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- Tales of Terror
- by Guy de Maupassant
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- Selected and Translated by Arnold
Kellett
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- Foreword by Ramsey Campbell
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- This
volume collects together 32 of Guy de Maupassant's best
tales of terror, in Arnold Kellet's glitteringly clear
and precise translations.
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- Strongly
influenced by the writings of E.T.A. Hoffman and Edgar
Allen Poe, de Maupassant tapped into the craze for
cathartic tales of mystery and the occult rife in France
in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Born into a
Norman family of relative wealth and privilege, he had
seen the darker side of life while serving in the French
army during the Franco-Prussian War. He was part of
Gustav Flaubert's literary circle during the 1870s,
wherein he honed his craft, before launching a stream of
successful writings on the public during the 1880s. This
procured for him fame, financial security and the means
to travel. But the seeds of destruction were already in
him-de Maupassant had lived a debauched life, dabbling in
drugs, and contracted syphilis during his twenties.
Towards the end of his short life, the disease attacked
his brain, producing blinding headaches, then
hallucinations. He cut his own throat, was declared
insane, and died in an asylum in Paris in July 1893 at 42
years of age.
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- His fear
of what might lie in wait for him suffuses de
Maupassant's stories with psychological verisimilitude,
injecting a 'terrible clarity' into such chillers as 'The
Horla'. Although many of the stories are tinged with
pessimism and misanthropy, they can also be read as
courageous cries of anguish and protest. And there are
moments of great beauty and compassion. Indisputably one
of the masters of the macabre, de Maupassant should
appeal to all who enjoy the very best strange
fiction.
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- Tales
of Terror is a sewn hardback book of 283+ xiv pages
with silk ribbon marker, head and tailbands, and
d/w.
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- Limited
to 300 copies. ISBN 978-1-905784-12-7
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- £32.50/$55 inc. p&p.
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- Contents: 'Foreword' by Ramsey Campbell,
'Introduction' by Arnold Kellett, 'The Horla', 'The
Devil', 'Two Friends', 'Fear', 'The Hand', 'Coco', 'The
Mannerism', 'The Madwoman', 'Mohammed-Fripouille', 'The
Blind Man', 'At Sea', 'Apparition', 'Saint-Antoine', 'The
Wolf', 'Terror', 'The Diary of a Madman', 'A Vendetta',
'The Smile of Schopenhauer', 'On the River', 'He?', 'Old
Milon', 'The Head of Hair', 'The Inn', 'Mother Savage',
'Was he Mad?', 'The Dead Girl', 'Mademoiselle Cocotte',
'A Night in Paris', 'The Case of Louise Roque', 'The
Drowned Man', 'Who Knows?', 'Mademoiselle Perle',
'Notes'.
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- Dr
Arnold Kellett studied at the Sorbonne and the University
of Liverpool, where he took a first class honours degree
in French Language and Literature.
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- Review:
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- "It's easy to see why
Maupassant was regarded as France's best
short story writer. . . . A splendid
collection from a classic
author." Andrew McQuade,
Gorezone
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updated 5th September 2009
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