Maupassant in the Hall of Mirrors


Book Description




Alien Hearts


Book Description

Alien Hearts was the last book that Guy de Maupassant finished before his death at the early age of forty-three. It is the most original and psychologically penetrating of his several novels, and the one in which he attains a truly tragic perception of the wounded human heart. André Mariolle is a rich, handsome, gifted young man who cannot settle on what to do with himself. Madame de Burne, a glacially dazzling beauty, wants Mariolle to attend her exclusive salon for artists, composers, writers, and other intellectuals. At first Mariolle keeps his distance, but then he hits on the solution to all his problems: caring for nothing in particular, he will devote himself to being in love; Madame de Burne will be his everything. Soon lover and beloved are equally lost within a hall of mirrors of their common devising. Richard Howard’s new English translation of this complex and brooding novel—the first in more than a hundred years—reveals the final, unexpected flowering of a great French realist’s art.




Guy de Maupassant's Selected Works (First International Student Edition) (Norton Critical Editions)


Book Description

“Smith successfully captures Maupassant’s depiction of nineteenth-century French culture using terminology that allows these wonderful texts to reach a fresh generation of readers. A solid translation of some wonderful short stories.” —Library Journal The Norton Critical Edition includes: - Thirty of Maupassant’s best short stories centering on war, the supernatural, and French life, translated by Sandra Smith. - An introduction and explanatory footnotes by Robert Lethbridge. - Essays, letters, and newspaper articles on the subjects that influenced Maupassant’s writing, including politics, war, love, despair, and the supernatural. - Sixteen critical assessments from Maupassant’s time to our own, including those by Joseph Conrad, David Coward, Mary Donaldson-Evans, Rachel Killick, Roger L. Williams, Ruth A. Hottell, and Katherine C. Kurk. - A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography.







Essential Novelists - Guy De Maupassant


Book Description

Welcome to the Essential Novelists book series, were we present to you the best works of remarkable authors. For this book, the literary critic August Nemo has chosen the two most important and meaningful novels of Guy de Maupassant which are Pierre and Jean and Bel Ami. Guy de Maupassant was a protégé of Gustave Flaubert and his stories are characterized by economy of style and efficient, effortless outcomes. Many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s, describing the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught up in events beyond their control, are permanently changed by their experiences. Novels selected for this book: - Pierre and Jean - Bel Ami This is one of many books in the series Essential Novelists. If you liked this book, look for the other titles in the series, we are sure you will like some of the authors.




Masters of Prose - Guy de Maupassant


Book Description

Welcome to the Masters of Prose book series, a selection of the best works by noteworthy authors. Literary critic August Nemo selects the most important writings of each author. A selection based on the author's novels, short stories, letters, essays and biographical texts. Thus providing the reader with an overview of the author's life and work. This edition is dedicated to the French writer Guy de Maupassant, remembered as a master of the short story form, and as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives and destinies and social forces in disillusioned and often pessimistic terms. Maupassant was a protégé of Gustave Flaubert and his stories are characterized by economy of style and efficient, seemingly effortless dénouements (outcomes). His first published story, "Boule de Suif", is often considered his masterpiece. This book contains the following writings: Novels: Pierre and Jean; Bel Ami; Mont Oriol; Notre Coeur. Short Stories: Boule de suif; Two friends; The lancer's wife; The prisoners; Two little soldiers; Father Milon; A coup d'etat; Lieutenant Lare's Marriage; The Horrible; Madame Parisse; Mademoiselle Fifi; A Duel. Biographical: Guy de Maupassant, by Paul Bourget; Guy de Maupassant, by Robert Arnot. If you appreciate good literature, be sure to check out the other Tacet Books titles!




The Essential Guy de Maupassant Collection


Book Description

Compiled in one book, the essential collection of books by Guy de MaupassantPierre and JeanBel AmiComedy of MarriageUne Vie, a Piece of StringMademoisselle FifiComplete Original Short Stories







The Rhetoric of Pessimism and Strategies of Containment in the Short Stories of Guy de Maupassant


Book Description

This study proposes an overall interpretation based on an analysis of three constants. First, Maupassant accepts that man lives in an objective, contingent world in which he has no purpose, and elevates the notion of chance into an explanation of the human condition. Secondly, this awareness explains the adoption of a view of the world as farce. Thirdly, in order to shape and mitigate the consequences of these positions, Maupassant elaborates a rhetoric of pessimism and strategies of containment. The book argues that this triple approach enables Maupassant to rise above the evidence of his experience and gives the reader access to a work that otherwise might appear inconsequential and disparate. Maupassant's three hundred and six short stories represent a unified series of variations on three constants and offer a coherent, structured response to a personal dilemma that nevertheless has wider application.




The Art of Rupture


Book Description

Sheds new light on the psychological forces at play in Guy de Maupassant's writing