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5 French Masters
This book is a compilation of classic short stories by five great French writers - Guy De Maupassant, Honore De Balzac, Victor Hugo, Anatole France and Pierre Louys. Though not necessarily representative of the authors’ complete works, the stories have been carefully chosen to showcase their versatility and skill as storytellers. The collection covers an extraordinary range of themes, styles and settings, allowing the reader to get a glimpse of another world gone by. Yet, these stories seem timeless, and the characters in them show the same foibles, fears and hopes as people in the brave new world of the 21st century.
295 pages, Paperback
Published May 30, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 28, 2020
I'm not really sure how to review a collection of stories...and stories, too, that are as diverse and yet as rich as these. I suppose it all begins in the old library- where all I expected were thick chemistry, physics, or biology journals, but instead was handed over this little omnibus. Seeing the names of some of my much-longed-for authors like Balzac, I at once grabbed the copy and proceeded to nullify the lengthy processes- of issuing, and all that takes place subsequently.
Beginning with Maupassant, I knew there had to be a lot in store- he's always been a kind of Greatest Storyteller- and there were no disappointments.
Mademoiselle Pearl is written in first person, perches upon a family dinner, and brings out a long-dead romance between two persons of the household. The narrator is a mere vehicle, invoking lovelorn tears from his host, M. Chantal, and a similar lovelorn faint from Mme. Pearl, the housemaid. Filled with taut, appealing observations and a highly original way of looking at things, this was the quintessentially marvellous short story. Its ending especially had me in raptures:
And perhaps some evening, moved by a beam of moonlight falling through the branches at their feet, they will join and press their hands in memory of all this cruel and suppressed suffering; and, perhaps, also, this hour will bring to those two dead souls more happiness in an instant than others can find during a whole lifetime!
Onto the next thing, Mme. Fifi. Sounds too absurd? So was the tale. A story of how a bunch of bored Prussian soldiers bring a gang of prostitutes for a night, and abuse them and dominate them; and in the end, the boldest of them murders the rashest of them, nicknamed as M. Fifi. Not really entrancing, as a whole, but quite meaningful and daring; had me glued to it, until the end. The fabled story of Maupassant's, The Necklace, makes an entry here too, but alas- I've already it, and so no surprises there. Useless Beauty focuses on women's rights, and of a man being tormented for his polluted mindset- it kind of reminds me of MeToo.
Hugo's other three stories were rather...more of pieces, accounts, or memories. There is no fitting conclusion to them, no intrigue, but often horror. Like in Monster and Infanticide, there are unbowdlerised murder details, execution efforts, and...what Hugo achieves is a single, gloomy effect, a really horrible experience. Graveyards and prisons cells abound in these other three stories; but not all are as impassioned as the above mentioned. Even that was merely...chilling and maybe...depressing; the rest weren't like that. In all these, the common factor is Hugo being invited as a visitor to these dark corners, and it's his observations that we're made to read.
Finally comes the sensual poet, Pierre Louys. It's only fair for me to declare this:- his stories were all basically new material for me. Exceeded all my expectations. I read them all four in one sitting. And I loved them. A New Sensation takes the form of a sexual encounter between the author and an eighteen hundred year old beauty, who, instead of calmly going forward with her motions, lectures him on what all she'd expected to see in the new world, but which she didn't; because everybody buggered up. By the end, it gets quite humorous. Page-turning, in any case. Critique against society's craze for inventions, but inability to have any? Perhaps. The second tale features more ounces of the vulgar, with a priest narrating his confessional experiences, - relating a totally fake incident of a woman spoilt by lust. The next one, though, was pure genius, again- two women get abducted, are forced to strip naked, get dressed again- why?- because of a dress-maker's desperate attempts to meet his clients' demands. It really threw light on Parisian society back then. Pretty intriguing. But the last tale- something to do with a mountain- did not fascinate me as the others did. Somewhat unengaging, as per the others' standards.
Women's dignity is a topic common in a few of these pieces here, such as in almost all of Maupassant's, two of Balzac's, and...maybe in France's Count Morin Deputy.....but no, not elsewhere. The impassioned statements of the heroine from Useless Beauty keep crawling back to me, not in sentences, but in meaning...and I remember how she manages to bend her husband's puny, misogynistic, tyrannic mindset to a liberal one. And Balzac even remarks at the end of a tale, This teaches us to thoroughly verify and recognize women, and not to deceive ourselves in the local difference... which is kind of like a moral, or a lesson, and it looks funny too, if you ask me.
The sensual photograph on the cover page did make me frown- were the stories detailed?How so? And any censoring? But to the review now!!
Beginning with Maupassant, I knew there had to be a lot in store- he's always been a kind of Greatest Storyteller- and there were no disappointments.
Mademoiselle Pearl is written in first person, perches upon a family dinner, and brings out a long-dead romance between two persons of the household. The narrator is a mere vehicle, invoking lovelorn tears from his host, M. Chantal, and a similar lovelorn faint from Mme. Pearl, the housemaid. Filled with taut, appealing observations and a highly original way of looking at things, this was the quintessentially marvellous short story. Its ending especially had me in raptures:And perhaps some evening, moved by a beam of moonlight falling through the branches at their feet, they will join and press their hands in memory of all this cruel and suppressed suffering; and, perhaps, also, this hour will bring to those two dead souls more happiness in an instant than others can find during a whole lifetime!
