Beschreibung
This chilling tale of one man’s descent into madness was published shortly before the author was institutionalized for insanity, and so The Horla has inevitably been seen as informed by Guy de Maupassant’s mental illness. While such speculation is murky, it is clear that de Maupassant—hailed alongside Chekhov as father of the short story—was at the peak of his powers in this innovative precursor of first-person psychological fiction. Indeed, he worked for years on The Horla’s themes and form, first drafting it as “Letter from a Madman,” then telling it from a doctor’s point of view, before finally releasing the terrified protagonist to speak for himself in its devastating final version. In a brilliant new translation, all three versions appear here as a single volume for the first time.
The Art of The Novella Series
Too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers. Nonetheless, it is a form beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. In the Art Of The Novella series, Melville House celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are, in many instances, presented in book form for the first time.
Buchdetails
Genres
Rezensionen
Alle anzeigen
Il y a quelque temps, j'ai lu ça en Anglais et j'ai beaucoup apprécié. Guy de Maupassant est l'un de mes auteurs préférés. C'est un auteur qui maîtrise l'art d'écrire, de tel manière à ce que ses propres rêves et parfois même ses cauchemars deviennent les votre en lisant. J'ai repris cet œuvre en Français afin de voir à quoi ressemble la version originale, et ça m'a fait beaucoup de plaisir. On en trouve tout dans ce petit livre : l'amour, la haine, l'avarice, le désespoir, la peur, la terreur, l'humour, enfin tout ce qui fait de nous des êtres humains.
This is arguably one of Maupassant's best works; a fine tale, rich and abundant in wise words ironically conveyed by a man who was gradually sinking into madness.The story can be interpreted in so many different ways; madness is probably the most obvious one. Looking at the narrative from this perspective, the plot acquires the philosophical tradition of the wise jester or the knowing fool. The narrator's journal entries might reflect his floundering mental faculties, but they also offer a sober and philosophical criticism of society, its institutions and political system, and more importantly of herd morality.Another interpretation is suggested by the narrator himself, and does involve the strain of mental illness as well, but in a different form. In an early stage of his odd experiences, the narrator had verbalized some suspicions in regard to somnambulism and even split personality disorder. Read under this light, the plot offers an intriguing case of a man whose split identities are highly antagonistic to one another.The plot also suggests the fatal influence of outer forces on a mind adopting an external locus of control. The narrator often feels better when he travels and is away from home. In other words, he had given his surroundings the capacity to act in a certain manner upon his mind. Of course, it would be absurd to deny all kinds of outer influence on the human psyche, but one must keep in mind the importance of adopting an internal locus of control. While Man cannot control the manner in which other people and outer forces act in regard to his own person, he has the ability to control the manner in which he reacts to such influences.