Literature Network » Guy de Maupassant

The delusory denouement and other strategies in Maupassant's fantastic tales. (Guy de Maupassant)

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From: The Romanic Review
Date: 19941101
Author:Hottell, Ruth A.

Guy de Maupassant's fantastic short stories mix the supernatural and the natural world to transform 'the familiar into the strange.' Examples of his output in this genre include 'Le Horla,' 'L'Auberge,' 'Magnetisme,' and 'Reves.' In all, he provides a kind of desultory denouement which leaves readers vacillating between several possible endings and which invites them to participate in the creative process by drawing different interpretations.

Tzvetan Todorov's seminal work, Introduction a la litterature fantastique, establishes the fantastic as a genre, defining it as a hesitation between ...

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