The Horla: A Classic of Mystery and Terror from the Great Guy de Maupassant

by Guy de Maupassant

For literary purposes, Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) only lived for ten years, which separates the date of publication of his first great work, "Ball of tallow" (1880), from the last, "The useless beauty" (1890 ). In such a short period he condensed an enormous production and versatility that allow us to discover the complexity of an author in which the romantic tradition, the assumption of positivist criteria, impressionist aesthetics, a symbolist recreation of the universe and a preview of surrealism will come together. that would come and that Maupassant brushes in his forays into the subconscious and in related themes such as madness or dreams. This edition aims to bring together with this selection of stories the thematic and structural diversity that characterized the set of short stories by the author. To the variety of composition is added the thematic variety. The fantasy genre is illustrated with one of his "El Horla". Madness, fear and death with "La loca", "El Fear" and "La mano". The theme of the Franco-Prussian war in "Mother Sauvage" and "Mademoiselle Fifi". A more traditional setting in «The Tellier house». The most symbolist and poetic Maupassant in "Sobre el agua". And worldly tales, not without humor, in "The Rondoli Sisters" and "The Crime of Uncle Boniface."

Genres: Horror, Classics, Short Stories, Fiction, Literature, Audiobook

31 pages, Paperback

Published June 3, 2021

About the author

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer. He is one of the fathers of the modern short story. A protege of Flaubert, Maupassant's short stories are characterized by their economy of style and their efficient effortless dénouement. He also wrote six short novels. A number of his stories often denote the futility of war and the innocent civilians who get crushed in it - many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s.

Reviews

[Warren Fournier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This famous horror story is by Guy de Maupassant, who perfected the short story form, so one can expect that this will pack quite a punch in a few pages. It does.

It's an unusual take on a familiar subgenre, concerning a man who is convinced he is tormented by an invisible psychic vampire. Is this a case of something real but unseen and unknown? Or is the man just slowly going mad? We go through the narrator's journals over the course of one summer to unravel his tragic story.

"The Horla" is not necessarily scary, but was meant to make readers of the late 19th Century ponder the kind of phenomena that society was just starting to come to recognize as linked with the human mind. Psychiatry was in its earliest infancy, and the Western world was fascinated with mesmerism and psychic powers. This, this is a gothic folktale translated for the post-industrial age of urban legends.

SCORE: 4 Horla out of 5

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story takes its time depicting the narrator's descent into terror. Slow, atmospheric, and suffused with dread, "The Horla" builds momentum steadily until the tale's frightful and memorable climax. Guy de Maupassant spins a tale of such complexity that thoughtful readers can ponder the narrator's reliability—and the monster's existence—long after the last page is turned.

[Kylie! · Rating 3 out of 5]

rip Guy you would have loved anti psychotics ❤️

[noor ★ · Rating 4 out of 5]

the horla: descend into madness

[Sarthak Bhatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can see glimmer of greatness here

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

surely he and the invisible man that was tormenting him were fucking? wasted opportunity if not.

[Alexandru Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

It leaves you wondering

Only a truly great writer can create a world that 1) may be frightening or 2) just in the head of the lead character - and leave you unsure which one is the true version of events.

By the end of the book, and even several days after I’ve finished it, I haven’t made up my mind as to what version would I prefer.

You can debate for hours about it, and this is what makes great books so much fun!

I was torn between 4 and 5 stars until something happened near the end where my facial expression changed in surprise, as I was not expecting it at all, so delivering a great ending to a great story makes it a 5/5.

Songs to go along with:
• Rockwell - Somebody’s Watching Me
• John Carpenter - “Halloween” theme
• The Weeknd - Can’t Feel My Face

[João Vicente · Rating 5 out of 5]

Que belo exemplar de Literatura Brasileira.
Afinal, se o Horlá é uma criatura que veio para a França numa galera brasileira, isso é um claro sinal de que o livro pertence ao Brasil - e obviamente significa também que, apesar de ser francês e de escrever em francês e de nunca ter estado no Brasil, Guy de Maupassant passa a ser oficialmente parte do cânone literário brasileiro.
VAI BRAZIL-ZIL-ZIL, FIU FIU 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷 🇧🇷

[Tamara Vidić · Rating 4 out of 5]

I too wish I could travel to Paris after having a bad dream!
What a fabulous novella which serves as a reminder of how happy our lives are for we have not felt the true terror.

[Madhab Dwibedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

very cute book
great imagination filled in it

[Emmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An utterly chilling tale of a man possessed by a creature he cannot see, but which is feeding upon his life force. While it wasn't quite what I was hoping or expecting it to be, I thought this was a well-paced, atmospheric tale of dread.

