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Useless Beauty
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
Unknown Binding
First published June 11, 1890
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About the author
Guy de Maupassant
7,634 books3,089 followersHenri 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
January 15, 2018
A claim. A refusal. A defiance. A woman facing her suffocating husband.
A repudiation to the idea of being a machine. A possession.
Her desires. His jealousy.
Her resistance.
Guy de Maupassant mastered the art of writing short stories; he did it with simple plots, evocative descriptions mixed with elaborated philosophical reflections about the world and unexpected twists that leave you thinking about this author's creativity and ability to retain anyone's interest.
From the strained atmosphere of an unwanted marriage to a couple of friends and their general meditations about human beings and their place in a world. A world created by a god whose real intentions are the main topic of their enthralling conversations. Some might find that odd, but I loved it.
GdM and I had a rough start—I'm sensing an icy pattern here. But the stories I have recently found are echoing in my guilty conscious now. Such a talented writer to whom I haven't paid proper attention. My apologies.
Dec 2, 2015
* Also on my blog.
** My birthday book of 2015.
A repudiation to the idea of being a machine. A possession.
Her desires. His jealousy.
Her resistance.
Guy de Maupassant mastered the art of writing short stories; he did it with simple plots, evocative descriptions mixed with elaborated philosophical reflections about the world and unexpected twists that leave you thinking about this author's creativity and ability to retain anyone's interest.
...for God never foresaw gentleness and peaceable manners; He only foresaw the death of creatures which were bent on destroying and devouring each other...
As to ourselves, the more civilized, intellectual and refined we are, the more we ought to conquer and subdue that animal instinct, which represents the will of God in us. And so, in order to mitigate our lot as brutes, we have discovered and made everything, beginning with houses, then exquisite food, sauces, sweetmeats, pastry, drink, stuffs, clothes, ornaments, beds, mattresses, carriages, railways and innumerable machines, besides arts and sciences, writing and poetry. Every ideal comes from us as do all the amenities of life, in order to make our existence as simple reproducers, for which divine Providence solely intended us, less monotonous and less hard.
From the strained atmosphere of an unwanted marriage to a couple of friends and their general meditations about human beings and their place in a world. A world created by a god whose real intentions are the main topic of their enthralling conversations. Some might find that odd, but I loved it.
GdM and I had a rough start—I'm sensing an icy pattern here. But the stories I have recently found are echoing in my guilty conscious now. Such a talented writer to whom I haven't paid proper attention. My apologies.
Dec 2, 2015
* Also on my blog.
** My birthday book of 2015.
September 6, 2020
Well, man. How to make the beauty of your wife useless, Guy Maupassant through his character the Count of Mascaret has solved the problem in the short story "L'Inutile Beauté" is to make her simply laying eggs. Also the Count of Mascaret, whose jealousy is cut like a needle, in eleven years of marriage, makes his wife lay seven children ...
Well, woman, How to put an end to this status as a layer and give your husband's jealousy a good beating is to let him know that one of the children is not his. This is what the countess has committed to admitting to her husband that one of the children is not a bore, only, she affirms not being able to say which one, nor to give the name of her lover ... allowed the countess to take a breath, to refine her beauty for six years because for her husband, she had become a kind of plague that should not be approached ...
A little piece of news that can be read in one gulp but it does not is really not part of Fort De Maupassant and I found useless the part where it philosophizes between two friends.
Well, woman, How to put an end to this status as a layer and give your husband's jealousy a good beating is to let him know that one of the children is not his. This is what the countess has committed to admitting to her husband that one of the children is not a bore, only, she affirms not being able to say which one, nor to give the name of her lover ... allowed the countess to take a breath, to refine her beauty for six years because for her husband, she had become a kind of plague that should not be approached ...
A little piece of news that can be read in one gulp but it does not is really not part of Fort De Maupassant and I found useless the part where it philosophizes between two friends.
November 29, 2015
I actually read a free online PDF version here.
Like so many Americans, the only Guy de Maupassant work I'd ever read was the short story “The Necklace.” Like others here, I feel that de Maupassant diminished the story by including the awkward philosophical exchange in the middle at the opera house between Roger de Salnis and Bernard Grandin. The arguments are good ones, but they should have been woven into the short story more naturally to make the point that, initially, the comte does not value his wife as a person, but as an object and a means to continuing a dynasty. And, while some might see the comtesse as vain, she is more annoyed at her husband's jealousy and her exclusion from public life.