Onto the next thing, Mme. Fifi. Sounds too absurd? So was the tale. A story of how a bunch of bored Prussian soldiers bring a gang of prostitutes for a night, and abuse them and dominate them; and in the end, the boldest of them murders the rashest of them, nicknamed as M. Fifi. Not really entrancing, as a whole, but quite meaningful and daring; had me glued to it, until the end. The fabled story of Maupassant's, The Necklace, makes an entry here too, but alas- I've already it, and so no surprises there. Useless Beauty focuses on women's rights, and of a man being tormented for his polluted mindset- it kind of reminds me of MeToo.
Balzac. They say he's the Dickens of France, and no false thing, that. Surely, his style is very reminiscent of the latter, but...only one of the stories here was amusing. The Merry Jests of King Louise the Eleventh is written in a witty, boisterous way- quite the way the king in question was like- no doubt of that. From executing the wrong man purposely, to propping a sad virgin woman's bed with a handsome naked corpse- this tale made me literally delighted for reading it- how can I convey that joy, that...bliss from this purely masterful narrative?...and written in so..lively a manner too! But the joy ends here, I'm afraid. The next two tales were boring tales of murder and lust- not painted with the gilded Balzacian language.
Victor Hugo. Never had many expectations from him, but was nonetheless excited to read him. Turns out, only one of his tales, Claude Gueux, clicked for me. But oh how it struck me! A poor man turns thief, gets hauled to the prisons, but suffers from further alienation, commits murder, and deserves the guillotine for it. 
Clearly written, with straightforward depictions of justice and injustice- and yet it enthralled me, led on to murder, and I could not move away from it! If this is the stuff that Hugo furnished his grand Les Miserables with, I'm all for going and grabbing my favourite copy. Simple but powerful, passionate and moving- this is the stuff of impactful fiction.
Hugo's other three stories were rather...more of pieces, accounts, or memories. There is no fitting conclusion to them, no intrigue, but often horror. Like in Monster and Infanticide, there are unbowdlerised murder details, execution efforts, and...what Hugo achieves is a single, gloomy effect, a really horrible experience. Graveyards and prisons cells abound in these other three stories; but not all are as impassioned as the above mentioned. Even that was merely...chilling and maybe...depressing; the rest weren't like that. In all these, the common factor is Hugo being invited as a visitor to these dark corners, and it's his observations that we're made to read.
(Words exceeded!) Next up:- Anatole France. I confess, plainly, that this was not an author I'd ever heard of; but this was the writer whose style I most loved. Putois is genius, engaging, sly, and perfect- all rolled into one. It's about an imaginary gardener whose existence changes the life of a town. Marguerite, written in a form of diary entries, puts together highly poetic images of love and despair, materialism and life as a bliss to others; that is, the joy of living for others as well. I was especially dipped into that tale. The next story is similarly placed, with similar themes, except that it uses the cliched trope of a fooled narrator- but nonetheless very exciting. I think it was because of his modernistic ability to draw the readers in better than any other contemporary French writer, that won him the Nobel Prize. Which, by the way, I did not know earlier.
Finally comes the sensual poet, Pierre Louys. It's only fair for me to declare this:- his stories were all basically new material for me. Exceeded all my expectations. I read them all four in one sitting. And I loved them. A New Sensation takes the form of a sexual encounter between the author and an eighteen hundred year old beauty, who, instead of calmly going forward with her motions, lectures him on what all she'd expected to see in the new world, but which she didn't; because everybody buggered up. By the end, it gets quite humorous. Page-turning, in any case. Critique against society's craze for inventions, but inability to have any? Perhaps. The second tale features more ounces of the vulgar, with a priest narrating his confessional experiences, - relating a totally fake incident of a woman spoilt by lust. The next one, though, was pure genius, again- two women get abducted, are forced to strip naked, get dressed again- why?- because of a dress-maker's desperate attempts to meet his clients' demands. It really threw light on Parisian society back then. Pretty intriguing. But the last tale- something to do with a mountain- did not fascinate me as the others did. Somewhat unengaging, as per the others' standards.
I'm certain that Anatole France was, for me, the best of these storytellers; no matches for him. The others, like Hugo and Louys and Maupassant too, I'll keep referring to, later on. One thing common for the first three writers' stories was that their first tales were really great, but the subsequent were not upto the mark. Not, at least, as good as the first ones.
Women's dignity is a topic common in a few of these pieces here, such as in almost all of Maupassant's, two of Balzac's, and...maybe in France's Count Morin Deputy.....but no, not elsewhere. The impassioned statements of the heroine from Useless Beauty keep crawling back to me, not in sentences, but in meaning...and I remember how she manages to bend her husband's puny, misogynistic, tyrannic mindset to a liberal one. And Balzac even remarks at the end of a tale, This teaches us to thoroughly verify and recognize women, and not to deceive ourselves in the local difference... which is kind of like a moral, or a lesson, and it looks funny too, if you ask me.
Well! The range of this collection is vast and demonstrative- I cannot deny that- but the book itself- why, full of piracy and blank margins and sometimes even misspells! (Sighs). Yet I won't rant after such a nice experience. It's like taking bitter pills after a warm, cheesy pizza. I'm definitely stimulated to explore these authors in more depth. And, you can be guaranteed, I did not return the book to the library, and it is still with me!
July 29, 2019
Translated works of short stories by 5 of the greatest french writers is a mouth watering delight till you realise it's as good as mock meat when compared to the real thing. Has the feel and texture of the real thing but it ain't the real thing. A couple of stories are relatable but the rest have a very 19th century context to them which was lost on me or the translation. If it wasn't filled with mistresses, I'd have passed this on as a children's book in terms of structure
November 26, 2024
These short stories are surprisingly memorable and quite entertaining. I appreciate that this book gave a nice preview to a variety of French short stories and gave me a starting place to explore more into the works of the authors I've enjoyed so far.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews