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Bel-Ami
Guy de Maupassant's scandalous tale of an opportunistic young man corrupted by the allure of power, "Bel-Ami" is translated with an introduction by Douglas Parmee in "Penguin Classics". Young, attractive and very ambitious, George Duroy, known to his admirers as Bel-Ami, is offered a job as a journalist on La Vie francaise and soon makes a great success of his new career. But he also comes face to face with the realities of the corrupt society in which he lives - the sleazy colleagues, the manipulative mistresses, and wily financiers - and swiftly learns to become an arch-seducer, blackmailer and social climber in a world where love is only a means to an end. Written when Maupassant was at the height of his powers, "Bel-Ami" is a novel of great frankness and cynicism, but it is also infused with the sheer joy of life - depicting the scenes and characters of Paris in the belle epoque with wit, sensitivity, and humanity. Douglas Parmee's translation captures all the vigour and vitality of Maupassant's novel. His introduction explores the similarities between Bel-Ami and Maupassant himself and demonstrates the skill with which the author depicts his large cast of characters and the French society of the Third Republic.
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1885
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About the author
Guy de Maupassant
6,956books2,920followersHenri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer. He is one of the fathers of the modern short story. A protege of Flaubert, Maupassant's short stories are characterized by their economy of style and their efficient effortless dénouement. He also wrote six short novels. A number of his stories often denote the futility of war and the innocent civilians who get crushed in it - many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s.
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September 25, 2021
(Book 826 from 1001 books) - Bel-Ami = The History of a Scoundrel, Guy de Maupassant
Bel Ami is the second novel by French author Guy de Maupassant, published in 1885; an English translation titled Bel Ami, or, The History of a Scoundrel: A Novel first appeared in 1903.
The story chronicles journalist Georges Duroy's corrupt rise to power from a poor ex-NCO to one of the most successful men in Paris, most of which he achieves by manipulating a series of powerful, intelligent, and wealthy women.
The novel is set in Paris in the upper-middle class environment of the leading journalists of the newspaper La Vie Française and their friends.
It tells the story of Georges Duroy, who has spent three years in military service in Algeria. After working for six months as a clerk in Paris, an encounter with his former comrade, Forestier, enables him to start a career as a journalist. From a reporter of minor events and soft news, he gradually climbs his way up to chief editor.
Duroy initially owes his success to Forestier’s wife, Madeleine, who helps him write his first articles and, when he later starts writing lead articles, she adds an edge and poignancy to them.
At the same time, she uses her connections among leading politicians to provide him with behind the scenes information which allows him to become actively involved in politics.
Duroy is also introduced to many politicians in Madame Forestier’s drawing-room. Duroy becomes the lover of Forestiers' friend Mme de Marelle, another influential woman. Duroy later tries to seduce Madeleine Forestier to get even with her husband, but she repulses Duroy’s sexual advances and offers that they become true friends without ulterior motives. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز سیزدهم ماه ژوئن سال 2006میلادی
عنوان: بل آمی؛ نویسنده: گی دو موپوسان؛ مترجم: علی اصغر سروش؛ تهران، امیرکبیر، 1347؛ در 434ص؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان فرانسه - سده 19م
عنوان: بل آمی؛ نویسنده: گی دو موپوسان؛ مترجم: پرویز شهدی؛ تهران، مجید، 1384، در 440ص، شابک 9644530616؛
داستان در مورد روزنامه نگاری شهرستانی است، که برای رسیدن به اهدافش، دست به هر کاری میزند؛ از کتابهای نایاب است؛ «موپاسان» در «بل امی»، به تشریح فضای حاکم بر روزنامه های «فرانسه»، میپردازند؛ رمان شخصیتی دارد، به نام «ژورژ دوروا» که جوانی است جویای نام، و میکوشد با شناختن راههای نفوذ در مطبوعات، نامی برای خود، دست و پا کند؛ اما در این میان به خاطر زیبارو بودن، همیشه مورد توجه زنان است
نقل نمونه متن ترجمه جناب شهدی: (از کتاب بل‌آم�: بخش نخست : «ژرژ دوروا» وقتی بقیه ی سکه ی پنج فرانکی را که به صندوقدار داده بود گرفت، از رستوران خارج شد؛ از آنجا که پسر خوش قیافه ای بود، به عادت دوران خدمت در ارتش، سینه اش را جلو داد، شکمش را تو کشید، با حرکتی نظامی وار و خودمانی، تابی به سبیلش داد، و نگاهی سریع به دور تا دور رستوران، و به مشتریها که هنوز شامشان را تمام نکرده بودند، انداخت، از آن نگاههای زیبا پسرانه ای که مثل نگاههای تیز مرغی شکاری همه چیز و همه جا را در بر میگیرد
زنها سرشان را بلند کردند و چشم به او دوختند: سه دختر کارگر، یک معلم موسیقی میانسال، بدلباس، با موهای آشفته، با کلاهی پر گرد و خاک و پیراهنی بدقواره، و دو زن از طبقه ی متوسط با شوهرهاشان، که از مشتریهای همیشگی این رستوران با قیمتهای ثابت و ارزان بودند
ژرژ دوروا وقتی رسید توی پیاده رو، یک لحظه بیحرکت ماند، و از خودش پرسید: بقیه ی شب را چگونه بگذراند؛ روز بیست و هشتم ژوئن بود، و توی جیبش سه فرانک و چهل سانتیم پول داشت، که بایستی تا آخر برج با آن سر میکرد؛ مفهومش این بود که تا آخر ماه، بنا به انتخاب خودش، میتوانست دونوبت شام بدون ناهار، یا دوبار ناهار بدون شام بخورد؛ حساب کرد که چون پول هر نوبت ناهار بیست و دو «سو» و هر نوبت شام سی «سو» است، اگر به خوردن دو نوبت ناهار اکتفا کند، یک فرانک و بیست سانتیم صرفه جویی کرده است، و با آن میتواند دو ساندویچ کالباس، با دو لیوان آبجو از دکه های بلوار بخرد؛ اینها هزینه های مهم و نیز لذتهای شبانه اش را تشکیل میداد؛ بعد شروع کرد به پیمودن کوچه ی «نوتردام دو لورت»؛
همیشه طوری راه میرفت، که انگار هنوز اونیفورم سوارنظام را، به تن دارد، با سینه ی جلو داده، و پاهای اندکی از هم باز، انگار تازه از اسب پیاده شده است؛ آن وقت با خشونت، توی کوچه های شلوغ راه میافتاد، به این و آن تنه میزد، مردم را از سرراهش، دور میکرد، تا کسی، مزاحم راه رفتنش نشود؛ کلاه بلند کهنه اش را، یک بری روی سرش میگذاشت، و پاشنه هایش را، محکم به کف پیاده رو، میکوبید؛ طوری راه میرفت، که انگار با همه کس سر دعوا دارد: با رهگذرها، با خانه ها، با تمام شهر، و با قیافه ی سربازِ خوش قیافه ای، که حالا، به لباس شخصی، درآمده است؛ اگرچه، کت و شلوارش شصت «فرانک» بیشتر نمیارزید، با اینهمه، به شکلی چشمگیر، واقعا خوشپوش، و برازنده بود؛ با قد بلند، اندام متناسب، موهای بلوطی روشن، که به طرز مبهمی، به حنایی میزد، سبیل سربالا، چشمهای آبی روشن، با مردمکهایی کوچک، موها که فر طبیعی داشت و با فرقی میان سر، از هم جدا شده بود، او را، شبیه قهرمانهای محبوب رمانهای عامیانه میکرد.)؛ پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 15/09/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 02/07/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
Bel Ami is the second novel by French author Guy de Maupassant, published in 1885; an English translation titled Bel Ami, or, The History of a Scoundrel: A Novel first appeared in 1903.
The story chronicles journalist Georges Duroy's corrupt rise to power from a poor ex-NCO to one of the most successful men in Paris, most of which he achieves by manipulating a series of powerful, intelligent, and wealthy women.
The novel is set in Paris in the upper-middle class environment of the leading journalists of the newspaper La Vie Française and their friends.
It tells the story of Georges Duroy, who has spent three years in military service in Algeria. After working for six months as a clerk in Paris, an encounter with his former comrade, Forestier, enables him to start a career as a journalist. From a reporter of minor events and soft news, he gradually climbs his way up to chief editor.
Duroy initially owes his success to Forestier’s wife, Madeleine, who helps him write his first articles and, when he later starts writing lead articles, she adds an edge and poignancy to them.
At the same time, she uses her connections among leading politicians to provide him with behind the scenes information which allows him to become actively involved in politics.
Duroy is also introduced to many politicians in Madame Forestier’s drawing-room. Duroy becomes the lover of Forestiers' friend Mme de Marelle, another influential woman. Duroy later tries to seduce Madeleine Forestier to get even with her husband, but she repulses Duroy’s sexual advances and offers that they become true friends without ulterior motives. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز سیزدهم ماه ژوئن سال 2006میلادی
عنوان: بل آمی؛ نویسنده: گی دو موپوسان؛ مترجم: علی اصغر سروش؛ تهران، امیرکبیر، 1347؛ در 434ص؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان فرانسه - سده 19م
عنوان: بل آمی؛ نویسنده: گی دو موپوسان؛ مترجم: پرویز شهدی؛ تهران، مجید، 1384، در 440ص، شابک 9644530616؛
داستان در مورد روزنامه نگاری شهرستانی است، که برای رسیدن به اهدافش، دست به هر کاری میزند؛ از کتابهای نایاب است؛ «موپاسان» در «بل امی»، به تشریح فضای حاکم بر روزنامه های «فرانسه»، میپردازند؛ رمان شخصیتی دارد، به نام «ژورژ دوروا» که جوانی است جویای نام، و میکوشد با شناختن راههای نفوذ در مطبوعات، نامی برای خود، دست و پا کند؛ اما در این میان به خاطر زیبارو بودن، همیشه مورد توجه زنان است
نقل نمونه متن ترجمه جناب شهدی: (از کتاب بل‌آم�: بخش نخست : «ژرژ دوروا» وقتی بقیه ی سکه ی پنج فرانکی را که به صندوقدار داده بود گرفت، از رستوران خارج شد؛ از آنجا که پسر خوش قیافه ای بود، به عادت دوران خدمت در ارتش، سینه اش را جلو داد، شکمش را تو کشید، با حرکتی نظامی وار و خودمانی، تابی به سبیلش داد، و نگاهی سریع به دور تا دور رستوران، و به مشتریها که هنوز شامشان را تمام نکرده بودند، انداخت، از آن نگاههای زیبا پسرانه ای که مثل نگاههای تیز مرغی شکاری همه چیز و همه جا را در بر میگیرد
زنها سرشان را بلند کردند و چشم به او دوختند: سه دختر کارگر، یک معلم موسیقی میانسال، بدلباس، با موهای آشفته، با کلاهی پر گرد و خاک و پیراهنی بدقواره، و دو زن از طبقه ی متوسط با شوهرهاشان، که از مشتریهای همیشگی این رستوران با قیمتهای ثابت و ارزان بودند
ژرژ دوروا وقتی رسید توی پیاده رو، یک لحظه بیحرکت ماند، و از خودش پرسید: بقیه ی شب را چگونه بگذراند؛ روز بیست و هشتم ژوئن بود، و توی جیبش سه فرانک و چهل سانتیم پول داشت، که بایستی تا آخر برج با آن سر میکرد؛ مفهومش این بود که تا آخر ماه، بنا به انتخاب خودش، میتوانست دونوبت شام بدون ناهار، یا دوبار ناهار بدون شام بخورد؛ حساب کرد که چون پول هر نوبت ناهار بیست و دو «سو» و هر نوبت شام سی «سو» است، اگر به خوردن دو نوبت ناهار اکتفا کند، یک فرانک و بیست سانتیم صرفه جویی کرده است، و با آن میتواند دو ساندویچ کالباس، با دو لیوان آبجو از دکه های بلوار بخرد؛ اینها هزینه های مهم و نیز لذتهای شبانه اش را تشکیل میداد؛ بعد شروع کرد به پیمودن کوچه ی «نوتردام دو لورت»؛
همیشه طوری راه میرفت، که انگار هنوز اونیفورم سوارنظام را، به تن دارد، با سینه ی جلو داده، و پاهای اندکی از هم باز، انگار تازه از اسب پیاده شده است؛ آن وقت با خشونت، توی کوچه های شلوغ راه میافتاد، به این و آن تنه میزد، مردم را از سرراهش، دور میکرد، تا کسی، مزاحم راه رفتنش نشود؛ کلاه بلند کهنه اش را، یک بری روی سرش میگذاشت، و پاشنه هایش را، محکم به کف پیاده رو، میکوبید؛ طوری راه میرفت، که انگار با همه کس سر دعوا دارد: با رهگذرها، با خانه ها، با تمام شهر، و با قیافه ی سربازِ خوش قیافه ای، که حالا، به لباس شخصی، درآمده است؛ اگرچه، کت و شلوارش شصت «فرانک» بیشتر نمیارزید، با اینهمه، به شکلی چشمگیر، واقعا خوشپوش، و برازنده بود؛ با قد بلند، اندام متناسب، موهای بلوطی روشن، که به طرز مبهمی، به حنایی میزد، سبیل سربالا، چشمهای آبی روشن، با مردمکهایی کوچک، موها که فر طبیعی داشت و با فرقی میان سر، از هم جدا شده بود، او را، شبیه قهرمانهای محبوب رمانهای عامیانه میکرد.)؛ پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 15/09/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 02/07/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
August 24, 2019
”There are many women who would give way to a passing whim, a sudden violent desire or an amorous fancy if they weren’t afraid that their brief moment of happiness would end in a dreadful scandal and bitter tears.�
Georges Duroy comes from the provinces of France to Paris with the determination to make something of himself. He finds a job making a pittance, but fortunately he runs into an old friend from the army named Charles Forestier. Even though Duroy has no real writing experience, Forestier decides to get him hired on at La Vie Francaise as a journalist. He wants Duroy to write about some of his experiences in the army, but the cursed white page that plagues even the most experienced writers is consuming his words before he can even dip his pen to paper.
Forestier sends Duroy to his wife Madeleine. She will get him sorted. It doesn’t take long for Duroy to realize who in the Forestier family is doing most of the writing. As he starts to mix in the circles surrounding the newspaper, he starts to see the potential for not only continuing to better his position but also the plethora of opportunities to seduce other men’s wives.
He is a handsome rake.
”He had a fund of small talk, a pleasant voice, a caressing glance and his moustache was irresistible. Crisp and curly, it curved charmingly over his lip, fair with auburn tints, slightly paler where it bristled at the ends.�
It isn’t long before the women, and even the men, are referring to him as Bel-Ami.
As he gains confidence, he also becomes bolder. His first conquest is Madame Clotilde de Marelle.
”’I’ve never seen such pretty earrings as yours, Madame de Marelle.�
She turned to him with a smile.
