Alien Hearts

By Guy de Maupassant and Richard Howard

Alien Hearts was the last book that Guy de Maupassant finished before his death at the early age of forty-three. It is the most original and psychologically penetrating of his several novels, and the one in which he attains a truly tragic perception of the wounded human heart. André Mariolle is a rich, handsome, gifted young man who cannot settle on what to do with himself. Madame de Burne, a glacially dazzling beauty, wants Mariolle to attend her exclusive salon for artists, composers, writers, and other intellectuals. At first Mariolle keeps his distance, but then he hits on the solution to all his problems: caring for nothing in particular, he will devote himself to being in love; Madame de Burne will be his everything. Soon lover and beloved are equally lost within a hall of mirrors of their common devising. 

Richard Howard’s new English translation of this complex and brooding novel—the first in more than a hundred years—reveals the final, unexpected flowering of a great French realist’s art.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781590174395

Guy de Maupassant

Guy de Maupassant was a French writer and poet considered to be one of the pioneers of the modern short story whose best-known works include "Boule de Suif," "Mother Sauvage," and "The Necklace." De Maupassant was heavily influenced by his mother, a divorcée who raised her sons on her own, and whose own love of the written word inspired his passion for writing. While studying poetry in Rouen, de Maupassant made the acquaintance of Gustave Flaubert, who became a supporter and life-long influence for the author. De Maupassant died in 1893 after being committed to an asylum in Paris.

Reviews for Alien Hearts

[drfp_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Maupassant's final novel is another gem. Perhaps readers will not find the central characters likeable but, as the introduction mentions, perhaps the book is more about who is to be pitied. Personally, I found it possible to empathize with the leads to certain degrees (as I imagine anyone who has endured a number of relationships would) and that rendered them quite believable. As always with his novels I am astonished with Maupassant's perceptive grasp of the psychology of men and women and the characters he creates from this. If I have one problem with the novella it's with Madame de Burne. Although I find her a very interesting character the hole she has within herself also creates a hole within the story. We see and feel so much from Mariolle but so little from de Burne. It leaves the book feeling slightly imbalanced and as if there's just a little something lacking.Otherwise it's a fine novella that packs a lot into its small size, even if it's not quite as engaging as Maupassant's best work.

[yhaduong · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The back cover description threw me off for I expected a story about the games and deception we practice when we're in love but in fact the story was more of a foray into what it means to love and how love has many faces. I absolutely adored this book, the vivid descriptions of salons frequented by glittering artistes, the manner in which love manifests and most of all, the power of a woman to capture and retain a man's love. A beautiful story.

[urania1_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What does it mean to say “I love you”? What does it mean to say “I love you” in the glittering salons of fin de siècle Paris? These two questions loam at the center of Guy de Maupassant’s [Alien Hearts]. As the title suggests, the truth of the human heart, as Hawthorne would say, is an isolated truth, never fully comprehensible either to the lover or the beloved. The central character André Mariolle, an independently wealthy dilettante, falls in love with Madame de Burne hostess of a celebrated Parisian salon in which she gathers her human bibelots (mostly men) to compliment the material bibelots she has collected. Both serve as mirrors to her own fascinating beauty and wit. And mirrors she needs to assure herself of her own reality. As her maid remarks ironically, “Madame will wear out every mirror in the house.” A wounded woman, damaged by an abusive first marriage, Madame de Burne defends her heart and maintains its safety by demonstrating her absolute power to control the hearts of men. In return she offers friendship, brilliance, beauty, and flattery, but never her true self or her body. In a deft turn of gender roles, she hunts; the men fall prey – at least until she meets Mariolle, who proves to be prey of a rather different sort. Cautious almost to the point of hostility, Mariolle initially resists her overtures. She “intrigues” and “repels” him, for “in principle he dislikes players who never pay up.” However, finding himself incapable of resisting her charms, he resolves to leave Paris . . . too late. Against her will, Mme. de Burne finds herself “falling in love” with him. However, their mutual “love” hits cold reality as each means something different by the term. In this regard, each speaks a language alien to the other. And each ultimately resorts to a betrayal of sorts. Herein lies the drama and the mystery of the novel. If the meaning of “love” is uncertain, what can “betrayal” possibly mean? Sadly, all too much, but the “too much” the reader must discover for him or herself.This beautiful new translation by Richard Howard, the first in over one hundred years, skillfully evokes the atmosphere of the late nineteenth-century salons, in which the doyennes of high society imperiously wielded their power. A Proustian air of melancholy, ennui, and unsatisfied desire lingers long after the reader has completed the novel.Bravo to Richard Hughes for a lovely translation. Bravo to New York Review Books for resurrecting a lovely book.