Bel-Ami (Oxford World's Classics) [Paperback]

Guy de Maupassant (Author), Robert Lethbridge (Editor), Margaret Mauldon (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Oxford World's Classics | Publication Date: June 28, 2001

Maupassant's second novel, Bel-Ami (1885) is the story of a ruthlessly ambitious young man (Georges Duroy, christened "Bel-Ami" by his female admirers) making it to the top in fin-de-sihcle Paris. It is a novel about money, sex, and power, set against the background of the politics of the French colonization of North Africa. It explores the dynamics of an urban society uncomfortably close to our own and is a devastating satire of the sleaziness of contemporary journalism.
Bel-Ami enjoys the status of an authentic record of the apotheosis of bourgeois capitalism under the Third Republic. But the creative tension between its analysis of modern behavior and its identifiably late nineteenth-century fabric is one of the reasons why Bel-Ami remains one of the finest French novels of its time, as well as being recognized as Maupassant's greatest achievement as a novelist.
This new translation is complemented by fullest introduction and notes of any edition currently available.

Editorial Reviews

Review

`Bel-Ami . . .deserves a superior place in the canon . . .This book is as piquant as any contemporary satire. Don't take my word for it. Read it yourself.' Commentary, new Statesman, 04/06/01

`'...anyone proposing to study Bel-Ami in depth would do well to acquire the Oxford translation,given its excellent critical apparatus 'well-packaged and affordable'' MLR, 97.3

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Trade edition (June 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192836838
• ISBN-13: 978-0192836830
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,572,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Scoundrel's Rise, July 5, 2010

By 

Blue in Washington "Barry Ballow" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Bel-Ami (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

This Oxford World Classic version of Maupassant's masterpiece, "Bel Ami", is a complete package of historic and social context, story and glossary. The story itself has been well-reviewed by Amazon readers, so I will only briefly observe here a few salient features of the book that stood out for me.

A handsome but amoral young man (Georges Duroy) who has been endowed with an extraordinary load of pheromones, comes to Paris after military service to make his fortune. While not well educated or especially gifted with intellect, he is able to game the corrupt society of the time (circa 1884) using his looks and unfailing attraction for women of all ages and stations. His career rise comes through his ruthless manipulation of successive women, who are mostly very willingly used by Duroy, to attain professional and social standing and money. As this is a very pessimistic assessment of the French Third Republic by author Maupassant, the scoundrel not only wins in the end, but his nakedly open methods to gaining success are admired by the society that he is conquering.

This well-translated classic story is accompanied in the Oxford publication by a wonderfully complete introduction by Robert Lethridge, who provides an insightful commentary on the writer as well as explaining the social and political context for "Bel Ami." Lethridge has also compiled the helpful end notes/glossary that explain specific references in the novel.

Overall, this is a brilliant piece of writing by Maupassant, well-presented by Oxford Books. It is more than a little uncomfortable to read at times as the main character is such an unredeemable rotten egg, but the story has such power, that it's very hard to put down.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT BOOK/STORY...GLAD I BOUGHT IT.., August 31, 2010

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TERESITA "TERE" (Tampa, FL, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Bel-Ami (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

Ok I am guilty because I purchased the book because I read Robert Pattinson plays Georges Duroy in the film Bel Ami and am anxiously waiting for it. I really did enjoy reading the book and could not put it down and plan on reading the book again.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Robert Pattinsons Next Movie, April 19, 2010

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J. Reese "becca" (Missouri) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bel-Ami (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

This book is really,really good. I am so happy that I purchased it. It holds your attention through to the end. I originally purchased this book because, being a Robert Pattinson fan, I knew he was making this movie and knew it would be out in the next year or so. Usually books are so much more detailed than the movies that are made from them so I wanted to read it before I saw the movie. This will be a great movie for Robert Pattinson, so many of us women are madly in love with him and Georges is a character who really attracts the women. I just hope Robert will never use women in real life the way Georges does in the book. It is a very exciting story. I recommend that anyone who likes the Victorian Era, and stories about people who want to get to the top. read this book. "It's great!!!"