ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how the paths of Georges Remi (the true name of 'R. G.', who became Herge) and Georges Simenon developed at the beginning of the thirties: a neat detachment between their cultural groundings and the genres they practiced, led them to explore seriously and instinctively the so-called lesser genres; and a peripheral status that predisposed them to avoid direct confrontation with French writers, in sectors that would surely lead to their rejection by the latter. A training in the conservative catholic world, which resulted in an unmistakable ideological saturation, as well as in the adoption of moral and aesthetic codes ideally suited to structuring the works of these autodidacts, and fitted into an efficient distribution network, perfectly set up for the sort of works that had been chosen. The chapter argues that the success of Herge and Simenon speaks volumes about the peripheral role of Francophone Belgium in relation to the French centre.
