The Horla (Horror Classic): From one of the greatest French writers, widely regarded as the 'Father of Modern Short Story' writing, known for The Necklace, Boule de Suif, Mademoiselle Fifi, Bel-Ami, The Piece of String, A Life…
5/5
()
About this ebook
The Horla ("Le Horla") is a horror story written in the style of a journal by French writer Guy de Maupassant. The story has been cited as an inspiration for Lovecraft's own "The Call of Cthulhu", which also features an extraterrestrial being who influences minds and who is destined to conquer humanity. In the form of a journal, the narrator, an upper-class, unmarried, bourgeois man, conveys his troubled thoughts and feelings of anguish. This anguish occurs for four days after he sees a "superb three-mast" boat and impulsively waves to it, unconsciously inviting the supernatural being aboard the boat to haunt his home.
Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) was a popular French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents. Maupassant was a protégé of Flaubert and his stories are characterized by economy of style and efficient, effortless dénouements (outcomes).
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.
Read more from Guy De Maupassant
A Very French Christmas: The Greatest French Holiday Stories of All Time Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Big Book of Christmas Tales: 250+ Short Stories, Fairytales and Holiday Myths & Legends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFamous Modern Ghost Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Necklace and Other Short Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Guy de Maupassant MEGAPACK ®: 144 Novels and Short Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Harvard Classics: All 71 Volumes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShort Stories of Guy de Maupassant Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Une Vie: A Woman’s Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Necklace and Other Short Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5TRICK OR TREAT Boxed Set: 200+ Eerie Tales from the Greatest Storytellers: Horror Classics, Mysterious Cases, Gothic Novels, Monster Tales & Supernatural Stories: Sweeney Todd, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, Frankenstein, The Vampire, Dracula, Sleepy Hollow, From Beyond… Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings13 Short Scary Stories: Masterpieces of the greatest writers Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Boule De Suif: Bilingual Edition (English – French) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to The Horla (Horror Classic)
Related ebooks
The Turn of the Screw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMadame Bovary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTHE MONK Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sons and Lovers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trial Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDon Quixote Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Suspiria de Profundis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBobok Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Short Stories Of Guy de Maupassant Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnother Man’s Wife and a Husband Under the Bed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Thing on the Doorstep Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Short Stories – Best Books Boxed Set: 50+ Classics of American Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeaves of Grass Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJill Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Masque of the Red Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Duel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mystery Of Marie Roget: Short Story Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Metamorphosis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe shadow over Innsmouth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The History of Mr Polly Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNotes from Underground Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In A Glass Darkly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Siddhartha Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDivine Comedy (Longfellow): Bestsellers and famous Books Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrlando Furioso Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWieland; or, the Transformation: An American Tale Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Horror Fiction For You
Hidden Pictures: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5H. P. Lovecraft Complete Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Head Full of Ghosts: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dracula Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Holly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cycle of the Werewolf: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Edgar Allan Poe Complete Collection - 120+ Tales, Poems Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Short Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pet Sematary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Outsider: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Days Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Dies at the End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Annihilation: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Good Indians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Needful Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hell House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brother Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Heart Is a Chainsaw Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Weiser Book of Horror and the Occult: Hidden Magic, Occult Truths, and the Stories That Started It All Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Misery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Troop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Different Seasons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Four Past Midnight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Best Friend's Exorcism: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hollow Places: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Whisper Man: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Horla (Horror Classic)
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
The Horla (Horror Classic) - Guy de Maupassant
Guy de Maupassant
The Horla
(Horror Classic)
From one of the greatest French writers, widely regarded as the ‘Father of Modern Short Story’ writing, known for The Necklace, Boule de Suif, Mademoiselle Fifi, Bel-Ami, The Piece of String, A Life…
e-artnow, 2015
Contact: info@e-artnow.org
ISBN 978-80-268-3418-2
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Text
The Horla
May 8. What a lovely day! I have spent all the morning lying on the grass in front of my house, under the enormous plantain tree which covers and shades and shelters the whole of it. I like this part of the country; I am fond of living here because I am attached to it by deep roots, the profound and delicate roots which attach a man to the soil on which his ancestors were born and died, to their traditions, their usages, their food, the local expressions, the peculiar language of the peasants, the smell of the soil, the hamlets, and to the atmosphere itself. I love the house in which I grew up. From my windows I can see the Seine, which flows by the side of my garden, on the other side of the road, almost through my grounds, the great and wide Seine, which goes to Rouen and Havre, and which is covered with boats passing to and fro.
On the left, down yonder, lies Rouen, populous Rouen with its blue roofs massing under pointed, Gothic towers. Innumerable are they, delicate or broad, dominated by the spire of the cathedral, full of bells which sound through the blue air on fine mornings, sending their sweet and distant Iron clang to me, their metallic sounds, now stronger and now weaker, according as the wind is strong or light.
What a delicious morning it was! About eleven o’clock, a long line of boats drawn by a steam-tug, as big a fly, and which scarcely puffed while emitting its thick smoke, passed my gate.
After two English schooners, whose red flags fluttered toward the sky, there came a magnificent Brazilian three-master; it was perfectly white and wonderfully clean and shining. I saluted it, I hardly know why, except that the sight of the vessel gave me great pleasure.
May 12. I have had a slight feverish attack for the last few days, and I feel ill, or rather I feel low-spirited.
Whence come those mysterious influences which change our happiness into discouragement, and our self-confidence into diffidence? One might almost say that the air, the invisible air, is full of unknowable Forces, whose mysterious presence we have to endure. I wake up in the best of spirits, with an inclination to sing in my heart. Why? I go down by the side of the water, and suddenly, after walking a short distance, I return home wretched, as If some misfortune were awaiting me there. Why? Is it a cold shiver which, passing over my skin, has upset my