[Afeefa Nasir · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Learned men say that beasts' eyes, as they differ from ours, do not distinguish like ours do...."

[Dhimma Ayogu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Horla had me asking myself nonstop if this man was actually mad or if he was truly seeing something. Is it sleep paralysis? Insomnia? Or is a real unseen presence haunting him? And it sincerely kept me suspended between reality and delusion in a way that feels too real. Shivers*

The mc stays wrestling with human limitations, especially how little control we really have over the mind, things we see/know. The book shows how the things we cannot fully understand can become a perpetual disturbance. And honestly, dwelling on such mysteries too deeply can drag anyone into insanity… tbh. I think that was part of his delirium tho and what eventually led to his downfall, if I may say.

Perfect read!!!🫶🏽

[Carla Parreira]

O narrador, que escreve em forma de diário, vive na Normandia e começa a relatar uma sensação estranha de perseguição após avistar um barco brasileiro. Essa sensação se intensifica, levando-o a ter noites de insônia e a sentir uma presença opressora. Para escapar dessa angústia, ele viaja para lugares como Ruan e Paris, mas a sensação de ser observado não desaparece. Durante uma visita ao Mont Saint-Michel, ele ouve histórias sobre seres estranhos que não podem ser percebidos pelos sentidos humanos, o que contribui para a atmosfera de mistério e loucura que permeia a narrativa. A obra, que flerta com o insólito, é uma representação do realismo literário, tensionando a linha entre o cotidiano e o sobrenatural, e se destaca como um clássico que explora a fragilidade da sanidade humana. O narrador, cada vez mais atormentado pela ideia de estar sendo perseguido por uma entidade desconhecida, realiza um experimento em seu quarto, colocando duas garrafas, uma com leite e outra com água, e cobrindo-as com um pano antes de dormir. Ao acordar, descobre que ambas estão vazias, embora não se lembre de ter se levantado para beber. Essa experiência intensifica sua paranoia e o leva a questionar sua sanidade de forma mais profunda. Ele reflete sobre a natureza da loucura, reconhecendo que muitos loucos mantêm clareza em diversos aspectos da vida, mas são tragados por um ponto específico de demência. Essa ambiguidade entre a realidade e a imaginação é um dos pilares da narrativa, conforme discutido por teóricos como Todorov, que exploram a literatura fantástica e a linha tênue entre o natural e o sobrenatural. O ser que o atormenta é chamado de Horlá, um nome que sugere algo que vem de fora, reforçando a ideia de uma presença alienígena em sua vida. O texto, embora do século XIX, é acessível, mas a essência do título se perde na tradução. Maupassant mergulha nas profundezas do terror psicológico, explorando o que pode ser mais aterrorizante do que a própria mente humana. O narrador se sente como um espectador de sua própria vida, dominado por essa força invisível que controla seus pensamentos e ações, levando-o a um estado de desespero e impotência. A obra não se limita a um relato de fantasmas, mas aborda temas complexos como loucura, histeria e a influência mental, convidando o leitor a refletir sobre a existência do Horlá e a natureza da realidade.

[Eve · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

What an absolutely brilliant piece of psychological horror.

From the very beginning, The Horla reminded me of Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart. There is something deeply unsettling about being trapped inside the mind of a narrator whose perception of reality becomes increasingly difficult to trust.

The atmosphere is suffocating, the growing paranoia is wonderfully executed, and the gradual deterioration of the narrator's mental state is genuinely chilling.

For a moment, I thought I might be disappointed by the direction the story was taking. I feared that explaining the horror would rob it of its mystery. But then came the ending, and suddenly I found myself questioning everything I had just experienced.

What if there was never anything there?

What if everything we witnessed was the product of a mind slowly unraveling?

That possibility transformed an already disturbing story into something infinitely more tragic. The beauty of The Horla lies in how little certainty it offers. The narrator believes his experiences wholeheartedly, but that doesn't necessarily make them real. And the consequences of that uncertainty are devastating.

I also have to give special recognition to B. J. Harrison's audiobook narration. His performance was phenomenal. The smallest changes in his voice conveyed fear, desperation, and an increasingly fragile grasp on reality. At times, his delivery alone gave me chills.

This is exactly the kind of horror I adore: atmospheric, psychologically complex, deeply unsettling, and unwilling to hand the reader a comfortable explanation.

A story that becomes even more disturbing once you finish it and start thinking.