‘It’s an idea I had to fasten a diamond like that, simply on the end of a wire. They look just like dew, don’t they?�
Alarmed at his temerity and terrified of saying something silly, he murmured:
‘It’s charming...but the ear must take some of the credit, too.’�
Her ample bosom first catches his eye, but of course, only a low class lout would compliment a woman’s breasts. By showing an interest in her earrings, he unknowingly hits upon something of which she is proud, her creativity. As you will see when you read this novel, Duroy frequently gets luckier than he deserves. At the same time, I can’t help rooting for him even as he takes on characteristics that are beneath a man on the rise.
Forestier is very sick with tuberculosis. The disease is wasting him away. A young man, only in his late twenties, he will not only leave a higher position open at the newspaper, but he will also leave a young, beautiful, ambitious woman a widow. Both the job and the widow are of interest to Duroy. To him, she represents the pinnacle of success, but she will only prove to be a stepping stone for a man as ambitious as he is.
The Forestier death scene is particularly poignant because of his deathbed terror of the unknown, which even envelopes Madeleine and Duroy, who are devotedly attending his last moments, despite already scheming about a life after Forestier. When Guy De Maupassant was writing this novel in the 1880s, he already knew he was living under a death sentence. Syphilis was eroding his health at an alarming rate. When he wrote Forestier’s last moments, I couldn’t help thinking that he was recording his own fears and projecting his last curtain call upon this man who was dying too young.
First things first, Madeleine changes his name. He is now Duroy de Cantel or D. de Cantel. There are reasons why actors and actresses change their names, not only to be someone else, someone larger in even their own minds when they are acting, but to also have a memorable name that will easily trip off the tongue of those who hear it. Duroy is becoming an accomplished actor in the drama of his own life.
He has come a long way from the first squalid rooms he used in Paris. ”His wallpaper, grey with a blue floral pattern, had as many stains as flowers, ancient, dubious-looking stains that could have been squashed insects or oil, greasy finger-marks from hair cream or dirty soap suds from the wash-basin. It all reeked of poverty and degradation, the poverty of Parisian furnished lodgings.�
I know it isn’t possible for everyone to experience poverty, but for me, while trying to pay for college and at times walking around with just a few slender dimes in my pocket, the prospect of missing meals certainly honed my appreciation for what being successful really means. Though being successful takes on different meanings for different people, my vision of what a successful life is has certainly changed in the last few years. ”The road to success is thus largely paved by wily mediocrity; but, fortunately, as a counterbalance and a sort of poetic justice, Maupassant takes pains to underline the basic futility of ambition.� We see this philosophy in how Duray, excuse me, D. de Cantel adjusts to his rising prosperity. He is besotted by bitter envy of the triumphs of others to the point that he can’t enjoy the vaulted position he has achieved.
Achieved may be too strong a word.
He does still recognize who he is.
”A smart, low, open carriage came by drawn at a brisk trot by two slim greys with flowing manes and tails, driven by a small blonde young woman, a well-known high-class tart, with two grooms sitting behind her. Duroy stopped and felt like waving and applauding this woman whose success had been won on her back and who was boldly flaunting her luxury by taking her drive at the same time as these aristocratic hypocrites.�
I wonder, if we looked in on Duroy twenty years in the future, if he would still see the woman as an act of defiance to be celebrated, or will he be so steeped in the conventions of his new class that he will see her as someone to be vilified for her impertinence?
The women are so well drawn in this book. I find myself admiring them more than the men. They are competent, intelligent, and in many cases, use Duroy as much as he uses them. I especially admire Madeleine Forestier, who,
through her subtle astute suggestions, guides Duroy to better opportunities, and even suggests women he should strategically get to know better. She has no illusions about how either one of them are ever going to rise to a place of comfort.
The spectre of death, the dissatisfaction with success, the unseemliness of unquenchable ambition, and the hypocrisy of the aristocracy all make for a scathing, enjoyable romp through the dark alcoves, the boudoirs, and the secluded settees of Paris, as seeking fingers grope for the flesh beneath the silk.
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Georges Duroy comes from the provinces of France to Paris with the determination to make something of himself. He finds a job making a pittance, but fortunately he runs into an old friend from the army named Charles Forestier. Even though Duroy has no real writing experience, Forestier decides to get him hired on at La Vie Francaise as a journalist. He wants Duroy to write about some of his experiences in the army, but the cursed white page that plagues even the most experienced writers is consuming his words before he can even dip his pen to paper.
Forestier sends Duroy to his wife Madeleine. She will get him sorted. It doesn’t take long for Duroy to realize who in the Forestier family is doing most of the writing. As he starts to mix in the circles surrounding the newspaper, he starts to see the potential for not only continuing to better his position but also the plethora of opportunities to seduce other men’s wives.
He is a handsome rake.
”He had a fund of small talk, a pleasant voice, a caressing glance and his moustache was irresistible. Crisp and curly, it curved charmingly over his lip, fair with auburn tints, slightly paler where it bristled at the ends.�
It isn’t long before the women, and even the men, are referring to him as Bel-Ami.
As he gains confidence, he also becomes bolder. His first conquest is Madame Clotilde de Marelle.
”’I’ve never seen such pretty earrings as yours, Madame de Marelle.�
She turned to him with a smile.
‘It’s an idea I had to fasten a diamond like that, simply on the end of a wire. They look just like dew, don’t they?�
Alarmed at his temerity and terrified of saying something silly, he murmured:
‘It’s charming...but the ear must take some of the credit, too.’�
Her ample bosom first catches his eye, but of course, only a low class lout would compliment a woman’s breasts. By showing an interest in her earrings, he unknowingly hits upon something of which she is proud, her creativity. As you will see when you read this novel, Duroy frequently gets luckier than he deserves. At the same time, I can’t help rooting for him even as he takes on characteristics that are beneath a man on the rise.
Forestier is very sick with tuberculosis. The disease is wasting him away. A young man, only in his late twenties, he will not only leave a higher position open at the newspaper, but he will also leave a young, beautiful, ambitious woman a widow. Both the job and the widow are of interest to Duroy. To him, she represents the pinnacle of success, but she will only prove to be a stepping stone for a man as ambitious as he is.
The Forestier death scene is particularly poignant because of his deathbed terror of the unknown, which even envelopes Madeleine and Duroy, who are devotedly attending his last moments, despite already scheming about a life after Forestier. When Guy De Maupassant was writing this novel in the 1880s, he already knew he was living under a death sentence. Syphilis was eroding his health at an alarming rate. When he wrote Forestier’s last moments, I couldn’t help thinking that he was recording his own fears and projecting his last curtain call upon this man who was dying too young.
First things first, Madeleine changes his name. He is now Duroy de Cantel or D. de Cantel. There are reasons why actors and actresses change their names, not only to be someone else, someone larger in even their own minds when they are acting, but to also have a memorable name that will easily trip off the tongue of those who hear it. Duroy is becoming an accomplished actor in the drama of his own life.
He has come a long way from the first squalid rooms he used in Paris. ”His wallpaper, grey with a blue floral pattern, had as many stains as flowers, ancient, dubious-looking stains that could have been squashed insects or oil, greasy finger-marks from hair cream or dirty soap suds from the wash-basin. It all reeked of poverty and degradation, the poverty of Parisian furnished lodgings.�
I know it isn’t possible for everyone to experience poverty, but for me, while trying to pay for college and at times walking around with just a few slender dimes in my pocket, the prospect of missing meals certainly honed my appreciation for what being successful really means. Though being successful takes on different meanings for different people, my vision of what a successful life is has certainly changed in the last few years. ”The road to success is thus largely paved by wily mediocrity; but, fortunately, as a counterbalance and a sort of poetic justice, Maupassant takes pains to underline the basic futility of ambition.� We see this philosophy in how Duray, excuse me, D. de Cantel adjusts to his rising prosperity. He is besotted by bitter envy of the triumphs of others to the point that he can’t enjoy the vaulted position he has achieved.
Achieved may be too strong a word.
He does still recognize who he is.
”A smart, low, open carriage came by drawn at a brisk trot by two slim greys with flowing manes and tails, driven by a small blonde young woman, a well-known high-class tart, with two grooms sitting behind her. Duroy stopped and felt like waving and applauding this woman whose success had been won on her back and who was boldly flaunting her luxury by taking her drive at the same time as these aristocratic hypocrites.�
I wonder, if we looked in on Duroy twenty years in the future, if he would still see the woman as an act of defiance to be celebrated, or will he be so steeped in the conventions of his new class that he will see her as someone to be vilified for her impertinence?
The women are so well drawn in this book. I find myself admiring them more than the men. They are competent, intelligent, and in many cases, use Duroy as much as he uses them. I especially admire Madeleine Forestier, who,
through her subtle astute suggestions, guides Duroy to better opportunities, and even suggests women he should strategically get to know better. She has no illusions about how either one of them are ever going to rise to a place of comfort.
The spectre of death, the dissatisfaction with success, the unseemliness of unquenchable ambition, and the hypocrisy of the aristocracy all make for a scathing, enjoyable romp through the dark alcoves, the boudoirs, and the secluded settees of Paris, as seeking fingers grope for the flesh beneath the silk.
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January 25, 2023
Bel-Ami. What a great discovery! I frankly enjoyed reading this very much. It's fluid and captivating, and Maupassant offers us a good range of characters from the time, all more or less exciting but with a specific role in the plot, which I greatly appreciate. I particularly liked the (nonetheless realistic) pessimism of the poet Norbert de Varenne - I believe that Maupassant put a little of him in this character (they are both obsessed and devoured by the idea of death, especially).
It radically differs from Une vie, which is more descriptive and takes us into a much heavier atmosphere (the intended goal). It did not surprise me to read in the afterword that Bel-Ami was written in one go and in the form of a serial - hence the permanent feeling of being held in suspense - whereas Une Vie reported in 7 years! I also found a "Zolien" side to Bel-Ami, which I liked!
And then George Duroy; I love passionate characters, so I love George Duroy against all odds! A more modern Valmont and a little less vile, a man for women as I like them (literally speaking, of course!), He uses his charms to rise in society. Still, despite all his ephemeral and self-interested conquests, he remains attached to Madame de Marelle, his first lover, to whom he remains irresistibly attracted and maybe the only one he - and who - truly loves to her.
In short, I had a great time with this novel, and I recommend it to anyone who would like to escape to a distant time and yet very little different from ours in terms of human aspirations and ambitions.
It radically differs from Une vie, which is more descriptive and takes us into a much heavier atmosphere (the intended goal). It did not surprise me to read in the afterword that Bel-Ami was written in one go and in the form of a serial - hence the permanent feeling of being held in suspense - whereas Une Vie reported in 7 years! I also found a "Zolien" side to Bel-Ami, which I liked!
And then George Duroy; I love passionate characters, so I love George Duroy against all odds! A more modern Valmont and a little less vile, a man for women as I like them (literally speaking, of course!), He uses his charms to rise in society. Still, despite all his ephemeral and self-interested conquests, he remains attached to Madame de Marelle, his first lover, to whom he remains irresistibly attracted and maybe the only one he - and who - truly loves to her.
In short, I had a great time with this novel, and I recommend it to anyone who would like to escape to a distant time and yet very little different from ours in terms of human aspirations and ambitions.
September 19, 2017
Guy de Maupassant's 1885 portrayal of a scoundrel of the highest order, is set in Paris and was written with great style and not a little humour.
It really brings this period to life, and though this isn't edge of the seat stuff, the pages turn just as quickly following the exploits of George Duroy - journalist ( reputedly ) serial adulterer ( certainly ) and general rake, who'll stop at nothing to attain wealth, power, and recognition. Even though this was written in 1885, it seems that nothing much changes, and characters like George's are still alive and kicking!
It really brings this period to life, and though this isn't edge of the seat stuff, the pages turn just as quickly following the exploits of George Duroy - journalist ( reputedly ) serial adulterer ( certainly ) and general rake, who'll stop at nothing to attain wealth, power, and recognition. Even though this was written in 1885, it seems that nothing much changes, and characters like George's are still alive and kicking!
March 10, 2017
Guy de Maupassant was responsible for a couple of items named Bel-Ami. One was his very successful 1885 novel and the other was his small sailing yacht.
Here is what the latter looked like, from a Sale advertisement.
Advertisement for the sale of Guy de Maupassant's Yacht 'Bel-Ami' (litho) (b/w photo)
In Maupassant’s mind both the novel and the boat must have had a great deal in common, for we must remember that le bateau in French is of a masculine genre.
I also see a link in the great deal of pleasure that Maupassant must have had sailing in his boat and in my enjoyment when flowing through his textual Bel-Ami.
The story in this book is after all one of a voyage of transformation. It traces the adventures of the scoundrel Georges Duroy as he surfs the seas of Parisian society. He is a real “fripon�, which is, unsurprisingly, a name often given to vessels (incidentally, “Fripon� in Spanish translates as “Bribón�, which is the name of the sailboat of His Royal Majesty, Juan Carlos I, King of Spain).
And here is the royal Bribon.
Georges Duroy is a lucky man. To begin with, he is beautiful, charming, engaging and.. bewitching. When he also polishes his gear he reaches such a point of elegance that he does not recognize himself when he sees his reflection in the mirror. The novel is the account of how, as if he were a boat, he transforms himself from a provincial raft into a seductive canoe and eventually into a magnificent yacht. I picture the something as alluring as this:
In this account of navigation we witness the exploration of Duroy’s remarkable personality who is always on the look out for new opportunities or new ports as he moves through the social, political and economic mesh of Paris in the late nineteenth century. His elegant gliding is possible thanks to his ability to detect from where the wind blows and let himself be carried by that impulse. So, even if he starts out of a standing of poverty and misery, he recognizes the buoy that is his friend, M. Forestier, and succeeds in keeping afloat.
And from this timely impulse from the friend Duroy advances and steers on towards success, thanks to his wafting allure. A great part of his journey is accompanied by the crew of women in his life as they lay out the course for him. For amongst his abilities we hear him sing mesmerizing chants to the mermaids of the Parisian salons while he also skirts the shores formed by the cabarets where he can find banks of “other females�. For not all women play the same role. One offers a harbour of love. Another provides a piquant tour along the reservoir of the Folies Bergere. And a very secure anchor is provided by a third, who appropriately lives in Rue Fontaine, until it is time for him to unmoor and head out for a richer heiress and final landing pier.
But not all the crossing is made thanks to the dames. Journalism also offers rich waters for further discoveries and, as he embarks in this new career, we follow him to its zenith. For during the Third Republic newspapers acquired a new power and depth in which there was a lot to fish. Duroy recognized this clearly. As hidden finance deals blended with journalism into dense and murky seas, he succeeds in breaking the waves and casting his net in these new profundities and pull out fantastic treasures.
As he also learns how to cruise through the currents of public opinion, he begins to scan the coasts of Northwestern Africa, following the wake that the political and economic interests of French Foreign Policy were leaving behind. Duroy proved always ready to catch major opportunities in these colonial maneuverings when France interfered with the interests of Morocco, Algiers and Tunisia.
