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Great French Short Stories
Twelve of the finest short stories by great French writers comprise this excellent collection, with themes that range from desire and psychological intrigue to the mysteries of failure and success.
"The Horla" and "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant; "The Attack on the Mill" by Emile Zola; "Mocromegas" by Voltaire; "The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaler" by Gustave Flaubert; "Mateo Falcone" by Prosper Mérimée; "The Return of the Prodigal Son" by André Gide; "The Dark Lantern" by Jules Renard; "Emilie" by Gérard de Nerval; "The Unknown Masterpieces" by Honoré de Balzac; "The Pope's Mule" by Alphonse Daudet; and "Salomé" by Jules Laforgue.
Classic explorations of passion, terror, and fate, these enduring literary gems will be invaluable to students and teachers of French literature and a joy for anyone who delights in fine writing.
"The Horla" and "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant; "The Attack on the Mill" by Emile Zola; "Mocromegas" by Voltaire; "The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaler" by Gustave Flaubert; "Mateo Falcone" by Prosper Mérimée; "The Return of the Prodigal Son" by André Gide; "The Dark Lantern" by Jules Renard; "Emilie" by Gérard de Nerval; "The Unknown Masterpieces" by Honoré de Balzac; "The Pope's Mule" by Alphonse Daudet; and "Salomé" by Jules Laforgue.
Classic explorations of passion, terror, and fate, these enduring literary gems will be invaluable to students and teachers of French literature and a joy for anyone who delights in fine writing.
192 pages, Paperback
First published August 11, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 19, 2022
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
This one was a mixed bag.
It contained my favorite de Maupassant, The Necklace, but the rest didn’t interest me much, except for de Balzac’s The Unknown Masterpiece.
I tried unsuccessfully to find out if he had any sort of artistic background, because he was far too eloquent in his descriptions and critiques to be otherwise.
Anyone who is an art lover or has dabbled at all with painting really needs to read this one.
For to me it was like poetry:
“….. I thought I had finished it. Her eyes seemed moist to me, her flesh was stirring. The locks of her hair were waving. She was breathing! Even though I’ve found the way to achieve nature’s relief and three-dimensionality on a flat canvas, this morning, when it got light, I realized my mistake. Oh, to achieve this glorious result, I’ve studied the great masters of color, I’ve analyzed and penetrated layer by layer the paintings of Titian, that king of light; like that sovereign painter, I sketched in my figure in a light tint with a supple, heavily loaded brush—for shadow is merely an incidental phenomenon……Then I went back over my work and, by means of gradations and glazes that I made successively less transparent, I rendered the heaviest shadows and even the deepest blacks; for the shadows of ordinary painters are of a different nature from their bright tints; they’re wood, bronze, or whatever you want, except flesh in shadow. You feel that, if their figure shifted position, the areas in shadow would never be cleared up and wouldn’t become bright. I avoided that error, into which many of the most illustrious have fallen, and in my picture the whiteness can be discerned beneath the opacity of even the most dense shadow!……..”
Extremely inspiring.
This one was a mixed bag.
It contained my favorite de Maupassant, The Necklace, but the rest didn’t interest me much, except for de Balzac’s The Unknown Masterpiece.
I tried unsuccessfully to find out if he had any sort of artistic background, because he was far too eloquent in his descriptions and critiques to be otherwise.
Anyone who is an art lover or has dabbled at all with painting really needs to read this one.
For to me it was like poetry:
“….. I thought I had finished it. Her eyes seemed moist to me, her flesh was stirring. The locks of her hair were waving. She was breathing! Even though I’ve found the way to achieve nature’s relief and three-dimensionality on a flat canvas, this morning, when it got light, I realized my mistake. Oh, to achieve this glorious result, I’ve studied the great masters of color, I’ve analyzed and penetrated layer by layer the paintings of Titian, that king of light; like that sovereign painter, I sketched in my figure in a light tint with a supple, heavily loaded brush—for shadow is merely an incidental phenomenon……Then I went back over my work and, by means of gradations and glazes that I made successively less transparent, I rendered the heaviest shadows and even the deepest blacks; for the shadows of ordinary painters are of a different nature from their bright tints; they’re wood, bronze, or whatever you want, except flesh in shadow. You feel that, if their figure shifted position, the areas in shadow would never be cleared up and wouldn’t become bright. I avoided that error, into which many of the most illustrious have fallen, and in my picture the whiteness can be discerned beneath the opacity of even the most dense shadow!……..”
Extremely inspiring.
February 19, 2016
More along the lines of 4.5 stars.
I read Great Russian Short Stories four years ago, which was also edited by Negri. There were more stories in this collection that I enjoyed than there were in the Russian collection, but then again, I feel that I have a stronger grasp on literature at this point in time. I felt that the stories really stuck out as being intellectual and thought-provoking.
The stories that stuck out most were:
1. The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaler by Gustave Flaubert
2. The Necklace and The Horla by Guy de Maupassant
3. The Attack on the Mill by Emile Zola
4. Mateo Falcone by Prosper Merimee
5. Micromegas by Voltaire
The other stories really harped on some great points and told some fine stories, but these five are stories that left me thinking beyond the page and will warrant rereads. I possess a partial bias toward Mateo Falcone, because there is mention of my ancestors, but it is nevertheless a great story that presents the roadblocks and desires that come with human nature. At $3.50, anyone that is looking to sample French literature's noteworthy writers should by all means check this out. I know I will be doing just that!
I read Great Russian Short Stories four years ago, which was also edited by Negri. There were more stories in this collection that I enjoyed than there were in the Russian collection, but then again, I feel that I have a stronger grasp on literature at this point in time. I felt that the stories really stuck out as being intellectual and thought-provoking.
The stories that stuck out most were:
1. The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaler by Gustave Flaubert
2. The Necklace and The Horla by Guy de Maupassant
3. The Attack on the Mill by Emile Zola
4. Mateo Falcone by Prosper Merimee
5. Micromegas by Voltaire
The other stories really harped on some great points and told some fine stories, but these five are stories that left me thinking beyond the page and will warrant rereads. I possess a partial bias toward Mateo Falcone, because there is mention of my ancestors, but it is nevertheless a great story that presents the roadblocks and desires that come with human nature. At $3.50, anyone that is looking to sample French literature's noteworthy writers should by all means check this out. I know I will be doing just that!
August 4, 2016
I am not a big fan of short stories, and this did not improve my opinion. Was very tough to get through. There were a few interesting stories, but the type of short story was not consistent, and some were very dense and difficult to read.
May 7, 2009
A couple of the stories still hold up but many of them are dated.
May 12, 2020
Starting with the three oldest stories by Voltaire, Merimee, and Balzac, I found the plots disturbing and unpalatable. I've given up on the remaining nine, but may revisit them later.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews