Tropic Moon
First edition | |
| Author | Georges Simenon |
|---|---|
| Original title | Coup de Lune |
| Translator | Stuart Gilbert Marc Romano |
| Language | French |
| Publisher | Éditions Fayard |
Publication date | 1933 |
| Publication place | Belgium |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | xi, 133 (NYRB) |
Le Coup de Lune ([lə ku də lyn]; literally "moonburn" or "moonstroke" in French, but translated into English as Tropic Moon, is a 1933 novel by Belgian writer Georges Simenon. It is 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 Africans 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.