But for the entirety of this voyage, capital is needed if one is not to drift into dangerous currents. And since just floating will not take you anywhere, and just as Duroy is beginning to drown in his own debts he manages to emerge because he starts swimming in other people’s money. As his stroke improves he eventually triumphs as he creams the foam of society’s fortunes and riches.
And as he has set his sails his itinerary eventually takes him out into the open ocean of high politics. By then Duroy has earned all his stripes and elevated his name to that of Baron du Roy de Cantel. He is then more than ready to make direct headway towards the not too distant coast of the French Parliament, which standing as a beacon in the horizon, is where he plans to cast anchor, finally.
And if Duroy’s story seems like a miracle, we have to remember the recurring analogy established in the novel between our maritime hero and the often mentioned, and fictitious, painting depicting Jésus marchant sur les flots .
And if I ever could succeed in life and managed to get myself a Yacht like this one:
I would also call it BEL-AMI.
September 1, 2011
For a novel published in 1885 and set in the Paris of that period, this novel has a remarkably modern feel. It's about sleazy journalism, corrupt politicians, sex, money and power. And through it all is the Bel-Ami of the title - Georges Duroy, who uses his liaisons with rich and / or powerful women to achieve the wealth and social position he craves. Bel-Ami is the nickname given to him by the daughter of a mistress. It means "handsome (or beautiful) friend", but the nickname, like almost everything else about Georges, is deceptive. As handsome as he is, there's nothing in the least bit friendly about Georges.
I love so much about this book. I love the straightforward, accessible language, the believable dialogue and the descriptions of Paris life in 1885. I love the use of humour, such as in the duelling scene. I love the poignancy of some of the scenes: for example .
However, the character of Georges Duroy is the novel's greatest achievement. He is the centre around whom everyting turns and he is a fascinating creation. De Maupassant initially evokes sympathy for Georges. He is poor, and while ambitious, he suffers humiliation because of his poverty. But any sympathy is stripped away as the narrative progresses. Georges is a person who can never be content with what he has. Each gain, each achievement only leads to more envy and increased greed. As a character, Georges is both horrifying and compelling.
This novel is a wonderful illustration of how a total lack of virtue can bring great rewards. There is no doubt that this remains as true today as it was in Paris in 1885.
I love so much about this book. I love the straightforward, accessible language, the believable dialogue and the descriptions of Paris life in 1885. I love the use of humour, such as in the duelling scene. I love the poignancy of some of the scenes: for example .
However, the character of Georges Duroy is the novel's greatest achievement. He is the centre around whom everyting turns and he is a fascinating creation. De Maupassant initially evokes sympathy for Georges. He is poor, and while ambitious, he suffers humiliation because of his poverty. But any sympathy is stripped away as the narrative progresses. Georges is a person who can never be content with what he has. Each gain, each achievement only leads to more envy and increased greed. As a character, Georges is both horrifying and compelling.
This novel is a wonderful illustration of how a total lack of virtue can bring great rewards. There is no doubt that this remains as true today as it was in Paris in 1885.
May 6, 2019
A meaty, exciting, insightful novel. Maupassant is so skilled with structure and is clearly champing at the bit to depict the ins and outs of 1880's Parisian culture (the extremely spoilery introduction is worth reading after you read the book to learn about the narrative parallels between Bel-Ami and the author). Bel-Ami's a great character - he's sort of totally loathsome and not particularly brilliant, and yet you can't help but thrill at his talent for manipulation and constant drive. It's also fun, oddly enough, to read a book about a genuinely handsome, alluring man. The women in the novel don't fall short either - each of the three leads has her moment to shine and Madame Forestier, in particular, is as skillful and likable and MODERN a female character that I can remember from this period in writing.
G d.M. is known as a short story writer and there are scenes here - the visit to Bel Ami's coarse childhood home; the remarkable dueling scene, which is a spectacular depiction of the way terror elides time; the creeping death of a friend; the depression of an elderly poet; the first meeting with a new lover - that stand alone quite well. But my favorite scene of all is a party toward the end of the book, when all the characters share the stage for the first time as they whirl around each other at the height of the society. You realize with a thrill that you know so many of them intimately, that despite the close alignment with the book's lead, you understand an entire tableau and look at them with affection. That this is one hell of a novel.
Oh, and the ending is just absolutely a knockout. That last sentence sticks the landing.
G d.M. is known as a short story writer and there are scenes here - the visit to Bel Ami's coarse childhood home; the remarkable dueling scene, which is a spectacular depiction of the way terror elides time; the creeping death of a friend; the depression of an elderly poet; the first meeting with a new lover - that stand alone quite well. But my favorite scene of all is a party toward the end of the book, when all the characters share the stage for the first time as they whirl around each other at the height of the society. You realize with a thrill that you know so many of them intimately, that despite the close alignment with the book's lead, you understand an entire tableau and look at them with affection. That this is one hell of a novel.
Oh, and the ending is just absolutely a knockout. That last sentence sticks the landing.
February 1, 2024
"Y en el espejo confuso donde se realizaban sus esperanzas, esperanzas de grandeza, de éxito, fama, dinero y amor, descubrió de repente, como una de esas guirnaldas de ángeles que ascienden al cielo, del apoteosis, una procesión de mujeres elegantes, ricas y poderosas que pasaban ante él sonriéndole para desaparecer después en el otro extremo de la dorada nube de sus ilusiones."
Guy de Maupassant es uno de los mejores escritores que dio Francia. Escribió más de trescientos cuentos y nunca se encasilló en ningún estilo sino que mantuvo su originalidad intacta del primero hasta el último; pero también escribió seis novelas siendo "Una vida" y esta las más populares.
Sus cuentos abarcan un gran espectro de géneros y los escribió de todo tipo: románticos, naturalistas, decadentes, de terror, fantásticos y de suspenso.
No había temática sobre la cual no escribiera algo novedoso.
Fue uno de los que más capitalizaron y popularizaron la novela francesa de mitad del siglo XIX.
Junto a sus padrinos y protectores literarios como Emile Zolá y Gustave Flaubert ganó fama y reconocimiento hasta que su salud comenzó a resquebrajarse y sus ataques de demencia lo llevaron a la muerte.
Tanto en sus cuentos como en sus novelas se distinguió, al igual que sus colegas, a realizar perfectas descripciones de las costumbres francesas, tanto de la burguesía como de la nobleza y las clases bajas, pues conocía todos los estratos sociales de Francia a la perfección.
Todos estos elementos los lleva a la ejecución perfecta de en esta novela, "Bel Ami", que nos narra la vida de un joven ambicioso, inescrupuloso y ávido de triunfar en la vida : George Duroy.
La novela narra desde el encuentro de un jovencísimo Duroy, ex soldado proveniente de Argelia, quien sin un centavo tiene la fortuna de cruzarse con Charles Forestier uno de los mejores periodistas de la capital francesa.
Este encuentro casual con Forestier, sumado a la oportunidad de trabajar como reportero del periódico "La vie ڰçise", será la oportunidad dorada para triunfar en la vida y muy especialmente... con las mujeres.
En este punto me es indispensable e inevitable la comparación entre George Duroy y Julien Sorel, el personaje principal de la novela "Rojo y negro" de Stendhal puesto que los objetivos de ambos son prácticamente los mismos: escalar socialmente, carecer de todo escrúpulos, ambicionar dinero y mu especialmente seducir a toda mujer que se les cruce.
Tal vez, las únicas diferencias entre Duroy y Sorel radican en que en el caso del personaje de Stendhal, divide su corazón entre dos mujeres, mientras que Duroy no tiene techo y de esta manera conquista a las mujeres que desea y en lo posible deben ser mujeres casadas y ricas. Aquí no hay recato alguno.
Duroy es capaz de todo y lo logra. Su apodo "Bel Ami" (bello amigo), relacionado directamente con su apuesta figura le da todas las herramientas necesarias para triunfar.
La otra es que Duroy no debe atravesar ningún proceso judicial en su contra como el personaje de "Rojo y negro".
Es joven, apuesto y seductor y tiene todo lo necesario para triunfar y luego de sus comienzos ingenuos y titubeantes se afianzará en la sociedad parisina para conquistarlo todo.
Su intento de superación y escalar posiciones y fama es el motor para alcanzar la gloria y de esta manera se adjudicará su primera conquista: madame Clotilde de Marelle, esposa de un importante funcionario. La oportunidad de trabajar como redactor del diario La vie ڰçise le va abriendo todas las puerta y de este modos, todas las mujeres van cayendo en sus redes.
Así llega la segunda conquista: Madeleine Forestier, esposa de su propio amigo y benefactor con quien decide casarse para asegurarse un futuro y a la vez, cambiarse el apellido a Du Roy.
Como su poder de encanto no tiene freno, su tercera conquista, la señora Virginia Walter le generará los primeros contratiempos y dolores de cabeza y anticiparán los conflictos lógicos que conllevan tantas relaciones adúlteras.
Lógicamente, Maupassant pone los tres ingredientes vitales para una novela de este tipo: amores, odios y traiciones.
De esta manera, cumple con los requisitos de la novela realista francesa, centrada en mostrar el materialismo y la necesidad imperiosa de granjearse una posición social importante, hacer dinero y tener el mejor status a la vista de las clases altas y para ello utilizar todo tipo de recursos, desde los más inteligentes hasta los más bajos.
Todo en pos de triunfar, no importa el costo. Ese mismo costo lo tendrá también que afrontar Du Roy y de eso se trata esta novela. Amor, adulterio, ambición, poder, dinero, fama y traición.
Con estos elementos es imposible no mantenerse distraído y para eso no hay nadie mejor que Guy de Maupassant, quien sigue siendo para mí una excelente elección a la hora de leer un buen libro.
Guy de Maupassant es uno de los mejores escritores que dio Francia. Escribió más de trescientos cuentos y nunca se encasilló en ningún estilo sino que mantuvo su originalidad intacta del primero hasta el último; pero también escribió seis novelas siendo "Una vida" y esta las más populares.
Sus cuentos abarcan un gran espectro de géneros y los escribió de todo tipo: románticos, naturalistas, decadentes, de terror, fantásticos y de suspenso.
No había temática sobre la cual no escribiera algo novedoso.
Fue uno de los que más capitalizaron y popularizaron la novela francesa de mitad del siglo XIX.
Junto a sus padrinos y protectores literarios como Emile Zolá y Gustave Flaubert ganó fama y reconocimiento hasta que su salud comenzó a resquebrajarse y sus ataques de demencia lo llevaron a la muerte.
Tanto en sus cuentos como en sus novelas se distinguió, al igual que sus colegas, a realizar perfectas descripciones de las costumbres francesas, tanto de la burguesía como de la nobleza y las clases bajas, pues conocía todos los estratos sociales de Francia a la perfección.
Todos estos elementos los lleva a la ejecución perfecta de en esta novela, "Bel Ami", que nos narra la vida de un joven ambicioso, inescrupuloso y ávido de triunfar en la vida : George Duroy.
La novela narra desde el encuentro de un jovencísimo Duroy, ex soldado proveniente de Argelia, quien sin un centavo tiene la fortuna de cruzarse con Charles Forestier uno de los mejores periodistas de la capital francesa.
Este encuentro casual con Forestier, sumado a la oportunidad de trabajar como reportero del periódico "La vie ڰçise", será la oportunidad dorada para triunfar en la vida y muy especialmente... con las mujeres.
En este punto me es indispensable e inevitable la comparación entre George Duroy y Julien Sorel, el personaje principal de la novela "Rojo y negro" de Stendhal puesto que los objetivos de ambos son prácticamente los mismos: escalar socialmente, carecer de todo escrúpulos, ambicionar dinero y mu especialmente seducir a toda mujer que se les cruce.
Tal vez, las únicas diferencias entre Duroy y Sorel radican en que en el caso del personaje de Stendhal, divide su corazón entre dos mujeres, mientras que Duroy no tiene techo y de esta manera conquista a las mujeres que desea y en lo posible deben ser mujeres casadas y ricas. Aquí no hay recato alguno.
Duroy es capaz de todo y lo logra. Su apodo "Bel Ami" (bello amigo), relacionado directamente con su apuesta figura le da todas las herramientas necesarias para triunfar.
La otra es que Duroy no debe atravesar ningún proceso judicial en su contra como el personaje de "Rojo y negro".
Es joven, apuesto y seductor y tiene todo lo necesario para triunfar y luego de sus comienzos ingenuos y titubeantes se afianzará en la sociedad parisina para conquistarlo todo.
Su intento de superación y escalar posiciones y fama es el motor para alcanzar la gloria y de esta manera se adjudicará su primera conquista: madame Clotilde de Marelle, esposa de un importante funcionario. La oportunidad de trabajar como redactor del diario La vie ڰçise le va abriendo todas las puerta y de este modos, todas las mujeres van cayendo en sus redes.
Así llega la segunda conquista: Madeleine Forestier, esposa de su propio amigo y benefactor con quien decide casarse para asegurarse un futuro y a la vez, cambiarse el apellido a Du Roy.
Como su poder de encanto no tiene freno, su tercera conquista, la señora Virginia Walter le generará los primeros contratiempos y dolores de cabeza y anticiparán los conflictos lógicos que conllevan tantas relaciones adúlteras.
Lógicamente, Maupassant pone los tres ingredientes vitales para una novela de este tipo: amores, odios y traiciones.
De esta manera, cumple con los requisitos de la novela realista francesa, centrada en mostrar el materialismo y la necesidad imperiosa de granjearse una posición social importante, hacer dinero y tener el mejor status a la vista de las clases altas y para ello utilizar todo tipo de recursos, desde los más inteligentes hasta los más bajos.
Todo en pos de triunfar, no importa el costo. Ese mismo costo lo tendrá también que afrontar Du Roy y de eso se trata esta novela. Amor, adulterio, ambición, poder, dinero, fama y traición.
Con estos elementos es imposible no mantenerse distraído y para eso no hay nadie mejor que Guy de Maupassant, quien sigue siendo para mí una excelente elección a la hora de leer un buen libro.
March 10, 2017
A while back, I happened to read some of De Maupassant's darkly humorous short stories from the 'Parisian affair' collection and found them a pure delight. He no doubt had a talent of capturing the bourgeousie society and predominantly focusing on relationships between men and women, exploring the nature of the human character, thumbs up here.
'Bel-Ami' although a solid enough read just didn't leave me with that same feeling of his shorter work. Zola, Balzac and Flaubert I find far more engaging when it comes to expansive novels, and even though this is far from being a huge novel it lacked something to keep me fully absorbed, it didn't help that right from the off I pretty much knew Georges Duroy (Bel-Ami) was a character that was not going to win me over, as it seems he was following a sinful path that had only one destination. Greed.
The story itself is a basic one (The power to succeed in journalism regardless of who gets hurt along the way) with the focus more on how certain characters react to certain situations, De Maupassant does have a strength for writing of the bond between people and does that well here, but nothing close to as good as in 'A Parisian Affair'., the panoramic descriptions of Paris's right bank society
was handled really well, making this characteristic my highlight of the whole novel.
