Customer Reviews

The Horla (The Art of the Novella)

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This is a really great story (stories) in a neat new format. It is actually the same story -- of the author's descent into madness -- told in three different ways. He was trying to work out the best way to tell this story, and never did decide which one worked best for him. I found the first version in this book to be fabulously frightening! I have read other books by de Maupassant and had never heard of this one, but am so glad I discovered it, and read it. I have since recommended it to others who also found it to be fascinating. There are more books/stories in this series, and I plan to take a look at all of them. But this one is a keeper!

If you like short books you'll love this one. This skinny little book contains three versions of the story.

Although the introduction claims this isn't in any way autobiographical it is a fairly good example of something that seems to have been written by a paranoid schizophrenic. Was he schizophrenic? I don't know, Wikipedia says he had paranoid delusions because of syphilis and committed suicide (not long after writing this book.)