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Guy de Maupassant
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The Horla (Occult & Supernatural Classic) Kindle Edition

by Guy de Maupassant (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 128 ratings
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Guy de Maupassant's 'The Horla' is a masterpiece of occult and supernatural fiction that delves into the fragile psyche of a man plagued by an unseen entity. Written in Maupassant's signature realist style, the novella explores themes of madness, paranoia, and the limits of human perception. Set in a French countryside, the narrative unfolds through a series of haunting diary entries, creating a sense of unease and suspense that grips the reader from the very beginning. Maupassant's use of psychological horror elevates 'The Horla' beyond a mere ghost story, making it a timeless exploration of the supernatural in literature. Guy de Maupassant, known for his keen psychological insight and mastery of the short story form, drew inspiration from his own struggles with mental health to craft this chilling tale. His understanding of human nature shines through in the nuanced characterization and depiction of the protagonist's descent into madness. Readers who enjoy atmospheric and thought-provoking horror will be captivated by 'The Horla' and its enduring exploration of the darker aspects of the human mind.
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  1. Print length
    50 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Musaicum Books
  5. Publication date
    April 20, 2017
  6. File size
    1974 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"I wanted them all, even those I'd already read."
—Ron Rosenbaum, The New York Observer

"Small wonders."
—Time Out London

"[F]irst-rate…astutely selected and attractively packaged…indisputably great works."
—Adam Begley, The New York Observer

"I’ve always been haunted by Bartleby, the proto-slacker. But it’s the handsomely minimalist cover of the Melville House edition that gets me here, one of many in the small publisher’s fine 'Art of the Novella' series."
—The New Yorker

"The Art of the Novella series is sort of an anti-Kindle. What these singular, distinctive titles celebrate is book-ness. They're slim enough to be portable but showy enough to be conspicuously consumed—tiny little objects that demand to be loved for the commodities they are."
—KQED (NPR San Francisco)

"Some like it short, and if you're one of them, Melville House, an independent publisher based in Brooklyn, has a line of books for you... elegant-looking paperback editions ...a good read in a small package."
—The Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Guy de Maupassant was born in Normandy in 1850. At 20 he served in the Franco-Prussian War, then studied writing with his mother’s friend Gustav Flaubert (perhaps believing rumors, which persist, that Flaubert was his father). In 1880 he published his first story, “Boule de Suif,” which was hailed as a masterpiece. He quit his civil service job and soon published the collection, La Maison Tellier. He would go on to publish 300 stories and six novels, including Bel-Ami and Pierre et Jean, while living the life of a bon vivant. In the late 1880s, however, he began to show signs of syphilitic mental illness, and in 1891, was institutionalized after a suicide attempt. He died in a mental asylum in 1893.

Charlotte Mandell has won the Modern Language Association Prize in translation. Among other titles she has translated for The Art of the Novella series are Marcel Proust's The Lemoine Affair, Guy de Maupassant's The Horla, and Gustave Flaubert’s A Simple Heart.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B071V8XWLB
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Musaicum Books (April 20, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 20, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1974 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 50 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 128 ratings

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Guy de Maupassant

Guy de Maupassant

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
128 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Barbara C
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful Mind Dwelling!
Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2022
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Excellent! One of the best books I've read in a long time - a first for me with de Maupassant!!
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Carrie L Gessler
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2017
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Beautiful.
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Michiko
4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully creepy.
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2016
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I found this book on Oxford University Press’ timeline of vampire literature, but the horla isn’t like your stock blood-sucking vampire from other Gothic literature. If you’re more into psychological horror, the horla is scarier. I casually tossed the book aside after finishing it and thought, “Well that was something,” but then later that night I didn’t even want to sleep with the lights off. The best part is the ending, which can be interpreted in a couple of equally chilling ways and will leave you wondering what’s worse – a monster or your own delusions?