Nothing is ever enough for Duroy, the son of peasant tavern owners in Normandy all too quickly forgets his past. His lucky break is also quickly forgotten and a growing sense of deserving money and influence starts to grow in his corrupted heart. Duroy appears completely oblivious to the pain caused to others, with both wife and mistress coming off second best to his logic. And the more he climbs social ladders the less of a good-natured person he becomes, and does not see love in anyway shape or form. It's a fear, a fear of failure that drives Duroy forward, De Maupassant builds up the picture slowly, and this does build character development, which goes down well, I was far more interested in wife/mistress aspects of the story rather than Bel-Ami himself. It starts slowly as Duroy takes his first tentative steps into society, but by the end as the issues become more complex the reader is still able to navigate around the world of newspaper, foreign ministers and sexual escapades, to come to the same conclusions as before. That Duroy is dangerous and unlikeable.
The cutthroat world of journalism has changed a hell of a lot since this publication, but human behaviour has not, which will see Bel-Ami continue to be classed as a timeless piece of writing.
But he is just short of being in the same league as Zola or Balzac. 3.5/5
'Bel-Ami' although a solid enough read just didn't leave me with that same feeling of his shorter work. Zola, Balzac and Flaubert I find far more engaging when it comes to expansive novels, and even though this is far from being a huge novel it lacked something to keep me fully absorbed, it didn't help that right from the off I pretty much knew Georges Duroy (Bel-Ami) was a character that was not going to win me over, as it seems he was following a sinful path that had only one destination. Greed.
The story itself is a basic one (The power to succeed in journalism regardless of who gets hurt along the way) with the focus more on how certain characters react to certain situations, De Maupassant does have a strength for writing of the bond between people and does that well here, but nothing close to as good as in 'A Parisian Affair'., the panoramic descriptions of Paris's right bank society
was handled really well, making this characteristic my highlight of the whole novel.
Nothing is ever enough for Duroy, the son of peasant tavern owners in Normandy all too quickly forgets his past. His lucky break is also quickly forgotten and a growing sense of deserving money and influence starts to grow in his corrupted heart. Duroy appears completely oblivious to the pain caused to others, with both wife and mistress coming off second best to his logic. And the more he climbs social ladders the less of a good-natured person he becomes, and does not see love in anyway shape or form. It's a fear, a fear of failure that drives Duroy forward, De Maupassant builds up the picture slowly, and this does build character development, which goes down well, I was far more interested in wife/mistress aspects of the story rather than Bel-Ami himself. It starts slowly as Duroy takes his first tentative steps into society, but by the end as the issues become more complex the reader is still able to navigate around the world of newspaper, foreign ministers and sexual escapades, to come to the same conclusions as before. That Duroy is dangerous and unlikeable.
The cutthroat world of journalism has changed a hell of a lot since this publication, but human behaviour has not, which will see Bel-Ami continue to be classed as a timeless piece of writing.
But he is just short of being in the same league as Zola or Balzac. 3.5/5
March 23, 2020
Puede que en su tiempo causara cierto escándalo: se critica al periodismo, a la institución del matrimonio, a la hipocresía religiosa, a los chanchullos y amancebamientos político-economico-periodísticos. Pero ahora, nada de eso es suficiente para salvar una novela.
Aunque podría librar de la quema las últimas cien páginas y le alabo el gusto por no sucumbir a un final feliz o justiciero, la novela me ha aburrido soberanamente. El personaje, eje central de la novela, es taaaaaaaan soso, taaaaaaaaaaaaan sin sustancia, taaaaaaaaaaaan plano� Y aun así, lo que más me molesta de la novela es lo poco que el autor pide a sus lectores o en la poca estima que nos tiene: siendo todo muy trivial, no solo nos muestra lo tonto que puede ser el personaje sino que además nos lo dice expresamente, montones de veces, y no es la única desconsideración que tiene con quién le leemos. A la hoguera con él.
Aunque podría librar de la quema las últimas cien páginas y le alabo el gusto por no sucumbir a un final feliz o justiciero, la novela me ha aburrido soberanamente. El personaje, eje central de la novela, es taaaaaaaan soso, taaaaaaaaaaaaan sin sustancia, taaaaaaaaaaaan plano� Y aun así, lo que más me molesta de la novela es lo poco que el autor pide a sus lectores o en la poca estima que nos tiene: siendo todo muy trivial, no solo nos muestra lo tonto que puede ser el personaje sino que además nos lo dice expresamente, montones de veces, y no es la única desconsideración que tiene con quién le leemos. A la hoguera con él.
April 22, 2024
One of the books from my parents's bookcase which was read and reread by me as a child (secretly) numerous times.
I wonder how I would find it now.
I wonder how I would find it now.
May 1, 2021
«Που να βρω ένα φιλαράκο ( συγγραφική αδεία ) να μου πει πως μ’αγαπάει στ’αλήθει�, αφού και ‘σ� έχεις εξαφανιστεί».
Ο διαβόητος Ζωρζ Ντυρουά που πουλούσε έρωτα για καρδιές και μυαλά ευάλωτων στην ηδονή και την απόλαυση γυναίκων και αγόραζε κλεμμένες ευτυχίες, χρήμα, δύναμη και κοινωνική καταξίωση.
Ήταν ένας φτωχός υπάλληλος του στρατού, ένας υπαξιωματικός στη γαλλική Αλγερία που καταφέρνει να χειραγωγήσει τις κατάλληλες γνωριμίες και να βρεθεί στο Παρίσι ως δημοσιογράφος και ένα απο τα σημαίνονται πρόσωπα της τότε μπουρζουαζίας στην κοινωνική ταξική κλίμακα.
Ο φιλαράκος καταγόταν απο φτωχούς Νορβηγούς γονείς, αγράμματους και άξεστους όπως τους χαρακτηρίζει κι ο ίδιος. Εκείνοι παραμένουν στα πάτρια εδάφη όπου έζησαν όλη τους τη ζωή διατηρώντας ένα φτωχικό και θλιβερά παρηκμασμένο καπηλειό για χαμένες προσδοκίες και ψυχές γεμάτες μόνο απο φθηνό και θολό αλκοόλ όπως ήταν και το μυαλό τους.
Ο μοναχογιός τους με όπλα την πονηριά και την γοητεία του νέου και αρρενωπού αρσενικού που ξέρει να επιδεικνύεται, τους εγκαταλείπει προς άγραν πολυτέλειας, τρυφηλότητας, παθών και εθισμών!..
απο αυτά δλδ που επικρατούσαν τότε στα αριστοκρατικά σαλόνια όπου μπερδεύονταν δεσποινίδες, κυρίες, κακότες, κυράτσες, άλλες με τίτλους,αξιώματα και πλούτη και άλλες με συζύγους ψεύτικης αριστοκρατικής στόφας, απ’αυτού� τους προδότες, τους κλέφτες και τους απατεώνες που βρέθηκαν ξαφνικά απο αγράμματοι μαγαζάτορες, ή σφουγγοκωλάριοι υψηλά ιστάμενων προσώπων να είναι κύριοι διοργανωτές της κοινωνικής ορθότητας.
Πολιτικοί με φαλάκρα, δικαστικοί με περούκα ,
νομικοί με μουστάκι άψογα περιποιημένο ,
και ιερείς με τροφαντές κοιλιές και στρουμπουλά παγκάρια θεοφοβούμενης φιλανθρωπίας.
Ανάμεσα τους κάθε είδους ερπετό που αναρριχάται σε εξουσιαστικούς θώκους με κάθε θυσία.
Μια κοινωνία διεφθαρμένη, με αδίστακτους φιλισταίους και ερωμένες χειραγωγημένες για κάθε βαλάντιο, κάθε γούστο και προπαντώς με απόλυτη εχεμύθεια.
Ο δολοπλόκος,
και ακατέργαστα εγωπαθής και αρίβιστας, ο σαγηνευτικός, υπερόπτης και αξιόπιστα υστερόβουλος φιλαράκος είναι ένας σύνοδος ονείρων και απολαύσεων που ανακούφιζε και ξετρέλαινε σχεδόν όποια ισχυρή, πλούσια και ρομαντικά έξυπνη γυναίκα που δοκίμαζε τα χάδια του, τα πλανερά γλυκά του λόγια, τα μεθυστικά παραπλανητικά του βλέμματα που υπόσχονταν τα πάντα και τίποτε και τα αγνώστου ηθικής αξίας ανατριχιαστικά φιλιά του.
Ο Ζωρζ Ντυρουά αποφασισμένος να πετύχει στη ζωή του ειναι αδίστακτος και παγερά αδιάφορος μπροστά σε κάθε συναίσθημα ή συντροφική σχέση που θα μπορούσε να γεννηθεί.
Ο φιλαράκος είναι παιλαιάς, νέας και παντοτινής κοπής παλιανθωπιάς και εκμετάλλευσης που υπήρχε, υπάρχει και θα υπάρχει στον κοινωνικό μας περίγυρο εφόσον τα άτομα και οι καταστάσεις του το επιτρέπουν.
Δεν μπορώ να κατηγορήσω μόνο τον φιλαράκο με τον ανείπωτο κυνισμό του και την ανυπέρβλητη ματαιοδοξία του.
Κατηγορώ επίσης και την κοινωνία που τον ανέχτηκε, τον περιέθαλψε και τον βοήθησε να ανελιχθεί ο εγωισμός και ο εγωκεντρισμός σε πυρήνα ψυχοπαθητικής συμπεριφοράς και δηλώνω μετά λόγου γνώσεως πως απεικονίζει απαράλλαχτα την φιλοτόμαρη ατομικιστική φιγούρα της σημερινής κουλτούρας ανεξαρτήτως γενετήσιου φύλου.
Ήρθε η τοξική αγάπη, η εκμαυλισμένη συνουσία του ημίμοσμου και η λαγνεία, η απιστία, η διαφθορά και η απληστία έγιναν ο μπούσουλας της αστικής τάξης. Οπότε ο φτωχός κουτοπόνηρος σιδηροδρομικός υπάλληλος κάνει αποδεκτή απο τον επιχειρηματικό κόσμο της φαυλότητας μια νόρμα φυσιολογικού τρόπου ζωής , σε αυτοπροώθηση.
Ένας απατεώνας κάλπικης πολυτέλειας με ονοματεπώνυμο αριστοκρατικής ρίζας.
Και ενώ όλοι αυτοί που μίσησαν, λυπήθηκαν, συμπόνεσαν και καταράστηκαν τον φιλαράκο περιμένοντας ένα τέλος που θα τον τιμωρήσει φρικτά και απάνθρωπα για τα θανάσιμα αμαρτήματα του, έρχεται η τελευταία παράγραφος του Μωπασάν και μόνο Γι� αυτό το αιφνιδιαστικά ρεαλιστικό και επίκαιρο τέλος κερδίζει επάξια το 4ο αστέρι.
Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς και σεμνούς ασπασμούς.
Ο διαβόητος Ζωρζ Ντυρουά που πουλούσε έρωτα για καρδιές και μυαλά ευάλωτων στην ηδονή και την απόλαυση γυναίκων και αγόραζε κλεμμένες ευτυχίες, χρήμα, δύναμη και κοινωνική καταξίωση.
Ήταν ένας φτωχός υπάλληλος του στρατού, ένας υπαξιωματικός στη γαλλική Αλγερία που καταφέρνει να χειραγωγήσει τις κατάλληλες γνωριμίες και να βρεθεί στο Παρίσι ως δημοσιογράφος και ένα απο τα σημαίνονται πρόσωπα της τότε μπουρζουαζίας στην κοινωνική ταξική κλίμακα.
Ο φιλαράκος καταγόταν απο φτωχούς Νορβηγούς γονείς, αγράμματους και άξεστους όπως τους χαρακτηρίζει κι ο ίδιος. Εκείνοι παραμένουν στα πάτρια εδάφη όπου έζησαν όλη τους τη ζωή διατηρώντας ένα φτωχικό και θλιβερά παρηκμασμένο καπηλειό για χαμένες προσδοκίες και ψυχές γεμάτες μόνο απο φθηνό και θολό αλκοόλ όπως ήταν και το μυαλό τους.
Ο μοναχογιός τους με όπλα την πονηριά και την γοητεία του νέου και αρρενωπού αρσενικού που ξέρει να επιδεικνύεται, τους εγκαταλείπει προς άγραν πολυτέλειας, τρυφηλότητας, παθών και εθισμών!..
απο αυτά δλδ που επικρατούσαν τότε στα αριστοκρατικά σαλόνια όπου μπερδεύονταν δεσποινίδες, κυρίες, κακότες, κυράτσες, άλλες με τίτλους,αξιώματα και πλούτη και άλλες με συζύγους ψεύτικης αριστοκρατικής στόφας, απ’αυτού� τους προδότες, τους κλέφτες και τους απατεώνες που βρέθηκαν ξαφνικά απο αγράμματοι μαγαζάτορες, ή σφουγγοκωλάριοι υψηλά ιστάμενων προσώπων να είναι κύριοι διοργανωτές της κοινωνικής ορθότητας.
Πολιτικοί με φαλάκρα, δικαστικοί με περούκα ,
νομικοί με μουστάκι άψογα περιποιημένο ,
και ιερείς με τροφαντές κοιλιές και στρουμπουλά παγκάρια θεοφοβούμενης φιλανθρωπίας.
Ανάμεσα τους κάθε είδους ερπετό που αναρριχάται σε εξουσιαστικούς θώκους με κάθε θυσία.
Μια κοινωνία διεφθαρμένη, με αδίστακτους φιλισταίους και ερωμένες χειραγωγημένες για κάθε βαλάντιο, κάθε γούστο και προπαντώς με απόλυτη εχεμύθεια.
Ο δολοπλόκος,
και ακατέργαστα εγωπαθής και αρίβιστας, ο σαγηνευτικός, υπερόπτης και αξιόπιστα υστερόβουλος φιλαράκος είναι ένας σύνοδος ονείρων και απολαύσεων που ανακούφιζε και ξετρέλαινε σχεδόν όποια ισχυρή, πλούσια και ρομαντικά έξυπνη γυναίκα που δοκίμαζε τα χάδια του, τα πλανερά γλυκά του λόγια, τα μεθυστικά παραπλανητικά του βλέμματα που υπόσχονταν τα πάντα και τίποτε και τα αγνώστου ηθικής αξίας ανατριχιαστικά φιλιά του.
Ο Ζωρζ Ντυρουά αποφασισμένος να πετύχει στη ζωή του ειναι αδίστακτος και παγερά αδιάφορος μπροστά σε κάθε συναίσθημα ή συντροφική σχέση που θα μπορούσε να γεννηθεί.
Ο φιλαράκος είναι παιλαιάς, νέας και παντοτινής κοπής παλιανθωπιάς και εκμετάλλευσης που υπήρχε, υπάρχει και θα υπάρχει στον κοινωνικό μας περίγυρο εφόσον τα άτομα και οι καταστάσεις του το επιτρέπουν.
Δεν μπορώ να κατηγορήσω μόνο τον φιλαράκο με τον ανείπωτο κυνισμό του και την ανυπέρβλητη ματαιοδοξία του.
