First published in 1877, these three stories are dominated by questions of doubt, love, loneliness, and religious experience; together they confirm Flaubert as a master of the short story. A Simple He…
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, attract…
« François pensa : si elle commande un déca, je me lève et je m’en vais. C’est la boisson la moins conviviale qui soit. Un thé, ce n’est guère mieux. On sent qu’on va passer des dimanches après-midi à r…
Jeanne, ayant fini ses malles, s'approcha de la fenêtre, mais la pluie ne cessait pas. L'averse, toute la nuit, avait sonné contre les carreaux et les toits. Le ciel bas et chargé d'eau semblait crevé,…
After his landlord experiences a break-in and theft, Astafy Ivanovich tells the man the tragic story of a man named Emelyan Ilyitch—an honest thief he once knew, and whose livelihood Astafy once found…
Before succumbing to the insanity that ravaged his later life, Guy de Maupassant established a reputation as France's preeminent short story writer, an artist whose cynical and macabre visions paralle…
After devoting their energies and income for ten years to replacing a borrowed diamond necklace which they have lost, a woman and her husband learn the irony of their efforts.
Irténiev, propriétaire terrien, est un homme sérieux, qui gère son domaine avec efficacité et rigueur. Marié à la douce et fragile Lise, romantique amoureuse qui l'idéalise, Irténiev fait de son mieux…
Simply written, but powerful and unforgettable, The Man Who Planted Trees is a parable for modern times. In the foothills of the French Alps the narrator meets a shepherd who has quietly taken on the …
Based on Flaubert’s own youthful passion for an older woman, Sentimental Education was described by its author as “the moral history of the men of my generation.” It follows the amorous adventures of …
Victor Hugo's The Man Who Laughs (first published under the French title L'Homme qui Rit in April 1869) is a sad and sordid tale -- not the sort of tale of the moment Hugo was known for. It starts on …
Si l'on devait citer le poète qui a exercé l'influence la plus profonde sur la poésie du début du XXe siècle, il faudrait nommer Rimbaud. Avec plus de hardiesse encore que Baudelaire, il a étendu le c…
Home of the Gentry is a novel by Ivan Turgenev published in the January 1859 issue of "Sovremennik". I t was enthusiastically received by the Russian society and remained his least controversial and m…
