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Okay, so if I were to buy just one collection of De Mauppasant's short stories, what should it be? I can get them all free on my Kindle, but I really like getting actual book forms of classics (and I'm on a actual-book kick at the moment). The choice of what to get is kind of divisive going by Amazon reviews.
I'm not sure to understand what you mean by "De Mauppasant's poetry", since Maupassant wrote only short stories and novels:
- five realist/naturalist/psychological novels, all good, with a personal preference for Bel-Ami;
- a dozen of collections of short stories, that is around 150 short stories, either in the realistic realist/naturalist/psychological/satirical vein, either rather fantastic; I liked them all, I would advise to start with the collection called Le Horla, then Contes du jour et de la nuit, and Clair de Lune.
I second the Horla :)
However it is work from the end of his life, so im not sure if you want to start with that.
I haven no idea why I wrote poetry; I must have had poetry on the brain when I wrote this. I meant short stories.
As to what to start with, I'm just looking for his best work...I'm not really setting out to read all of his stories (though, I'm not ruling it out, either).
His best short story is Ball of Fat. Read that first, and if you like him try Two Friends, A Piece of String, and The Horla. Those four really stick with you.
Bel Ami. Do yourself a favour and get Bel Ami, it is his best novel. I found the Penguin translation excellent. Good fun.
I read the wordsworth classics edition of the best short stories as my first book for 2012. Here were my thoughts.
Cool, thanks Drk.