Κατηγορώ επίσης και την κοινωνία που τον ανέχτηκε, τον περιέθαλψε και τον βοήθησε να ανελιχθεί ο εγωισμός και ο εγωκεντρισμός σε πυρήνα ψυχοπαθητικής συμπεριφοράς και δηλώνω μετά λόγου γνώσεως πως απεικονίζει απαράλλαχτα την φιλοτόμαρη ατομικιστική φιγούρα της σημερινής κουλτούρας ανεξαρτήτως γενετήσιου φύλου.
Ήρθε η τοξική αγάπη, η εκμαυλισμένη συνουσία του ημίμοσμου και η λαγνεία, η απιστία, η διαφθορά και η απληστία έγιναν ο μπούσουλας της αστικής τάξης. Οπότε ο φτωχός κουτοπόνηρος σιδηροδρομικός υπάλληλος κάνει αποδεκτή απο τον επιχειρηματικό κόσμο της φαυλότητας μια νόρμα φυσιολογικού τρόπου ζωής , σε αυτοπροώθηση.
Ένας απατεώνας κάλπικης πολυτέλειας με ονοματεπώνυμο αριστοκρατικής ρίζας.
Και ενώ όλοι αυτοί που μίσησαν, λυπήθηκαν, συμπόνεσαν και καταράστηκαν τον φιλαράκο περιμένοντας ένα τέλος που θα τον τιμωρήσει φρικτά και απάνθρωπα για τα θανάσιμα αμαρτήματα του, έρχεται η τελευταία παράγραφος του Μωπασάν και μόνο Γι� αυτό το αιφνιδιαστικά ρεαλιστικό και επίκαιρο τέλος κερδίζει επάξια το 4ο αστέρι.
Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς και σεμνούς ασπασμούς.
August 27, 2024
Não é muito difícil passar por esperto, acredita: o principal é não se deixar apanhar em flagrante delito de ignorância. Manobramos, esquivamo-nos à dificuldade, contornamos o obstáculo e batemos os outros por meio de um dicionário. Todos os homens são estúpidos como galinhas e ignorantes como carpas.
Se houvesse castigos divinos na literatura, usaria toda a quota deste ano para este Bel-Ami, que consegue tudo o quer por ser um espertalhão e ter um palminho de cara enfeitado com um bigode farfalhudo. Georges Duroy é um arrivista, um interesseiro, um sedutor de pacotilha, um jornalista que não sabe escrever duas linhas de jeito, um pavão de jardim botânico.
Guy de Maupassant expõe com graça e escárnio uma sociedade hipócrita, onde ainda há duelos quando a honra está em causa, onde se fazem apostas em que o perdedor corta o bigode ou as suíças, e só é possível pedir o divórcio por adultério se houver flagrante delito.
Sou como todas as mulheres; tenho as minhas... as minhas fraquezas, as minhas coisas pequeninas, gosto do que brilha, do que ressoa. Adoraria usar um nome nobre. Não poderá, por ocasião do nosso casamento... nobilitar-se um bocadinho? (...) Separe o seu nome em dois: “Du Roy�; assim fica muito bem.
Esta obra podia perfeitamente intitular-se Belles Amies, porque sem personagens femininas tão bem compostas que parece que saltam da página, não teria sido a leitura prazerosa que foi. Da mais nova à mais velha, da dançarina das Folies Bergère à dama da sociedade, sem elas, George Duroy não seria nada. Também por trás de um pequeno homem há uma grande mulher, que neste caso é Madeleine Forestier, uma protagonista franca e determinada, ao nível dos meus contos preferidos de Maupassant, aquela que de forma mais ou menos velada leva a sua avante.
O casamento, para mim, não é uma cadeia, mas uma associação. Quero ser livre, completamente livre, nos meus actos, nos meus passos, nas minhas saídas, sempre. Não tolerarei nem fiscalização, nem ciúmes nem discussões acerca da minha conduta. (...) É preciso, porém, que esse homem se comprometa a ver em mim uma igual, uma aliada, e não um ser inferior nem uma esposa obediente e submissa. As minhas ideias, bem sei, não são as de toda a gente, mas não as trocarei por outras.
Se houvesse castigos divinos na literatura, usaria toda a quota deste ano para este Bel-Ami, que consegue tudo o quer por ser um espertalhão e ter um palminho de cara enfeitado com um bigode farfalhudo. Georges Duroy é um arrivista, um interesseiro, um sedutor de pacotilha, um jornalista que não sabe escrever duas linhas de jeito, um pavão de jardim botânico.
Guy de Maupassant expõe com graça e escárnio uma sociedade hipócrita, onde ainda há duelos quando a honra está em causa, onde se fazem apostas em que o perdedor corta o bigode ou as suíças, e só é possível pedir o divórcio por adultério se houver flagrante delito.
Sou como todas as mulheres; tenho as minhas... as minhas fraquezas, as minhas coisas pequeninas, gosto do que brilha, do que ressoa. Adoraria usar um nome nobre. Não poderá, por ocasião do nosso casamento... nobilitar-se um bocadinho? (...) Separe o seu nome em dois: “Du Roy�; assim fica muito bem.
Esta obra podia perfeitamente intitular-se Belles Amies, porque sem personagens femininas tão bem compostas que parece que saltam da página, não teria sido a leitura prazerosa que foi. Da mais nova à mais velha, da dançarina das Folies Bergère à dama da sociedade, sem elas, George Duroy não seria nada. Também por trás de um pequeno homem há uma grande mulher, que neste caso é Madeleine Forestier, uma protagonista franca e determinada, ao nível dos meus contos preferidos de Maupassant, aquela que de forma mais ou menos velada leva a sua avante.
O casamento, para mim, não é uma cadeia, mas uma associação. Quero ser livre, completamente livre, nos meus actos, nos meus passos, nas minhas saídas, sempre. Não tolerarei nem fiscalização, nem ciúmes nem discussões acerca da minha conduta. (...) É preciso, porém, que esse homem se comprometa a ver em mim uma igual, uma aliada, e não um ser inferior nem uma esposa obediente e submissa. As minhas ideias, bem sei, não são as de toda a gente, mas não as trocarei por outras.
January 6, 2025
بل آمی،نوشته� گی دو موپاسان نویسنده� سرشناس فرانسه است.
موپاسان در این داستان روایت مردی طماع و جاه طلب را به تصویر می‌کش� مردی که برای رسیدن به اهدافش دست به کارهای کثیفی می‌زن�.
این سومین کتابیه که از موپاسان خوندم و بار دیگر این نویسنده مرا شگفت زده کرد.
موپاسان بااینکه زندگی تلخ و کوتاهی داشته اما بنظر میاد سال‌هاس� زندگی کرده و تجربه های بسیاری بدست آورده که باعث شده اینقدر کتاب‌ها� زیادی بنویسد.
قهرمان اصلی داستان ژرژ دوروا که ملقب به "بل آمی" که به معنای" دوست دلپذیر" هست اما در داستان متوجه میشیم دوروا خیلی هم شخصیت نفرت انگیزی داره و کاملا برعکسه.
داستان از جایی شروع میشه که دوروا بعد از دوسال خدمت نظام در آفریقا به پاریس برگشته.دوروا در طی پیاده روی به دوست قدیمی برخورد به نام فورستیه وقتی متوجه میشود دوروا هیچ اه در بساط ندارد به او پیشنهاد شغل روزنامه� نگاری می‌ده� و کم کم پای دوروا به زندگی مرفه اشراف زاده ها و سیاستمداران باز می‌شو�.
بنظرم کتاب بل آمی از همه� زوایه ها می‌توانی� بهش فکر کنیم و حتی در دنیای امروزی.
مردی با ظاهر زیبا اما حیله گر و از همه سوءاستفاده می‌کن�.
واقعا موپاسان در خلق شخصیت ها بسیار استادانه کار کرده.
جالب تر از همه موقعی خوندن این کتاب یاد کتاب"یک زندگی" افتادم.
که در اونجا شخصیت اصلی گول میخوره اما در بل آمی بلکه شخصیت اصلی بقیه را گول میزند.
موپاسان در این داستان روایت مردی طماع و جاه طلب را به تصویر می‌کش� مردی که برای رسیدن به اهدافش دست به کارهای کثیفی می‌زن�.
این سومین کتابیه که از موپاسان خوندم و بار دیگر این نویسنده مرا شگفت زده کرد.
موپاسان بااینکه زندگی تلخ و کوتاهی داشته اما بنظر میاد سال‌هاس� زندگی کرده و تجربه های بسیاری بدست آورده که باعث شده اینقدر کتاب‌ها� زیادی بنویسد.
قهرمان اصلی داستان ژرژ دوروا که ملقب به "بل آمی" که به معنای" دوست دلپذیر" هست اما در داستان متوجه میشیم دوروا خیلی هم شخصیت نفرت انگیزی داره و کاملا برعکسه.
داستان از جایی شروع میشه که دوروا بعد از دوسال خدمت نظام در آفریقا به پاریس برگشته.دوروا در طی پیاده روی به دوست قدیمی برخورد به نام فورستیه وقتی متوجه میشود دوروا هیچ اه در بساط ندارد به او پیشنهاد شغل روزنامه� نگاری می‌ده� و کم کم پای دوروا به زندگی مرفه اشراف زاده ها و سیاستمداران باز می‌شو�.
بنظرم کتاب بل آمی از همه� زوایه ها می‌توانی� بهش فکر کنیم و حتی در دنیای امروزی.
مردی با ظاهر زیبا اما حیله گر و از همه سوءاستفاده می‌کن�.
واقعا موپاسان در خلق شخصیت ها بسیار استادانه کار کرده.
جالب تر از همه موقعی خوندن این کتاب یاد کتاب"یک زندگی" افتادم.
که در اونجا شخصیت اصلی گول میخوره اما در بل آمی بلکه شخصیت اصلی بقیه را گول میزند.
March 18, 2025
Бел-Ами е вечно наличен около нас "герой", човек без задръжки и скрупули, готов на всякаква мерзост, за да успее и преуспее, във все по-алчните си и неконтролируеми амбиции!
Всички познаваме поне по няколко подобни индивида, пробиващи си път напред и нагоре, на всяка цена.
Изненадващо злободневна, книгата описва едно падение на нравите, при което жертви на парвенюто стават обиграни кокетки, ученички и тежки матрони. Едно красиво лице, няколко нежно прошепнати любовни думи и малко настоятелност са достатъчни да рухнат устои и морал, очевидно били чисто химерични.
Не мога да се отърва от усещането, че в края на книгата всички си получават заслуженото и не се наемам да съдя Дюроа (Кралев), защото гнилата му същност е поощрявана от околните и някак това му дава допълнителна сила и власт, опиянение от липсата на ограничения, в това което този маргинал по своята същност може да постигне.
P.S. Преводът е на повече от век и малко му личи.
Класика трябва да се чете от време на време, ей така, просто за проверка на вътрешния компас!
Всички познаваме поне по няколко подобни индивида, пробиващи си път напред и нагоре, на всяка цена.
Изненадващо злободневна, книгата описва едно падение на нравите, при което жертви на парвенюто стават обиграни кокетки, ученички и тежки матрони. Едно красиво лице, няколко нежно прошепнати любовни думи и малко настоятелност са достатъчни да рухнат устои и морал, очевидно били чисто химерични.
Не мога да се отърва от усещането, че в края на книгата всички си получават заслуженото и не се наемам да съдя Дюроа (Кралев), защото гнилата му същност е поощрявана от околните и някак това му дава допълнителна сила и власт, опиянение от липсата на ограничения, в това което този маргинал по своята същност може да постигне.
P.S. Преводът е на повече от век и малко му личи.
Класика трябва да се чете от време на време, ей така, просто за проверка на вътрешния компас!
April 25, 2022
What a scoundrel Georges Duroy is! He is one of the most wicked, dishonest and vain protagonists I have found in a novel so far; but please, don't get me wrong, I completely enjoyed reading this book, its characters and its plot. In fact, I would say Bel-Ami is actually an easy read as well as a compelling and quite entertaining story.
I was able to read it basically in just two sittings � I did not expect the writing style to be straightforward and quite direct, and to find the sense of humor that I found in the story; since I was really intrigued by the ending of the novel and especially our protagonist's ending, I couldn't help but read it too fast, and hence, love every single chapter in the book.
Bel-Ami is the story of a man who probably loves that quote by Machiavelli(?) that goes: 'The end justifies the means'. Georges Duroy does not know what being a truthful, respectful person means. Well, I think he actually knows, however, he is not interested in following that path. Even though he is not a good person, I was really fond of him, somehow you cannot hate him due to his particular personality, being likable, amusing and at times really smart. I believe Maupassant wanted to portray the decline of society of his time through this novel, since the more his protagonist succeeded, the more people around him suffered the consequences of his acts.
From my point of view, there is a strong connection between this book and other French classics that I have read thus far, for instance, I couldn't help thinking of The Red and The Black by Stendhal (Georges Duroy reminded me of its protagonist, Julien Sorel, and his relationships), Lost Illusions by Balzac (the job of both protagonists is quite similar, especially focused on journalism), and mainly Dangerous Liaisons, whose antagonist, Valmont, and Duroy share some common traits, being Valmont the worst.
In conclusion, this is a fantastic French classic; it was my second Maupassant and it won't be the last one, for sure. So, I would truly recommend this book � I'm happy to say it is now part of my favorite French classics, and I'm also eager to discover other ones which might join them in the future.
Just for the record, my favorite French classics are (yes, this time in order of preference):
L'Assommoir by Émile Zola
Germinal by Émile Zola
The Red and the Black by Stendhal
Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos
Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert
Lost Illusions by Honoré de Balzac
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
“Life lasted a few months or years, and then fled! One was born, grew, was happy, and died. Adieu! man or woman, you will never return to earth! He thought of the insects which live several hours, of the feasts which live several days, of the men who live several years, of the worlds which last several centuries. What was the difference between one and the other? A few more dawns, that was all.�
I was able to read it basically in just two sittings � I did not expect the writing style to be straightforward and quite direct, and to find the sense of humor that I found in the story; since I was really intrigued by the ending of the novel and especially our protagonist's ending, I couldn't help but read it too fast, and hence, love every single chapter in the book.
Bel-Ami is the story of a man who probably loves that quote by Machiavelli(?) that goes: 'The end justifies the means'. Georges Duroy does not know what being a truthful, respectful person means. Well, I think he actually knows, however, he is not interested in following that path. Even though he is not a good person, I was really fond of him, somehow you cannot hate him due to his particular personality, being likable, amusing and at times really smart. I believe Maupassant wanted to portray the decline of society of his time through this novel, since the more his protagonist succeeded, the more people around him suffered the consequences of his acts.
From my point of view, there is a strong connection between this book and other French classics that I have read thus far, for instance, I couldn't help thinking of The Red and The Black by Stendhal (Georges Duroy reminded me of its protagonist, Julien Sorel, and his relationships), Lost Illusions by Balzac (the job of both protagonists is quite similar, especially focused on journalism), and mainly Dangerous Liaisons, whose antagonist, Valmont, and Duroy share some common traits, being Valmont the worst.
