta y verdura. Crecidos en el ambiente promiscuo y problemático del pisito en que viven hacinados, los seis hermanos intentan encontrar su lugar en el mundo. Louis, observador, hipersensible e inocente —tanto que en el colegio le llaman «el angelito»—, va dejando atrás la infancia mientras asiste maravillado a la bulliciosa vida que se desarrolla en el populoso mercado de abastos donde comienza a trabajar y en las calles aledañas; todo le sonidos, colores, imágenes, sensaciones y, en particular, las personas. Cierto día descubre su afición a la pintura, y partir de ese momento vivirá sólo para esa pasión.  Tal vez entonces su vida se precipite, tal vez Louis se convierta en un pintor célebre y llegue a vender muy caras sus telas, pero siempre verá las cosas como ese niño introvertido al que llamaban «el angelito».

Hardcover

Published January 1, 2004

About the author

Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (1903 – 1989) was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known as the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret.
Although he never resided in Belgium after 1922, he remained a Belgian citizen throughout his life.

Simenon was one of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, capable of writing 60 to 80 pages per day. His oeuvre includes nearly 200 novels, over 150 novellas, several autobiographical works, numerous articles, and scores of pulp novels written under more than two dozen pseudonyms. Altogether, about 550 million copies of his works have been printed.

He is best known, however, for his 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Commissaire Maigret. The first novel in the series, Pietr-le-Letton, appeared in 1931; the last one, Maigret et M. Charles, was published in 1972. The Maigret novels were translated into all major languages and several of them were turned into films and radio plays. Two television series (1960-63 and 1992-93) have been made in Great Britain.

During his "American" period, Simenon reached the height of his creative powers, and several novels of those years were inspired by the context in which they were written (Trois chambres à Manhattan (1946), Maigret à New York (1947), Maigret se fâche (1947)).

Simenon also wrote a large number of "psychological novels", such as La neige était sale (1948) or Le fils (1957), as well as several autobiographical works, in particular Je me souviens (1945), Pedigree (1948), Mémoires intimes (1981).

In 1966, Simenon was given the MWA's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.

In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 77th place. In the Walloon version he ended 10th place.