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Title: Bel-Ami (Oxford World's Classics) by Guy De Maupassant, Margaret Mauldon, Robert Lethbridge ISBN: 0-19-283683-8 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.38 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: right up there with Madame Bovary
Comment: I would never have known that Guy de Maupassant wrote novels along with his great short stories if another amazon reader hadn't turned me on to their existence. This novel, reminiscent of Madame Bovary (a male version, you might say) is terrific. You'll get a great deal of description of Paris in the late 19th century with period details worthy of any great novelist. The plot is typical: poor, rural young man from the outskirts (Rouen) has no money and no position in life, but longs to find fame and fortune. Thanks to his manly wiles (he's a natural ladies' man), he manages to sleep his way to the top. Like Madame Bovary, happiness is never really there no matter how much money and power he attains - the more you get, the more you realize that others will always have more. Still, Monsieur Duroy, even at his most calculating retains somewhat of a sympathetic quality that allows us to relate to him and root for his success. Despite its length, this novel is a fast read. One of my favorites of the year.
Rating: 4
Summary: Social climbing for profit
Comment: The rise and rise of a sexual opportunist in 1880's Paris. What makes the story so contemporary is that the anti-hero is both contemptible and fascinating, so while acting deplorable you are rooting for him all the way (Tony Soprano, anyone?). Also astonishing is how explicit it is in the sexual behaviour of its protagonists, perhaps not so remarkable for the French, but you would never read of such goings on with such frankness in the contemporary English novel of this period. The first half rambles a bit but is better focused in the second half and improves as it goes along. A relatively unsung masterpiece.
Rating: 4
Summary: social climbers
Comment: The novel can make you wonder how the society can be so porous to allow somebody to get from dire poverty to filthy richness. It is important to note that Georges Duroy, unlike Rastignac from Balzac's "Pere Goriot/Old Goriot", was never torn between good and evil and, unlike Julien Sorel from Stendhal's "le Rouge et le Noire/the Red and the Black" never won women's hearts as a plebeian. Georges Duroy may personify the cynical and corrupt society, however his success would not have been possible without the society, in spite of all its vises, being so sensuous (especially the female part of it).
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Title: Pierre Et Jean (Oxford World's Classics (Oxford University Press).) by Guy De Maupassant, Julie Ead, Robert Lethbridge, Guy De Maupassant, Julie Mead ISBN: 019283147X Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: A Life: The Humble Truth (Oxford World's Classics) by Guy De Maupassant, Roger Pearson ISBN: 0192832980 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Selected Short Stories (Penguin Classics) by Guy De Maupassant, Roger Colet ISBN: 014044243X Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1971 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Against Nature (Penguin Classics) by J.K. Huysmans ISBN: 0140440860 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 1959 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Guy de Maupassant, Mademoiselle Fifi, and Other Short Stories (Oxford World's Classics) by Guy De Maupassant, Guy De Maupassant, David Coward ISBN: 0192837524 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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