In conclusion, this is a fantastic French classic; it was my second Maupassant and it won't be the last one, for sure. So, I would truly recommend this book � I'm happy to say it is now part of my favorite French classics, and I'm also eager to discover other ones which might join them in the future.
Just for the record, my favorite French classics are (yes, this time in order of preference):
L'Assommoir by Émile Zola
Germinal by Émile Zola
The Red and the Black by Stendhal
Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos
Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert
Lost Illusions by Honoré de Balzac
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
“Life lasted a few months or years, and then fled! One was born, grew, was happy, and died. Adieu! man or woman, you will never return to earth! He thought of the insects which live several hours, of the feasts which live several days, of the men who live several years, of the worlds which last several centuries. What was the difference between one and the other? A few more dawns, that was all.�
March 25, 2009
On the surface, the moral of the book is simple: be a complete bastard, treat all the women you meet like dirt and exploit them as much as possible, and you'll be a stunning success. The author stays deadpan thoughout; it's impossible to tell for sure whether he's being ironic, though one strongly suspects he is. Fans of the Flashman series will probably enjoy this too.
Isaiah's comment highlighted for me why the book is so fascinating. Most people don't want to admit to themselves how important the connection is between sex and power, but Maupassant puts it center stage. Another work that does the same thing is the musical Evita. I was reminded of the chorus from "Goodnight and thank you", a duet between Eva and Ché:
There is no one, no one at all
Never has been, and never will be a lover
Male or female
Who hasn't an eye on
In fact they rely on
Tricks they can try on
Their partner
They're hoping their lover will help them or keep them
Support them, promote them, don't blame them
You're the same
Isaiah's comment highlighted for me why the book is so fascinating. Most people don't want to admit to themselves how important the connection is between sex and power, but Maupassant puts it center stage. Another work that does the same thing is the musical Evita. I was reminded of the chorus from "Goodnight and thank you", a duet between Eva and Ché:
There is no one, no one at all
Never has been, and never will be a lover
Male or female
Who hasn't an eye on
In fact they rely on
Tricks they can try on
Their partner
They're hoping their lover will help them or keep them
Support them, promote them, don't blame them
You're the same
April 29, 2019
This is a really good novel and I totally loved it.
I mean I LOVED it.
When you come across fiction that it this good you must stand up and clap. I am clapping.
OK now, Chrissie, explain why you loved it.
I loved it because I was laughing from start to finish. I loved it because it has a message that is oh so true. The message being that those who succeed, those who attain power, and position and money and fame very often do it by the least of admirable methods. This dire message is nevertheless achieved in a humorous fashion. No lectures are delivered. This is the way life is, but rather than moaning and complaining we laugh. This is achieved by the author throwing together a group of characters NONE of which are admirable so they all deserve each other and whatever happens to them. You cannot feel sorry for the loosers; they all chose to take part in this fashionable game for sex and power and money and fame. If they loose it is their own fault. That is how I see it.
The sex is tantalizing, alluring, seductive. No depictions of crude behavior. Hints are given that attract rather than repulse.
OK, what about the narration by John McDonough of this Recorded Books audiobook? The voice of this narrator is that of an elderly man. In the beginning I thought why have they chosen such a voice, given that the main character, journalist Georges Duroy, is a young man? Still it was wonderful. He is telling us a story of the goings-on in Paris in the latter half of the 1800s, so in fact this elderly voice works stupendously. The French pronunciation is spot-on. Yeah, even when the women ball and shriek, it all works. Oh the shrieking, the family eruptions and pissed-off men - I was laughing and laughing and laughing.
One more thing: the translation from French to English was marvelous. THIS is a story that is easy to follow, even if it was first published in 1885. The language used made you feel you were in Paris and it made you fully aware that what happened then could just as easily happen today. It is a wonderful translation. I do not know who the translator was! I loved the lines, I forgot to tell you how wonderfully Guy de Maupassant depicts people and places and events, such as marriages and duels and charity fencing competitions! So the translation was perfect too. I am sure Guy de Maupassant would be happy to hear the story being told in this manner. The translation makes this book feel relevant even today. We are delivered a piece of art that speaks to readers more than a century after it was written. This is a book that holds year after year after year, and that is what makes it a true classic. Why is it is still relevant today? Because unfortunately people do NOT change.
February 12, 2023
Эта история о том, как делают карьеры многие успешные люди, это путь «по головам», внешне вроде прилично, но каждый шаг связан с какой-то подлостью, предательством, растаптыванием дружбы и чувств. Дюруа проделал впечатляющий путь «из грязи в князи» - сын трактирщиков в Руане, он сначала работает в конторе Северной железной дороги, ему буквально не хватает денег на самые элементарные потребности, такие как еду и одежду и в романе мы видим его триумфальное восхождение по лестнице успеха, как он становится зятем миллионера и главным редактором «Парижской жизни» с прицелом на дальнейшую карьеру политика. Вам такие персонажи незнакомы? Мне очень даже знакомы, особенно те, кто делает упор на поиск дочки с крутым папой, на которой можно жениться, чтобы потом всю жизнь не беспокоиться ни о чем � папа решит. Они даже не понимают, как гнусно такие карьеристы, растущие благодаря жениным папам, выглядят со стороны. Дюруа обладает приятной внешностью, которая легко растапливает неприступность порядочных женщин, он также легко устанавливает дружеские отношения и с мужчинами, втираясь в их доверие и становясь своим человеком в их доме, оказывая им мелкие, ничего не стоящие услуги. Вот уж поистине Милый друг. Он неглуп, он прирожденный паразит, безошибочно определяющий, к кому можно присосаться и развивать свою карьеру, пользуясь теми или иными достоинствами человека. Начинается все с помощи его бывшего однополчанина по алжирской кампании Шарля Форестье, который с беззлобной иронией человека, знающего жизнь, наставляет Жоржа: «сойти за человека сведущего совсем нетрудно � все дело в том, чтобы тебя не уличили в явном невежестве», помогает ему устроиться в редакцию журналистом, потом жена его друга, и позднее его собственная жена, Мадлена пишет ему статьи. Она - от природы талантливый журналист с запоминающимся стилем и слогом, который хорошо узнаваем. Жорж предает друга, который протянул руку помощи, пытался сделать его рогоносцем, правда, Мадлена не дала ему воплотить план мести в жизнь. Самым подлым образом он пользуется всеми, кто попадается ему на пути, но предпочитает пользоваться женщинами, которые доверчиво дарят ему свою любовь. «� Дюруа с нетерпением стреноженного скакуна рвался навстречу с той, от которой могло зависеть его будущее». Влюбленные в него женщины его содержат, платят за те или иные расходы, подбрасывают деньги в его карманы, дают инсайдерскую информацию о предстоящем военном вторжении в Танжере, позволяющем ему заработать на спекуляциях и стараются не затронуть чувство собственного достоинства Милого друга, одаряя своими благодеяниями. По мере роста в обществе, его тщеславие растет. Он хочет быть дворянином, и он им становится, просто изменив немного свою фамилию на дворянский лад. Как только он взял все от того, на ком он паразитирует, он ищет новую жертву. Так произошло с его женой Мадленой. Он даже умудрился заставить ее поделиться наследством, оставленным ей де Водреком. Его житейский ум и опасность идти поперек его дороги признает даже сам Вальтер, признав свое поражение в отказе согласия на брак с дочерью. Дюруа неверен ни одной женщине, у него всегда есть параллельная, «запасная» связь. В конце, после женитьбе на Сюзанне с ее миллионным состоянием, он все же признает, что любил только Клотильду де Марель, при всем при этом, при такой-то любви он бил ее ногами, как бьют мужчин, только за то, что она осмелилась сказать ему правду в глаза.
Объектом критики Мопассана являются не только такие ловкачи, как Дюруа, но и все буржуазное общество с его ценностями денег, материального успеха, колониальная политика Франции на севере Африки, хищническая война и мародерство, когда Жорж с товарищами раздобыли кур, баранов, золото, стоившим жизни троим арабам, и виновных в их смертях особо не искали. Он обличает фривольные нравы, когда все и мужья, и жены неверны. Он высмеивает лицемерие церкви, позволяющие Жоржу после официального развода венчаться в церкви. Его коллеги поражаются: как такое возможно? В браке с Мадленой он ограничился мэрией, и в глазах церкви, он не был женат, а сожительствовал. Автор создал шедевр, актуальность которого все еще не изжита.
Мопассан устами своего героя поэта Норбера де Варена размышляет о жизни и смерти и о смысле жизни и, пожалуй, это и есть то, ради чего роман писался.
«Видите ли, настанет день, � а для многих он настает очень скоро, � когда вам, как говорится, уже не до смеха, когда вы начинаете замечать, что за всем, куда ни посмотришь, стоит смерть.О, вы не в силах понять самое это слово «смерть»! В ваши годы оно пустой звук. Мне же оно представляется ужасным.Да, его начинаешь понимать вдруг, неизвестно почему, без всякой видимой причины, и тогда все в жизни меняет свой облик. Я вот уже пятнадцать лет чувствую, как она гложет меня, словно во мне завелся червь. Она подтачивала меня исподволь, день за днем, час за часом, и теперь я точно дом, который вот-вот обвалится. Она изуродовала меня до того, что я себя не узнаю. От жизнерадостного, бодрого, сильного человека, каким я был в тридцать лет, не осталось и следа. Я видел, с какой злобной, расчетливой кропотливостью она окрашивала в белый цвет мои черные волосы! Она отняла у меня гладкую кожу, мускулы, зубы, все мое юное тело, и оставила лишь полную отчаяния душу, да и ту скоро похитит.Да, она изгрызла меня, подлая. Долго, незаметно, ежесекундно, беспощадно разрушала она все мое существо. И теперь, за что бы я ни принялся, я чувствую, что умираю. Каждый шаг приближает меня к ней, каждое мое движение, каждый вздох помогают ей делать свое гнусное дело. Дышать, пить, есть, спать, трудиться, мечтать � все это значит умирать. Жить, наконец, � тоже значит умирать! О, вы все это еще узнаете! Если бы вы подумали об этом хотя бы четверть часа, вы бы ее увидели. Чего вы ждете? Любви? Еще несколько поцелуев � и вы уже утратите способность наслаждаться. Еще чего? Денег? Зачем? Чтобы покупать женщин? Велика радость! Чтобы объедаться, жиреть и ночи напролет кричать от подагрической боли? Еще чего? Славы? На что она, если для вас уже не существует любовь? Ну так чего же? В конечном счете все равно � смерть.Я вижу ее теперь так близко, что часто мне хочется протянуть руку и оттолкнуть ее. Она устилает землю и наполняет собой пространство. Я нахожу ее всюду. Букашки, раздавленные посреди дороги, сухие листья, седой волос в бороде друга � все ранит мне сердце и кричит: «Вот она!» Она отравляет мне все, над чем я тружусь, все, что я вижу, все, что я пью или ем, все, что я так люблю: лунный свет, восход солнца, необозримое море, полноводные реки и воздух летних вечеров, которым, кажется, никогда не надышишься вволю! Он запыхался и оттого шел медленно, размышляя вслух и почти не думая о своем спутнике.� И никто оттуда не возвращается, никто� � продолжал он. � Можно сохранить формы, в которые были отлиты статуи, слепки, точно воспроизводящие тот или иной предмет, но моему телу, моему лицу, моим мыслям, моим желаниям уже не воскреснуть. А между тем народятся миллионы, миллиарды существ, у которых на нескольких квадратных сантиметрах будут так же расположены нос, глаза, лоб, щеки, рот, и душа у них будет такая же, как и у меня, но я-то уж не вернусь, и они ничего не возьмут от меня, все эти бесчисленные создания, бесчисленные и такие разные, совершенно разные, несмотря на их почти полное сходство. За что ухватиться? Кому излить свою скорбь? Во что нам верить? Религии � все до одной � нелепы: их мораль рассчитана на детей, их обещания эгоистичны и чудовищно глупы. Одна лишь смерть несомненна. Он остановился и, взяв Дюруа за отвороты пальто, медленно заговорил:� Думайте об этом, молодой человек, думайте дни, месяцы, годы, и вы по-иному станете смотреть на жизнь. Постарайтесь освободиться от всего, что вас держит в тисках, сделайте над собой нечеловеческое усилие и еще при жизни отрешитесь от своей плоти, от своих интересов, мыслей, отгородитесь от всего человечества, загляните в глубь вещей � и вы поймете, как мало значат споры романтиков с натуралистами и дискуссии о бюджете. Он быстрым шагом пошел вперед.� Но в то же время вы ощутите и весь ужас безнадежности. Вы будете отчаянно биться, погружаясь в пучину сомнений. Вы будете кричать во всю мочь: «Помогите!» � и никто не отзовется. Вы будете протягивать руки, будете молить о помощи, о любви, об утешении, о спасении � и никто не придет к вам. Почему мы так страдаем? Очевидно, потому, что мы рождаемся на свет, чтобы жить не столько для души, сколько для тела. Но мы обладаем способностью мыслить, и наш крепнущий разум не желает мириться с косностью бытия. Взгляните на простых обывателей: пока их не постигнет несчастье, они довольны своей судьбой, ибо мировая скорбь им несвойственна. Животные тоже не знают ее.»
Объектом критики Мопассана являются не только такие ловкачи, как Дюруа, но и все буржуазное общество с его ценностями денег, материального успеха, колониальная политика Франции на севере Африки, хищническая война и мародерство, когда Жорж с товарищами раздобыли кур, баранов, золото, стоившим жизни троим арабам, и виновных в их смертях особо не искали. Он обличает фривольные нравы, когда все и мужья, и жены неверны. Он высмеивает лицемерие церкви, позволяющие Жоржу после официального развода венчаться в церкви. Его коллеги поражаются: как такое возможно? В браке с Мадленой он ограничился мэрией, и в глазах церкви, он не был женат, а сожительствовал. Автор создал шедевр, актуальность которого все еще не изжита.
Мопассан устами своего героя поэта Норбера де Варена размышляет о жизни и смерти и о смысле жизни и, пожалуй, это и есть то, ради чего роман писался.
