The volume collects 128 of Guy de Maupassant's finest short stories, from "Ball-of-Fat" to "The Last Step."

The volume collects 128 of Guy de Maupassant's finest short stories, from "Ball-of-Fat" to "The Last Step."

Four short French plays that resurrect tales by authors better known for their fiction. MADEMOISELLE FIFI, adapted by Oscar Metenier from a story by Guy de Maupassant, describes an incident during the German occupation of France after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. The officers of an isolated German regiment send to Rouen for prostitutes, but Lt. Wilhelm, better known as Mademoiselle Fifi, mistreats one of the girls, leading to a fatal confrontation. MEETING, adapted by Lucien Mayrargue from a story by Guy de Maupassant, tells of a sailor who returns home after ten years, only to have his savings stolen by the pimp of the girl he sleeps with. In JACQUES DAMOUR, by Emile Zola and Leon Hennique, a man believed dead returns home, only to find that his wife has remarried a prosperous butcher. Finally, in Emile Zola's opera libretto, LAZARUS is raised from the dead by Jesus, only to object to being brought back to life. Four great dramas dealing with life--and death

New edition features seven of the most popular tales of one of the greatest of all short-story writers. Included are "La Parure," "Mademoiselle Fifi," "La Maison Tellier," "La Ficelle," "Miss Harriet," "Boule de Suif" and "Le Horla," all reflecting Maupassant's intimate familiarity with Paris and the universality of his creations.

'It was raining as it only rains in Normandy, as though great gouts of water were being sprayed by some angry, giant hand.' Maupassant believed that we delude ourselves into believing that we are not animals acting upon instinct but rational creatures capable of idealistic beliefs and actions and survive only on the drug of self-deception. Maupassant's disgust with creation was only equalled by his contempt for human hypocrisy, and in these tales he takes a scalpel to our illusions and cuts to the bone. But his clinical pessimism is redeemed by a sense of the absurd and a warmer compassion for 'humanity bleeding'. Unsentimental but always honest, he persuades us that life is an incomprehensible, cosmic farce. This translation of twenty tales shows Maupassant at his bitter, bawdy, chilling best. It features some of his grimmest and most famous stories such as A Vendetta and The Grove of Olives, and it also reflects both his moods and his mastery of the short story. The Little Keg is rich in comic invention, while the disturbing Who Can Tell? draws its power from the strange forces which drove its author into madness. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Accompanying the text are essays, letters and newspaper articles on the subjects that influenced Maupassant's writing, and critical assessments from his time to our own, along with a chronology and bibliography.

Widely considered to be the greatest short story writer in all of French literature, Guy de Maupassant helped define the modern short story, deeply influencing the likes of Chekhov, Maugham, Babel and O. Henry. Yet despite his mastery of the form, existing English translations render his prose in an archaic style. Convinced that this protege of Flaubert deserved to be modernised in the same way that Lydia Davis had brought Madame Bovary to life, Sandra Smith selected twenty-eight classic Maupassant short stories, written between 1880 and 1890, including "Le Horla" and "Boule de Suif". Divided thematically into tales of French life, war and the supernatural, The Necklace and Other Stories promises to reintroduce Maupassant to twenty-first-century readers.

Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil. Often described as the father of the modern short story, there is perhaps no other writer more closely associated with the form than Guy de Maupassant. Included here is his most famous story, 'Boule de Suif', as well as tales of love, such as the brilliant 'Happiness', and the supernatural, like the chilling 'The Horla'.

"Afloat, "originally published as "Sur l'eau "in 1888, is a book of dazzling but treacherously shifting currents, a seemingly simple logbook of a sailing cruise along the French Mediterranean coast that opens up to reveal unexpected depths, as Guy de Maupassant merges fact and fiction, dream and documentation in a wholly original style. Humorous and troubling stories, unreliable confessions, stray reminiscences, and thoughts on life, love, art, nature, and society all find a place in Maupassant's pages, which are, in conception and in effect, so many reflections of the fluid sea on which he finds himself-happily but forever precariously-afloat. "Afloat" is thus a book that in both content and form courts risk while setting out to chart the meaning, and limits, of freedom, a book that makes itself up as it goes along and in doing so proves as startling and compellingly vital as the paintings of Maupassant's contemporaries van Gogh and Gauguin.

A selection of Maupassant's brilliant, glittering stories set in the Parisian beau monde and Normandy countryside. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893). Maupassant's works available in Penguin Classics are A Parisian Affair and Other Stories, Bel-Ami and Pierre and Jean.

This selection of twenty-seven stories shows Maupassant at his comic, cruel, and brilliant best. In addition to the poignant title story, it includes one of the most famous tales ever written, The Necklace , and Le Horla, an account of a disintegrating personality that chillingly parallels the author's own decline into madness. All the stories demonstrate his genius for invention and his ability to write unblinkingly about the absurdity of the human condition, supporting Henry James' claim that in the annals of story-telling, Maupassant stands `like a lion in the path'. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ The Normandy Edition Of The Works Of Guy De Maupassant: Mont Oriol, Walter Schnaff's Adventure, And Other Stories; Volume 9 Of The Normandy Edition Of The Works Of Guy De Maupassant; Guy De Maupassant Guy de Maupassant, Louise Charlotte Garstin Quesada A. E. Henderson P. F. Collier, 1911