Day in the Country and Other Stories - Maupassant, Guy de

Translated with an Introduction and Notes by David Coward In the annals of story-telling, said Henry James, Maupassant stands like `a lion in the path.’ The perfect master of a difficult art, he dissects the timeless moods of human nature with a clear-eyed pessimism which reduces the whole of existence to a heap of vanities. Maupassant`s ability to provoke, amuse, and chill spans the whole range of human experience from low farce to high tragedy. This selection of twenty-seven stories shows Maupassant at his comic, cruel, and brilliant best. In addition to the poignant title story, it includes one of the most famous tales ever written. The Necklace, and Le Horia, an account of a disintegrating personality which is all the more chilling for having strange parallels with its author`s own descent into madness. All are touched by Maupassant`s genius for invention and amply justify his place of greatness in the history of world literature.