«Видите ли, настанет день, � а для многих он настает очень скоро, � когда вам, как говорится, уже не до смеха, когда вы начинаете замечать, что за всем, куда ни посмотришь, стоит смерть.О, вы не в силах понять самое это слово «смерть»! В ваши годы оно пустой звук. Мне же оно представляется ужасным.Да, его начинаешь понимать вдруг, неизвестно почему, без всякой видимой причины, и тогда все в жизни меняет свой облик. Я вот уже пятнадцать лет чувствую, как она гложет меня, словно во мне завелся червь. Она подтачивала меня исподволь, день за днем, час за часом, и теперь я точно дом, который вот-вот обвалится. Она изуродовала меня до того, что я себя не узнаю. От жизнерадостного, бодрого, сильного человека, каким я был в тридцать лет, не осталось и следа. Я видел, с какой злобной, расчетливой кропотливостью она окрашивала в белый цвет мои черные волосы! Она отняла у меня гладкую кожу, мускулы, зубы, все мое юное тело, и оставила лишь полную отчаяния душу, да и ту скоро похитит.Да, она изгрызла меня, подлая. Долго, незаметно, ежесекундно, беспощадно разрушала она все мое существо. И теперь, за что бы я ни принялся, я чувствую, что умираю. Каждый шаг приближает меня к ней, каждое мое движение, каждый вздох помогают ей делать свое гнусное дело. Дышать, пить, есть, спать, трудиться, мечтать � все это значит умирать. Жить, наконец, � тоже значит умирать! О, вы все это еще узнаете! Если бы вы подумали об этом хотя бы четверть часа, вы бы ее увидели. Чего вы ждете? Любви? Еще несколько поцелуев � и вы уже утратите способность наслаждаться. Еще чего? Денег? Зачем? Чтобы покупать женщин? Велика радость! Чтобы объедаться, жиреть и ночи напролет кричать от подагрической боли? Еще чего? Славы? На что она, если для вас уже не существует любовь? Ну так чего же? В конечном счете все равно � смерть.Я вижу ее теперь так близко, что часто мне хочется протянуть руку и оттолкнуть ее. Она устилает землю и наполняет собой пространство. Я нахожу ее всюду. Букашки, раздавленные посреди дороги, сухие листья, седой волос в бороде друга � все ранит мне сердце и кричит: «Вот она!» Она отравляет мне все, над чем я тружусь, все, что я вижу, все, что я пью или ем, все, что я так люблю: лунный свет, восход солнца, необозримое море, полноводные реки и воздух летних вечеров, которым, кажется, никогда не надышишься вволю! Он запыхался и оттого шел медленно, размышляя вслух и почти не думая о своем спутнике.� И никто оттуда не возвращается, никто� � продолжал он. � Можно сохранить формы, в которые были отлиты статуи, слепки, точно воспроизводящие тот или иной предмет, но моему телу, моему лицу, моим мыслям, моим желаниям уже не воскреснуть. А между тем народятся миллионы, миллиарды существ, у которых на нескольких квадратных сантиметрах будут так же расположены нос, глаза, лоб, щеки, рот, и душа у них будет такая же, как и у меня, но я-то уж не вернусь, и они ничего не возьмут от меня, все эти бесчисленные создания, бесчисленные и такие разные, совершенно разные, несмотря на их почти полное сходство. За что ухватиться? Кому излить свою скорбь? Во что нам верить? Религии � все до одной � нелепы: их мораль рассчитана на детей, их обещания эгоистичны и чудовищно глупы. Одна лишь смерть несомненна. Он остановился и, взяв Дюруа за отвороты пальто, медленно заговорил:� Думайте об этом, молодой человек, думайте дни, месяцы, годы, и вы по-иному станете смотреть на жизнь. Постарайтесь освободиться от всего, что вас держит в тисках, сделайте над собой нечеловеческое усилие и еще при жизни отрешитесь от своей плоти, от своих интересов, мыслей, отгородитесь от всего человечества, загляните в глубь вещей � и вы поймете, как мало значат споры романтиков с натуралистами и дискуссии о бюджете. Он быстрым шагом пошел вперед.� Но в то же время вы ощутите и весь ужас безнадежности. Вы будете отчаянно биться, погружаясь в пучину сомнений. Вы будете кричать во всю мочь: «Помогите!» � и никто не отзовется. Вы будете протягивать руки, будете молить о помощи, о любви, об утешении, о спасении � и никто не придет к вам. Почему мы так страдаем? Очевидно, потому, что мы рождаемся на свет, чтобы жить не столько для души, сколько для тела. Но мы обладаем способностью мыслить, и наш крепнущий разум не желает мириться с косностью бытия. Взгляните на простых обывателей: пока их не постигнет несчастье, они довольны своей судьбой, ибо мировая скорбь им несвойственна. Животные тоже не знают ее.»
February 7, 2017
Just who is Bel Ami? 'bel ami' (beautiful/handsome friend) is Georges Duroy, ostensibly a love rat, a man intent on procuring fortune and social status by way of the women in his life rather than by more usual means. A man of humble parentage, he's an ex-soldier with nothing to live on but his desire to do better for himself; trading on his charm, his wit, good looks and sex appeal. Never satisfied with what he has, Duroy furthers his status, employment and bank balance via his wife and his mistresses. His employment as a journalist is procured by meeting an old army buddy; Bel Ami will soon step into that same man’s shoes in more ways than one. The story is back-dropped by events leading to France’s colonization of North Africa.
Although published in 1885, Bel Ami is still relevant today: the parallels between our society and late nineteenth century are part of the appeal. Another surprise is considering it’s male author and the book’s ‘hero�, Bel Ami is amazingly devoid of raunchy sex scenes. No sweaty in-depth sex depictions here, De Maupassant rather neatly tells you all he needs to in a single sentence. I kept going back over lines convinced I had missed something.
My rusty schoolgirl French is not up to the task so I read the English translation. Does the novel lose something when not read in it’s native tongue? I’ll never know. I do know Du Maupassant has a wonderful way of telling a tale, a gift with dialogue and a rich descriptive talent. You may just read it so you can add French Authors to your credit but you won’t regret it.
Basically, Bel Ami is mild enough to pass on to your granny, the book that is, not the man, while remaining relevant enough for everyone else from fifteen year old upwards to ponder as well. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Recommended Reading. 4.75�
August 2, 2022
Good book. Lots of fun to read. Would make a great tv mini-series. One flaw, one of the main secondary characters is Jewish, and is portrayed in a very unfaltering and stereotypical way.
April 20, 2013
A rollicking tale from Flaubert’s protégé chronicling the inexorable rise of social climber Georges Duroy. Translated by Douglas Parmée, who rendered A Sentimental Education into irresistibly sumptuous English, Bel-Ami is powered by electrifying dialogue and a terse descriptive prowess Flaubert seemingly overemphasised to Maupassant—the prose is so compact you could park it in your driveway. Duroy is a misanthropic schemer and exploiter, but something of a “working-class hero,� if we understand the term to mean someone who manipulates the money world to his advantage and tramples upon bourgeois society to achieve his fortune—you can’t be content as a poor-rich person without pissing on the little people who helped you up. Far from being a satire, the novel is a comedic romp that somewhat revels in the machinations of upper-middle-class society—clearly Maupassant was not averse to a little strategic foreplay in his career (but he died in the nuthouse, so don’t worry) and the moral lesson is only there if you imagine it to be. Most importantly Bel-Ami will remind you how much naughty sexy fun French classics can be, and still make you feel cultured and refined for reading them.
August 26, 2018
A sneaky short novel about a crook journalist giving false reports on subjects he never covers, a gigolo changing names, an upstart using expendable friends, all in all a very successful swindler which makes for a very successful carreer in Paris under the dawning Third Republic!
I wonder how compromised Maupassant have been in forging reports as a journalist.
Matching Soundtrack :
Moulinet-Polka, op. 57 - Josef Strauss
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Un roman sacrément rusé sur l'apprentissage d'un escroc à Paris, dans les débuts de la IIIème république. Faux reportages, emploi de prête-noms et de faux noms, amitiés de circonstance, liaisons avantageuses, Duroy apprend toutes les ficelles.
Je me demande à quel point la partie journalistique reflète l'expérience et les pratiques de Maupassant dans ce milieu qu'il a fréquenté de près.
Phonographe :
Moulinet-Polka, op. 57 - Josef Strauss
I wonder how compromised Maupassant have been in forging reports as a journalist.
Matching Soundtrack :
Moulinet-Polka, op. 57 - Josef Strauss
--------------------------------------------
Un roman sacrément rusé sur l'apprentissage d'un escroc à Paris, dans les débuts de la IIIème république. Faux reportages, emploi de prête-noms et de faux noms, amitiés de circonstance, liaisons avantageuses, Duroy apprend toutes les ficelles.
Je me demande à quel point la partie journalistique reflète l'expérience et les pratiques de Maupassant dans ce milieu qu'il a fréquenté de près.
Phonographe :
Moulinet-Polka, op. 57 - Josef Strauss
July 26, 2019
دوستانِ گرانقدر، داستانِ «بل آمی» در موردِ زندگیِ جوانِ زیبا و البته بی پول، به نامِ «ژورژ دوروا» میباشد.. جوانی که در یک اتاقِ کوچک و مخروبه، با یک تخت زندگی میکند و آهی در بساط ندارد... داستان به خوبی قدرت و نفوذِ روزنامه ها را نشان میدهد و بهتر از آن، نشان میدهد که تا چه اندازه زنها میتوانند در تصمیماتِ شوهرانِ صاحبِ نفوذ و صاحبِ جایگاه، تأثیرگذار باشند
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ژورژ به طورِ اتفاقی، «چارلز فوریستییِر» را میبینید... چارلز و ژورژ، در الجزائر در کنارِ یکدیگر و در یک گردان جنگیده اند.. حال در پاریس، چارلز در یک روزنامه مشغول به کار است و به دلیلِ نشست و برخاست با اشرافِ پاریسی، ثروتمند شده است... چارلز، تصمیم میگیرد تا ژورژ را به منزلش دعوت کند... و این آغازِ ماجراجویی هایِ ژورژ میباشد... ژورژ از بدبختی خارج شده و تبدیل به یک مقاله نویس در روزنامه میشود.. البته مقاله نویسی که مقاله هایش را همسرِ چارلز مینویسد
به واسطۀ چارلز، او با زنانِ ثروتمندِ شهر آشنا میشود.. همسرِ چارلز، «مادلین» از نفوذِ زیادی برخوردار بوده و زنی دست به قلم است... زنِ دیگرِ داستان، «کلوتیلد» همسرِ «فرانسوا لاروش» یکی از صاحب منصبان فرانسویست.. کلوتیلد زنی سرزنده و جذاب و البته به نظرِ من، بسیار مهربان است، ولی زندگیِ خوشی با شوهرش ندارد.. من کلوتیلد را بهترین شخصیتِ این داستان میدانم.. زنی که تنها دلخوشی او دختربچه اش «لورین» میباشد...(زنان زیادی را با این شرایط دیده ام) اولین باری که ژورژ به منزلِ کلوتیلد میرود، با دخترِ کلوتیلد، یعنی لورین، گرگم به هوا بازی میکند.. و لورین نامِ او را «بل آمی» (دوستِ خوبم) میگذارد... و از آن به بعد همه او را "بل آمی" صدا میکنند.... زنِ دیگرِ داستان، «ورژینی» میباشد که همسرِ «روسِه» صاحبِ روزنامۀ پاریس و روزنامه نگار و اشرافیِ بانفوذِ شهر است.. ورژینی دخترِ جوانی به نام «سوزان» دارد که جوانهایِ شهر، به دلیلِ ثروتِ پدرش، به دنبالِ ازدواج با او هستند
ژورژ برایِ آنکه بتواند در میانِ قدرتمندان و اشراف باشد، از آنجایی که هیچ هنر و تخصصی ندارد، از زیباییِ خویش استفاده میکند و برایِ رسیدن به خواسته هایش، از زنانِ داستان بهره میبرد... در آغاز با کلوتیلد، واردِ رابطه میشود.. کلوتیلد دلباختۀ ژورژ شده، خانه ای اجاره میکند، تا محلی باشد برایِ لذت و عشق بازی... ژورژ، پس از کلوتیلد و زمانی که چارلز بیمار شده و میمیرد.. به سراغِ مادلین میرود و با مادلین ازدواج میکند... البته مادلین به صورتِ مخفیانه معشوقه ای به نام «کنت ودریک» دارد و صدالبته مادلین زنیست که برای رسیدن به قدرت از خوابیدن با همسرِ دوستش هم ابایی ندارد.. حتی اگر آن مرد فرانسوا لاروش باشد... در میانه هایِ راه، ژورژ دوباره به رابطۀ مخفیانه اش با کلوئید ادامه میدهد.. و سرانجام وقتی بازهم درها به رویش بسته میشود، اینبار به سراغِ ورژینی میرود.. ورژینی نیز با توجه به اینکه پا به سن گذاشته است، ولی نمیتواند در برابرِ شهوتش مقاومت کرده و بازیچۀ دستِ ژورژ میشود و به قولِ خودش ژورژ او را که زنی وفادار و مادری ساده بوده، اغفال میکند... ورژینی، مدتی در همان منزلی که کلوتیلد اجاره کرده، با ژورژ عشق بازی میکند.. تا آنکه ژورژ او را نیز همچون دستمالی مصرف شده دور می اندازد
ژورژ برایِ گاییدن و به خیالِ خودش، برایِ پیشرفت، مُدام از رویِ همسرِ این اشرافی به رویِ همسرِ اشرافیِ دیگر میپرد.. ولی هنوز نفهمیده، کسی که در این مسیر گاییده شده است، خودِ اوست
عزیزانم، بهتر است خودتان این داستان را خوانده، و از سرانجامِ آن آگاه شوید و ببینید ژورژ برایِ رسیدن به قدرت و رفعِ عقده هایِ درونی اش، تا به کجا رفته و چه دست اندازی هایی در این مسیر خواهد داشت
اِی کاش، این داستان را زمانی میخواندم که نه فلسفه فهم میکردم و نه اخلاقِ انسانی را... اِی کاش این داستان را آن زمانی میخواندم که تبدیل به حیوان شده بودم و زندگی ام به سبکِ بل آمی بود... افسوس که گذشتۀ بد، انسان را رها نمیکند... حتی یک داستان نیز میتواند گذشتۀ بد را بر سرمان بکوبد و آوار کند
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امیدوارم این ریویو در جهتِ آشنایی با این رمان، کافی و مفید بوده باشه
«پیروز باشید و ایرانی»
---------------------------------------------
ژورژ به طورِ اتفاقی، «چارلز فوریستییِر» را میبینید... چارلز و ژورژ، در الجزائر در کنارِ یکدیگر و در یک گردان جنگیده اند.. حال در پاریس، چارلز در یک روزنامه مشغول به کار است و به دلیلِ نشست و برخاست با اشرافِ پاریسی، ثروتمند شده است... چارلز، تصمیم میگیرد تا ژورژ را به منزلش دعوت کند... و این آغازِ ماجراجویی هایِ ژورژ میباشد... ژورژ از بدبختی خارج شده و تبدیل به یک مقاله نویس در روزنامه میشود.. البته مقاله نویسی که مقاله هایش را همسرِ چارلز مینویسد
به واسطۀ چارلز، او با زنانِ ثروتمندِ شهر آشنا میشود.. همسرِ چارلز، «مادلین» از نفوذِ زیادی برخوردار بوده و زنی دست به قلم است... زنِ دیگرِ داستان، «کلوتیلد» همسرِ «فرانسوا لاروش» یکی از صاحب منصبان فرانسویست.. کلوتیلد زنی سرزنده و جذاب و البته به نظرِ من، بسیار مهربان است، ولی زندگیِ خوشی با شوهرش ندارد.. من کلوتیلد را بهترین شخصیتِ این داستان میدانم.. زنی که تنها دلخوشی او دختربچه اش «لورین» میباشد...(زنان زیادی را با این شرایط دیده ام) اولین باری که ژورژ به منزلِ کلوتیلد میرود، با دخترِ کلوتیلد، یعنی لورین، گرگم به هوا بازی میکند.. و لورین نامِ او را «بل آمی» (دوستِ خوبم) میگذارد... و از آن به بعد همه او را "بل آمی" صدا میکنند.... زنِ دیگرِ داستان، «ورژینی» میباشد که همسرِ «روسِه» صاحبِ روزنامۀ پاریس و روزنامه نگار و اشرافیِ بانفوذِ شهر است.. ورژینی دخترِ جوانی به نام «سوزان» دارد که جوانهایِ شهر، به دلیلِ ثروتِ پدرش، به دنبالِ ازدواج با او هستند
ژورژ برایِ آنکه بتواند در میانِ قدرتمندان و اشراف باشد، از آنجایی که هیچ هنر و تخصصی ندارد، از زیباییِ خویش استفاده میکند و برایِ رسیدن به خواسته هایش، از زنانِ داستان بهره میبرد... در آغاز با کلوتیلد، واردِ رابطه میشود.. کلوتیلد دلباختۀ ژورژ شده، خانه ای اجاره میکند، تا محلی باشد برایِ لذت و عشق بازی... ژورژ، پس از کلوتیلد و زمانی که چارلز بیمار شده و میمیرد.. به سراغِ مادلین میرود و با مادلین ازدواج میکند... البته مادلین به صورتِ مخفیانه معشوقه ای به نام «کنت ودریک» دارد و صدالبته مادلین زنیست که برای رسیدن به قدرت از خوابیدن با همسرِ دوستش هم ابایی ندارد.. حتی اگر آن مرد فرانسوا لاروش باشد... در میانه هایِ راه، ژورژ دوباره به رابطۀ مخفیانه اش با کلوئید ادامه میدهد.. و سرانجام وقتی بازهم درها به رویش بسته میشود، اینبار به سراغِ ورژینی میرود.. ورژینی نیز با توجه به اینکه پا به سن گذاشته است، ولی نمیتواند در برابرِ شهوتش مقاومت کرده و بازیچۀ دستِ ژورژ میشود و به قولِ خودش ژورژ او را که زنی وفادار و مادری ساده بوده، اغفال میکند... ورژینی، مدتی در همان منزلی که کلوتیلد اجاره کرده، با ژورژ عشق بازی میکند.. تا آنکه ژورژ او را نیز همچون دستمالی مصرف شده دور می اندازد
ژورژ برایِ گاییدن و به خیالِ خودش، برایِ پیشرفت، مُدام از رویِ همسرِ این اشرافی به رویِ همسرِ اشرافیِ دیگر میپرد.. ولی هنوز نفهمیده، کسی که در این مسیر گاییده شده است، خودِ اوست
عزیزانم، بهتر است خودتان این داستان را خوانده، و از سرانجامِ آن آگاه شوید و ببینید ژورژ برایِ رسیدن به قدرت و رفعِ عقده هایِ درونی اش، تا به کجا رفته و چه دست اندازی هایی در این مسیر خواهد داشت
اِی کاش، این داستان را زمانی میخواندم که نه فلسفه فهم میکردم و نه اخلاقِ انسانی را... اِی کاش این داستان را آن زمانی میخواندم که تبدیل به حیوان شده بودم و زندگی ام به سبکِ بل آمی بود... افسوس که گذشتۀ بد، انسان را رها نمیکند... حتی یک داستان نیز میتواند گذشتۀ بد را بر سرمان بکوبد و آوار کند
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امیدوارم این ریویو در جهتِ آشنایی با این رمان، کافی و مفید بوده باشه
«پیروز باشید و ایرانی»
December 10, 2022
Maravillosa
October 27, 2016
É capaz de ter uns spoilersitos.
