The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Georges Simenon
- First Published: 1938
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: The 1930’s
- Setting: Groningen, Amsterdam, and Paris
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: France or French people, Murder or homicide, Paris, 1930’s, Detectives, Trains, Netherlands or Dutch people, Fraud
- Locales: Paris, France, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Characters Discussed
Kees Popinga (poh-peen-GAH), a forty-year-old man who is proud of his family, possessions, and responsible position as managing clerk for Julius De Coster and Son, Ship Chandlers. He is a model citizen of Groningen, Holland. He changes radically, however, into the man referred to in Paris newspapers as the “Madman from the Zuider Zee” and the “Thug from Amsterdam” as a result of an unexpected meeting with his employer. De Coster tells Kees that he no longer has a job, that the firm is bankrupt, and that he himself is leaving town. These events,...
[The entire page is 525 words long]
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