What's your favorite Guy de Maupassant story and why?

[Metanoia]

I love Maupassant. Something about the way he writes just has a strong emotional impact on me. He paints such a vivid picture with his words and I become completley absorbed into the story. One of my favorites of his is "The Horla, or modern ghosts". The darkness and insanity of the story is so intense, I couldn't stop reading it.

[bouquin]

I love Maupassant's stories! The most unforgettable for me is The Necklace. The build-up is very intense. And what a staggering ending!

[kelby_lake]

Beside Schopenhauer's Corpse

i just like the first line for some reason

[ctalerico]

Maupassant is a great story-teller and I've enjoyed most of his tales but two that made the most impact (I can't use the word "enjoyed" really) were: "Coco" and "At Sea". The former was sad and its subject matter made me initially incensed but I appreciate it's restorative theme of regeneration. The latter is profound in its irony. I'd appreciate learning the views from those who have read these stories.

[mvr_moorthy]

I like "Boule de suif"--- a real masterpiece that presents life's little ironies and the frailty of social pretense.The whole story is told in third person in an unemotional tone and nowhere we can find the author's subjective views . It is in this art of distancing himself he scores over the other French masters like Zola and Flaubert.

[Kyriakos]

I like The Horla as well. "He?" is another favourite of mine by him. I like all of his stories about madness.

One short story that sticks out, in my view, is "The mother of monsters". After reading it i couldnt help wonder if The mother of monsters wasnt a symbolism for De Maupassant himself, since he effectively bgy that time had become someone breeding stories of fear and madness :)

But i think that my favourite story by him (one of many, by the way, i love) is The Sleeping machine. Not sure if that was its translated title in english, i have the story in greek, and it is Ypnophora, which literraly means "bringer of sleep".

[Farheen]

Guy De Maupassant's a very good author. The think I love about him is the way he describes things. I loved A Vendetta, Ball of fat and The Story of a Farm Girl.

[Kyriakos]

He also wrote a massive amount of work, most of it short stories. I have yet to read the bulk of them, but i almost like everything by him that i read :)

[Clockwise]

I have read three of de Maupassant's six novels: Bel-Ami, A Life and Pierre and Jean. All are very good indeed but for me Bel-Ami is the masterpiece. A fascinating study of an ambitious and completely immoral young man in Paris. It reminded me quite a bit of Flaubert's Madame Bovary.

I know his short stories are normally rated higher than his novels. Unfortunately I only read a handful of the short stories and none left me with the lasting impression of Bel-Ami.

[mvrmoorthy]

I know his short stories are normally rated higher than his novels. Unfortunately I only read a handful of the short stories and none left me with the lasting impression of Bel-Ami.[/QUOTE]

You may try The Bell flower, Miss Harriet, False gems and Bed No 29.They have great variety and show Maupassant at his versatile best.