George Duroy - mais tarde George Du Roy de Cantel e para sempre Bel-Ami - não tinha bens, não tinha conhecimentos, não tinha família influente. Não tinha nada disto mas queria tudo.
Subiu na horizontal, foi suficientemente astuto para perceber que as grandes oportunidades nasciam muitas vezes na intimidade das alcovas. E não era necessariamente entre cônjuges...
As mulheres rendiam-se-lhe; conquistou por oportunismo, conquistou por vaidade, conquistou por vingança. Se foi crápula, mais não fez que usar a moeda corrente nos círculos onde se movia a alta sociedade parisiense, que urdia em conluio com a imprensa, as finanças e a politica. Decidia-se assim o destino do país, forjavam-se ou derrubavam-se reputações e fortunas.
Bel-Ami só teve que ser frio e calculista para saber antecipar as jogadas que o iriam beneficiar.
Até à última página achei possível que o rapaz acabasse por ser alvo de alguma vingança passional, mas não, o mulherio perdoava tudo e pedia mais, os homens até lhe admiravam o espírito obstinado, e o autoproclamado barão George Du Roy de Cantel viu Paris rendida aos seus pés como sempre havia desejado.
Contrapondo este ambiente de futilidade e cinismo, este livro também tem algumas passagens muito pertinentes acerca do sentido da vida face à inevitabilidade da morte. Serão o materialismo, o sucesso profissional, e a visibilidade social assim tão importantes tendo em conta que tudo é passageiro e a morte espreita a toda a hora? Ou será que por isso mesmo devemos tentar viver sem limites, sem regras, de maneira a retirar da vida todo o prazer e todo o proveito possíveis?
George Duroy - mais tarde George Du Roy de Cantel e para sempre Bel-Ami - não tinha bens, não tinha conhecimentos, não tinha família influente. Não tinha nada disto mas queria tudo.
Subiu na horizontal, foi suficientemente astuto para perceber que as grandes oportunidades nasciam muitas vezes na intimidade das alcovas. E não era necessariamente entre cônjuges...
As mulheres rendiam-se-lhe; conquistou por oportunismo, conquistou por vaidade, conquistou por vingança. Se foi crápula, mais não fez que usar a moeda corrente nos círculos onde se movia a alta sociedade parisiense, que urdia em conluio com a imprensa, as finanças e a politica. Decidia-se assim o destino do país, forjavam-se ou derrubavam-se reputações e fortunas.
Bel-Ami só teve que ser frio e calculista para saber antecipar as jogadas que o iriam beneficiar.
Até à última página achei possível que o rapaz acabasse por ser alvo de alguma vingança passional, mas não, o mulherio perdoava tudo e pedia mais, os homens até lhe admiravam o espírito obstinado, e o autoproclamado barão George Du Roy de Cantel viu Paris rendida aos seus pés como sempre havia desejado.
Contrapondo este ambiente de futilidade e cinismo, este livro também tem algumas passagens muito pertinentes acerca do sentido da vida face à inevitabilidade da morte. Serão o materialismo, o sucesso profissional, e a visibilidade social assim tão importantes tendo em conta que tudo é passageiro e a morte espreita a toda a hora? Ou será que por isso mesmo devemos tentar viver sem limites, sem regras, de maneira a retirar da vida todo o prazer e todo o proveito possíveis?
October 11, 2023
While this book neared its finishing line I kept thinking, no, something’s going to happen now to stop this. Then I started thinking, “surely not� and finally I ended flabbergasted, astonished, shocked, bamboozled: the scoundrel, the bastard, the salopard had made it. He’d actually made it.
This was not to be a story of ascent and downfall. It was just his ascension.
Maupassant’s man is Georges Duroy, a former military officer, young and handsome, but a bit untrained and vastly unrefined. Slowly, he learns. He realizes that the best way for penniless young men to succeed is by attracting the attention of powerful women. He does: he seduces them, takes advantage of what they have to offer, be it their money, status or brains, and abandons them when they no longer suit him. He is lucky, but then luck favours the bold, and he must be one to literature’s most audacious characters.
Maupassant’s command of scenes is pitch-perfect. You can see the short-story writer in him: everything is nearly flawless, every element in its place, every scene constructed as tableaus, which together make up the conclusion to Duroy’s triumph. Maupassant showcases the best of 19th century literature, of the so-called classics. Engaging, fast-paced, profound, heart-stopping. This book is 270 pages. It is a study on corruption, on greed and ambition. It is also a meditation on death and how to react to existential dread. It is the closest thing to perfection you can come to in literature.
This was not to be a story of ascent and downfall. It was just his ascension.
Maupassant’s man is Georges Duroy, a former military officer, young and handsome, but a bit untrained and vastly unrefined. Slowly, he learns. He realizes that the best way for penniless young men to succeed is by attracting the attention of powerful women. He does: he seduces them, takes advantage of what they have to offer, be it their money, status or brains, and abandons them when they no longer suit him. He is lucky, but then luck favours the bold, and he must be one to literature’s most audacious characters.
Maupassant’s command of scenes is pitch-perfect. You can see the short-story writer in him: everything is nearly flawless, every element in its place, every scene constructed as tableaus, which together make up the conclusion to Duroy’s triumph. Maupassant showcases the best of 19th century literature, of the so-called classics. Engaging, fast-paced, profound, heart-stopping. This book is 270 pages. It is a study on corruption, on greed and ambition. It is also a meditation on death and how to react to existential dread. It is the closest thing to perfection you can come to in literature.
March 28, 2016
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.
March 16, 2013
In Whit Stillman's film, Metropolitan, one character describes his rival as follows in a funny scene at a Debutante Ball after-party:
"Rick Von Slonecker is tall, rich, good-looking, stupid, dishonest, conceited, a bully, liar, drunk and thief, an egomaniac, and probably psychotic. In short, highly attractive to women."
That description from a 1990's Indie comedy of manners could apply to Georges Duroy, aka Bel Ami, the quintessential unlikeable protagonist of Maupassant's 1885 masterpiece. Granted Duroy is neither alcoholic nor stupid, and he doesn't start out rich. Otherwise, the description suits him to a tee.
After serving a hitch as a junior officer in Algeria, Duroy, the son of peasant innkeepers, tries his luck in Paris. A fortuitous meeting with an old friend launches a career in journalism. Soon, Georges is climbing the social ladder over the bodies of several influential society women, including his friend's wife. Dubbed Bel-Ami by one of his mistresses' daughters, he conquers with a charm reminiscent of the amorous cartoon skunk, Pepé Le Pew. The rags to riches story incorporates a clever sub-plot in which a cadre of unscrupulous politicians and their journalist cronies profit from a colonial power grab in North Africa.
Duroy reminded me of Edith Wharton's predatory social climber, Undine Spragg (The Custom of the Country). The fictional adventures of such amoral scoundrels are often more engaging than those of worthy protagonists. That's especially true when a great storyteller such as Maupassant or Wharton tells the tale. I highly recommend "Bel Ami" to anyone interested in the Belle Époque, and especially to those who prefer an acerbic alternative to a sugarcoated Cinderella story like the musical "Gigi."
"Rick Von Slonecker is tall, rich, good-looking, stupid, dishonest, conceited, a bully, liar, drunk and thief, an egomaniac, and probably psychotic. In short, highly attractive to women."
That description from a 1990's Indie comedy of manners could apply to Georges Duroy, aka Bel Ami, the quintessential unlikeable protagonist of Maupassant's 1885 masterpiece. Granted Duroy is neither alcoholic nor stupid, and he doesn't start out rich. Otherwise, the description suits him to a tee.
After serving a hitch as a junior officer in Algeria, Duroy, the son of peasant innkeepers, tries his luck in Paris. A fortuitous meeting with an old friend launches a career in journalism. Soon, Georges is climbing the social ladder over the bodies of several influential society women, including his friend's wife. Dubbed Bel-Ami by one of his mistresses' daughters, he conquers with a charm reminiscent of the amorous cartoon skunk, Pepé Le Pew. The rags to riches story incorporates a clever sub-plot in which a cadre of unscrupulous politicians and their journalist cronies profit from a colonial power grab in North Africa.
Duroy reminded me of Edith Wharton's predatory social climber, Undine Spragg (The Custom of the Country). The fictional adventures of such amoral scoundrels are often more engaging than those of worthy protagonists. That's especially true when a great storyteller such as Maupassant or Wharton tells the tale. I highly recommend "Bel Ami" to anyone interested in the Belle Époque, and especially to those who prefer an acerbic alternative to a sugarcoated Cinderella story like the musical "Gigi."
December 12, 2024
4.5. Outrageous for 1885 � all the high Parisian society and drama of Proust but without the Proustian sentences (I adore Proust; this is not better, simply different). Georges Duroy, or Bel-Ami, is a cad, and his novel is a social climber's Bildungsroman. For most of the novel, he has three women on the go at once. He falls in love at the drop of a hat and loses interest faster. It's natural to wait the entire novel for Duroy to get his comeuppance, but Guy de Maupassant hasn't written the novel as simply as that. What does a man who has everything want? Simply, more.
It was the perfect companion as I stayed in Normandy for a long weekend, though it would have been better suited for Paris, of course. Through all the social climbing and playing with women, the novel has many striking existential scenes. At one point Bel-Ami sits in the death room of an old friend and Guy de Maupassant captures it so intensely that I was revisiting a death room from my own life in my mind's eye. Duroy has this rumination beside his friend's body:
And later, at a party, an old poet rambles for pages and pages about death to Duroy, some of which I'll transcribe below.
A novel about desire, and perhaps the pointlessness of it all. I'm surprised this isn't mentioned more often in discussions about French classics.
It was the perfect companion as I stayed in Normandy for a long weekend, though it would have been better suited for Paris, of course. Through all the social climbing and playing with women, the novel has many striking existential scenes. At one point Bel-Ami sits in the death room of an old friend and Guy de Maupassant captures it so intensely that I was revisiting a death room from my own life in my mind's eye. Duroy has this rumination beside his friend's body:
Like everyone else, for the space of a few years he had lived, eaten, laughed and hoped. And now everything was over for him for ever. What is life? A few days and then nothing more. You're born, you grow up, you're happy, you wait and then you die. Goodbye! Whether you're a man or a woman, you'll never come back on earth. And yet everyone bears within himself the feverish, hopeless wish to be eternal, each person is a sort of universe within the universe and yet each person is soon completely annihilated on the dunghill where lie the seeds of new life to come. Plants, animals, men, stars, worlds, everything takes on life and then dies and is transformed. And no creatures ever comes back, whether it be a man, an insect or a planet ! [...] He was thinking of flies, which live a few hours, of animals which live a few days, of men who live a few years, of planets which live a few centuries. What difference was there then between them? A few extra dawns, that was all.
And later, at a party, an old poet rambles for pages and pages about death to Duroy, some of which I'll transcribe below.
'Life is a slope. As long as you're going up you're looking towards the top and you feel happy; but when you reach it, suddenly you can see the road going downhill and death at the end of it all. It's slow going up but quick going down. At your age, you're cheerful. You're full of so many hopes, which, incidentally, will never be fulfilled. At my age, you don't expect anything � except death [...] Gradually, month by month, hour by hour, I have felt it destroying me, like a house falling into ruins.'
A novel about desire, and perhaps the pointlessness of it all. I'm surprised this isn't mentioned more often in discussions about French classics.
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