Alice Poon's Blog - Posts Tagged "guy-de-maupassant"

Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This was my first Maupassant novel and it impressed me as a brilliantly told story about how a journalist-turned-parvenu of low-born parentage attained status, wealth and power by sleazy means in Third Republic France.

In a witty and crisp style, the story flows smoothly along as the protagonist jumps from one woman’s embrace to the next, gathering each time more worldly benefits like career advancement, social recognition, wealth and status. His only weapon of conquest is his youth and his handsome face, hence his nickname “Bel Ami”, apart from a heart of steel. Maupassant sketches with virtuosity each of his cold, calculated social-climbing ventures with smirking irony, barely hiding his own scornful snide at the Parisian society’s bourgeois-capitalist immorality and journalistic farce.

After reading the first few chapters, I thought the protagonist seemed to bear resemblance to Eugene de Rastignac in Balzac’s “Le Pere Goriot” and Julien Sorel in Stendhal’s “The Red and the Black”. When I reached the end though, I had to conclude that Georges Duroy is the true heartless, predatory and hypocritical villain of the three.

This novel, being a 19th century work of realist fiction, deals with themes that are just as contemporary as they are historical. It makes one mull over the connection between today’s unbridled capitalism and societies’ lack of scruples.




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A Woman's Life by Guy de Maupassant

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Compared to Bel-Ami, this was a slower-paced read, but the writing is nonetheless beautiful. I was captivated by Maupassant's sensitivities in his descriptive skills in general.

It is a carefully crafted story of an aristocratic lady with a sheltered bring-up who has lived through shattered dreams about love, unhappiness in marriage, betrayals by husband, best friend and friends, disillusions with the mores of her times and disappointment with life in general. Maupassant writes with compassion where the protagonist is concerned, and with clear-sighted satire on the subject of religion and dogmas.

The setting is mainly in a seaside suburb of Rouen with some diversion to the island of Corsica, all beautifully portrayed. The times are in the early 19th century.

I was totally transported by the writing, whether it was the twists and turns of the story, or the enthralling descriptions of thoughts and emotions, or the refined painting of places and scenes. My only complaint is that the ending seemed to be a bit abrupt.







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