[Rebee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me gustó. Un poco tedioso por momentos, sobre todo llegando al final. Me parecieron interesantes las reflexiones que hace el autor sobre la existencia, o no existencia, de lo sobrenatural, lo que no podemos ver, Dios. Hay una frase que se cita en relación a esto, de Voltaire, que me encantó: "Dios hizo al hombre a su imagen y semejanza, pero el hombre le ha pagado con la misma moneda".
El protagonista sufre durante casi todo el relato, y es imposible no sentir pena por él. Se siente su desesperación, miedo, ansiedad, todo descrito de una manera tan exacta que te hace preguntarte si el autor no tenía algún tipo de problema de salud mental (según internet, sí). Así que es fácil sentirse identificado y empatizar con él.
La gran pregunta del relato tiene que ver con lo anterior: ¿lo que le ocurre al personaje principal es producto de su imaginación, de su paranoia, o realmente un ser invisible lo ataca, persigue y hostiga día y noche? Y me parece que está en el lector elegir la respuesta.

[PulpMonkey (Chompa) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this from Horrorbabble with narration by Ian Gordon. Gordon is great as always.

This is my start into Guy de Maupassant. I learned about him today and that he was an influencer of many writers including H.P. Lovecraft. I also learned that (from Wikipedia) "in his later years he developed a constant desire for solitude, an obsession for self-preservation, and a fear of death and paranoia of persecution caused by the syphilis he had contracted in his youth."

The Horla shows a person who becomes convinced he is being stalked by an invisible creature. The main character progressively becomes more paranoid and madder as time goes on.

I really enjoyed this.

[Wesley · Rating 2.5 out of 5]

I've heard nothing but praise for this story, so imagine my surprise when I found myself so bored reading it that I fell asleep multiple times. It's only 30 pages but felt like 90. I see what Maupassant was trying to do here - is it madness or an entity?!?! - but the writing is impenetrable to me (or maybe I'm just tired of reading about rich European people doing so much nothing all day?) and I just ...didn't care about the main character at all. I was more invested in his hypnotized cousin. I felt more for the forgotten servants. It is a story with an intriguing plot but I did not connect with it and I'm unsure why given that I enjoy Maupassant's other stories, like "The Hand."

[Autumn Longley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommend this short story, it’s a beautiful, unique way to write a “diary of a mad man” with leaving the audience on an open ending to decide whether they think our main character was “mad” or if this entity was real. I was sucked into the story the more doubtful he became due to his personality at the beginning of the story beings completely different at the end.

[Michael Rudzki · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Horla, despite having been written in 1887, is still a frightening tale of psychological horror and an early tale of science fiction.

I read it as there is a quote from the story before the novel the Living Dead by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus. The idea of an unseen force seizing control of the living is a good parallel to the world of the walking dead.

[Inmywords · Rating 4 out of 5]

Krótka nowelka ze wspaniałym klimatem. Główny bohater zauważa że w jego domu dzieją się dziwne rzeczy. Na tyle drobne że zastanawia się czy tego nie wymyślił, może to przeoczenie, albo wyobraźnia, ale... No właśnie. Ale.

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

« There can be no doubt that loneliness is dangerous to active minds. We need round us men who think and talk. When we live alone for long periods, we people the void with phantoms »

And yet it truly was an invisible vampiric supernatural entity. Thats what you get for skepticism.

[Braian Nahuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Juego con la cordura del narrador y, con el giro final, te deja dudando de todo. Dicen que es un ejemplo de una obra que toca la temática muy usada del doble, pero de eso no encontré nada. Creo que la forma en que el autor mantiene todo en duda es genial.

[Carrie Juenger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not entirely sure what's holding me back from 5 stars...something indescribable that just sort of isn't A+. VERY good still. Very strange. Love an ambiguous am I going nuts or is something really happening. Similar to the Yellow Wallpaper but for men. 4 stars and a glass of milk ⭐⭐⭐⭐🥛

[Young Amadeus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this short story of a man becoming worried about a presence that he believes to be draining his life. The short story is very interesting and also has many interesting images and ideas. Like for example that butterflies are flowers with wings.

[Nothing · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this is a Man's descend into madness told through journal entries rather than an actual horror

[Carlos Guerrero]

This was a cool take on vampires. A bit too short. The copy I had included three different versions of the story that he had written

[Цветан Димитров · Rating 3 out of 5]

leave my fucking milk alone FOR GODS SAKE

[Michael John Paul McManus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very weird and strange short story, but enjoyable all the same. Delving into what some would call madness.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A man admitted himself into an asylum for reasons he explained to a panel of doctors. A rather interesting supernatural/ horror story, something very different and unusual