Touchez pas au grisbi, «touchez pas à l’argot!»: Simonin dialoguiste de lui-même

Abstract

In recent years, new fields of inquiry have opened up for argotologues: in fact, films also bear witness to “the evolution of argot”, as theorized by Goudailler (2006). The case of Touchez pas au grisbi (1954) seems very interesting, since the dialogue writer of this cult, Albert Simonin, is the author of the homonymous work which inspired Jacques Becker. A great connoisseur of the life of the milieu, Simonin works with the filmmaker on the adaptation of the first book of the trilogy dedicated to Max le Menteur, a prototype of the French gangster which marks a new stage for the detective genre. The writer takes up the challenge of transposing a “hyper-argotisant” text (François, 1975) by adopting some “procédés d’intégration stylisti- que” (Sourdot 2006) which prove even more effective than the means which he used to familiarize the readers of his novel with the language of the milieu.