Showing results by author "Guy de Maupassant" in All Categories

Guy de Maupassant is revered for his naturalistic fiction, which brilliantly captures flesh-and-blood characters as it evokes the most telling details of everyday life. Considered one of the finest French novels ever written, Bel Ami follows journalist Georges Duroy and his increasing stature among the Paris elite. With an immense thirst for power, Georges is not above an almost gleeful use of wealthy mistresses to achieve his ends.

Vier Herren im besten Alter sitzen beim Wein und prahlen einander vor, wie sie weiland die Damenwelt eroberten. Dass über alles strengstes Stillschweigen zu wahren ist, ist selbstverständlich. Und so rückt einer der Herren mit der Sprache raus, warum er seit einer bestimmten Nacht niemals vergisst, den Fensterriegel vorzuschieben.

Frau Oreille ist sparsam. Der Regenschirm ihres Mannes, ein beklagenswertes Ding, das kein Wasser mehr abhält, wird durch das billigste Modell ersetzt, das sie finden kann. Als dieses durch Feuer beschädigt wird, fasst sie einen kühnen Plan: Die Versicherung soll für den Schaden aufkommen! Kurzerhand macht sie sich auf den Weg zur Assekuranz...

Es ist schon ein Kreuz mit den Orden: Alle Welt hat einen, nur man selbst nicht. Monsieur Sacrement, der Held unserer Geschichte, hat schon seit seiner Kindheit auf die Knopflöcher der Passanten gestarrt, in denen das kleine rote Band die Zugehörigkeit einer besonderen Kaste verriet. Er will unbedingt dazugehören - doch wie? Endlich hat er eine Idee: Seine Frau soll ihm helfen! Das tut sie auch - und Sacrement lernt, dass nichts auf der Welt ohne Preis ist.

Als der Baron seine junge Gattin während des Balls mit einem anderen Mann erwischt, reagiert er kühl: Erst auf dem Heimweg verkündet er ihr, dass er sich von ihr trennen wird. Er verlangt von ihr, kein Aufsehen zu erreen; die Gattin willigt ein. Jahre später trifft der nun deutlich gealterte Baron seine Gattin im Zug wieder - und ist entzückt von der strahlenden Schönheit, die ihm gegenüber im Zugabteil sitzt. Könnte das etwa seine Frau sein, die er seit sechs Jahren nicht mehr gesehen hat? Sie ist es - und der Baron macht sich daran, sie wieder zu gewinnen.

Life has the capacity of great moments and attainment, of lives well lived, fulfilling for ourselves and for those we touch. But for others life is arduous. There is no spark to ignite the curiosity, to explore and achieve a stability and a growth to their lives. Indeed their lives, in their own eyes, become almost meaningless, their sense of themselves subsumed under a myriad of problems, whether real or imagined. Seismic events in a life might crush them; the loss of a loved one for instance. Coping is difficult, support hard to find and isolation abounds.

French literature may be said to begin with the ninth century "Song of Roland," and it has since then churned out masterpiece after masterpiece in every century right up to the present. Beginning with Balzac and Dumas in the early part of the nineteenth century and proceeding to Sartre and Camus at the midpoint of the twentieth, the stories in this collection showcase the talents of some of the greatest French masters of the short story.

Murder comes in two familiar forms. Whether as a crime of passion with high emotions or a cold dispassionate plot to take life in order to gain in some way, the act strikes us all as somehow inhuman. Beneath us as civilised beings. But however we cloak our animal instincts the need to remove a human being and gain relief from abuse or gain from money, the term is just the same – MURDER. Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, J M Barrie, W W Jacobs and many others bring their literary heft to bear in as calculating a way as any killer could.

These five chilling tales make perfect night time listening - and, for the fearful, can be heard in a group, rather than experienced as solo bedtime reading. Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, W. L. George, A. M. Burrage, and Guy de Maupassant provide the terrifying text; Ian Holm and Julie Peasgood provide the spoken spooks.

Guy de Maupassant is renowned as one of the fathers of the modern short story. A protégé of Flaubert, he was celebrated for his naturalistic fiction, and wrote over 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books and one volume of verse in his short but highly productive lifetime. He died in an asylum aged just 43. This collection brings together dramatisations of some of his finest works.

Enjoy the short stories of three of the greatest writers of French literature, for the first time assembled together in audiobook and narrated in a lively way. Guy de Maupassant was an absolute master of the short story genre, delighting in clever plotting, concise style, and efficient storytelling, which he used to produce stunning pieces in a very condensed format. He produced more than 300 short stories; we selected for you nine of the most bizarre, influent, humorous or plain shocking.

Guy De Maupassant is considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents. The story "Boule de Suif", written in 1880, is his masterpiece. A protege of Flaubert, Maupassant's stories are characterized by their economy of style and efficient, effortless dénouements. Many of the stories are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s and several describe the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught in the conflict, emerge changed. He authored some 300 short stories.

The world-class writers featured in this collection are adept at conjuring the depth of passion that surrounds all stories of love and loss. The short story form is perfect for capturing the uplift and dizzying heights that accompany a new object of affection, as well as the queasy unease and bottomless longing of lost loves.

Guy de Maupassant was a master of the short-story genre, producing more than 300 during his lifetime. These concise stories contain twists and shocking turns, and range from the fantastic and supernatural, with characters descending into madness....

Madame Mathilde Loisel is sure she was meant to be an aristocrat, but she was born into a middle-class family and married off to a middle-class clerk. When her husband procures them invitations to a high-society party, Loisel goes all out to impress. She borrows a diamond necklace from a wealthy acquaintance and has the time of her life - until the necklace goes missing. In “The Necklace”, de Maupassant showcases his signature twists of fate and social commentary in a story that will leave you speechless.

An excellent collection of creepy ghost stories from some of the most notable names of early horror fiction, including: “The Willows” by Algernon Blackwood, “The Shadows On The Wall” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, “The Messenger” by Robert W.Chambers, “Lazarus” by Leonid Andreyev, “The Beast With Five Fingers” by W.F. Harvey, “The Mass Of Shadows” by Anatole France, “What Was It” by Fitz-James O’brien, “The Middle Toe Of The Right Foot” by Ambrose Bierce, “The Shell Of Sense” by Olivia Howard Dunbar, and more!

Un uomo, tormentato dal lutto per la morte della sua amata, esplora il cimitero di notte e fa una straordinaria scoperta: i morti emergono dalle tombe e rivelano la vera natura dei vivi cancellando le menzogne scritte sulle loro lapidi. Una produzione audio da brivido con musiche inquietanti e suoni, che ti condurranno tra gli oscuri meandri della pazzia, del sadismo, del crollo nervoso imminente e dell’assassinio.

Guy de Maupassant (1850 - 1893) is recognized as one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of its finest exponents. From the humorous to the tragic to the gruesome, with an economy and precision of language, his stories can delight or disturb. Here are 10 of them.

An anthology of chilling, classic horror stories, including "The Tale-Tell Heart", "The Pit and the Pendulum", and "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe; "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving; "The Hand", "Was it a Dream?", and "The Horla" by Guy de Maupassant; "The Red Room" by H.G. Wells; "Moon-Face" by Jack London; "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. 

No one plumbs deeper depths of the psyche than French and Russian authors. This second wide-ranging collection of 19th-century literary masterworks, presented in their entirety, not only entertains, but provides insight into 19th-century mores and the mysteries of human nature.