This edition has all three versions of the story that Maupassant wrote. The first one in the book is the final version (the spine-tingling one). I don’t know if the other two are really worth reading; they didn’t add much to my appreciation of the final product. I guess they were included because the book would have been too short without them. Altogether, this is a very quick read with only 74 small pages. Despite the brevity, I feel that my 8 dollars well spent. I highly recommend this.
2 people found this helpful
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Nicola Mansfield
5.0 out of 5 stars This Reader's Musings ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2013
The Horla - 1887 (final version) - Fantastic piece of Gothic horror! I've read Maupassant before but this is my first time reading this story. A series of journal entries as a man tells how he is not feeling well. He takes various vacations, feels better but his illness always returns when he gets back home. He starts to believe he is going mad as his physical ailments lead to hallucinations and eventually he muses upon whether he is a rational man having hallucinations or simply a madman. However, things take a different turn when he believes his hallucination may be real and perhaps his problem is a being not of this plane. A perfectly paced example of the Victorian Gothic.

Letter From a Madman - 1885 (first draft published under a pen name) - This is a mere 10 pages compared to the over 40 of the final story and is only a hint of what would become "The Horla". A man writes a letter to a doctor asking him to be put away in the madhouse and then explains what he has been suffering. Starting out as an essay on the five senses and then going on to the man's hallucinations of experiencing the missing senses, this is not a particularly exciting short story though it does end on a creepy note. There are a lot of scenes and ideas that have been used in the final story "The Horla". One can see how this story must have left the author feeling there was much more that could be told from the basic idea he had presented here.

The Horla - 1886 (first version) - Not the novella of the final version but a much longer short story than the "Letter..." A good story which I quite enjoyed and would have been satisfied with giving a 4*, but having read the final version see how the story lacks its haunting Gothic creepiness. For this version a doctor invites colleagues over to hear his patient's story; which the patient then proceeds to recount. First off with this set up, we know the "madman's" fate from the beginning which is unknown in the final version and part of the pacing. The story does now contain all the same elements and events that will fill the final story but since the patient is telling a story which has happened in the past it does not have the same eeriness as the final story which is told in real time journal entries.

Altogether a wonderful experience reading the progress of an idea into a brilliant novella. Even though I enjoyed the first story (the final version) the most, the whole reading experience was a 5* event!
2 people found this helpful
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Anne Salazar
5.0 out of 5 stars REALLY GREAT!
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2006
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!
6 people found this helpful
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Bre Rhiannon England
1.0 out of 5 stars Boring
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2023
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Reads like a journal of a person who is losing their mind, obsessed with killing this invisible being in their house. Fast read. Thank goodness I didn't waste too many brain cells reading this bore. Not scary at all.
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Michael P. McCullough
4.0 out of 5 stars I Heart Short Books
Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2008
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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.)
2 people found this helpful
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Ernest Bruns
2.0 out of 5 stars Yawn.
Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2016
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The writing is dull and overblown, even for a 19th century author. There is no plot, no suspense, no action. If you like the act of Waiting for Godot, you'll like this.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Uriel Sánchez
5.0 out of 5 stars Edición ilustrada y única
Reviewed in Mexico on August 26, 2023
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Es un libro corto pero excepcional, se puede leer en una sentada. Las ilustraciones son muy buenas y es una edición única de pasta dura.
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ARNOULT michel
5.0 out of 5 stars magnifiques illustrations
Reviewed in France on February 7, 2019
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exemple de superbes illustrations pour un classique de la littérature fantastique une très belle production contemporaine
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Zach_Mizzi
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 4, 2012
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This is a short novel you can read in one seat. This french author was really great. The novel is surprising and scary, loved it.
2 people found this helpful
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Damian Bravo
5.0 out of 5 stars Hermosas ilustraciones
Reviewed in Mexico on July 24, 2023
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El formato de libro es de buen tamaño de hoja, la cantidad en sí es pequeña, solo incluye tres cuentos, las ilustraciones son hermosas, muy detalladas más que describir algún pasaje de los cuentos se inspiran en ellos, la calidad de los libros del zorro rojo es muy buena, pero como siempre con Amazon el cuidado que tienen con los libros durante el almacenaje y envío es deficiente resultando siempre maltratados los libros.
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Thomas
3.0 out of 5 stars A very short story that is thought to be one of the major influences of Stevenson's the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 30, 2016
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This (the horror classics version) is just the short story. Not the collection of the three versions as described in some of the other reviews.
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