Like so many Americans, the only Guy de Maupassant work I'd ever read was the short story “The Necklace.” Like others here, I feel that de Maupassant diminished the story by including the awkward philosophical exchange in the middle at the opera house between Roger de Salnis and Bernard Grandin. The arguments are good ones, but they should have been woven into the short story more naturally to make the point that, initially, the comte does not value his wife as a person, but as an object and a means to continuing a dynasty. And, while some might see the comtesse as vain, she is more annoyed at her husband's jealousy and her exclusion from public life.
March 26, 2017
Um homem ciumento e possessivo faz com que sua esposa tenha 7 filhos em 11 anos, só para prende -la e escravizar com afazeres domésticos e cuidados com os filhos. Só que um belo dia ela cansada dessa vida de isolamento diz que um dos filhos não é dele....daí por diante a história muda completamente. ..um dos melhores contos de Guy de Maupassant!
May 6, 2024
I racconti di Maupassant sono sempre dei quadri: vividi, briosi, coinvolgenti. E moderni, non mi stancherò mai di dirlo.
Ne Linutile beauté, che dà il titolo alla raccolta, la marchesa Gabrielle si rifiuta di prestarsi ancora, per la gelosia del marito, ad essere considerata solo strumento di procreazione e a restare in una perenne condizione di gravidanza per non essere appetibile agli occhi degli altri. Gli racconta la bugia di averlo tradito e che uno dei figli non è suo, pur di essere lasciata in pace. Alla fine confesserà di avergli mentito ed il perché: le donne moderne non sono fatte solo per procreare. Concezione di Maupassant moderna e ben più avanti dei suoi tempi.
Le champ d'oliviers
Che bella l'immagine dell'abito del prete svolazzare, Maupassant è un pittore.
La storia incatena il lettore fino all'acme finale. Una vita condannata da una passione per una donna cattiva, ed il ciclo si chiude.
L'infirme
Racconto pieno di tenerezza e dignità su uno dei tanti aspetti dell'amore, nella sua accezione più nobile di capacità di rinuncia generosa.
Ed infine citerò l'ultimo: Qui sait? Un racconto originale e quasi divertente, nella sua tragica rappresentazione di un disturbo mentale raccontato dell'uomo che ne soffre. Incredibilmente vivo e coinvolgente.
Ne Linutile beauté, che dà il titolo alla raccolta, la marchesa Gabrielle si rifiuta di prestarsi ancora, per la gelosia del marito, ad essere considerata solo strumento di procreazione e a restare in una perenne condizione di gravidanza per non essere appetibile agli occhi degli altri. Gli racconta la bugia di averlo tradito e che uno dei figli non è suo, pur di essere lasciata in pace. Alla fine confesserà di avergli mentito ed il perché: le donne moderne non sono fatte solo per procreare. Concezione di Maupassant moderna e ben più avanti dei suoi tempi.
Le champ d'oliviers
Che bella l'immagine dell'abito del prete svolazzare, Maupassant è un pittore.
La storia incatena il lettore fino all'acme finale. Una vita condannata da una passione per una donna cattiva, ed il ciclo si chiude.
L'infirme
Racconto pieno di tenerezza e dignità su uno dei tanti aspetti dell'amore, nella sua accezione più nobile di capacità di rinuncia generosa.
Ed infine citerò l'ultimo: Qui sait? Un racconto originale e quasi divertente, nella sua tragica rappresentazione di un disturbo mentale raccontato dell'uomo che ne soffre. Incredibilmente vivo e coinvolgente.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 31, 2026
Անօգուտ գեղեցկություն կրողը` հերոսուհին, կոմսուհի դը Մասկարեն է, որը իր յուրահատուկ պայքարն ունի։ Պատկերցեք դեռատի աղջկան իր կամքից անկախ ամուսնացնում են և իր կյանքի 11 տարում 7 երեխա է ունենում և ապա հրաժարվում երեխա ունեցող «մեքենա» լինելուց։ Կոմսուհին բավական յուրօրինակ ձևով է ցույց է տալիս, թե ինչպես է ապրում աշխարհիկ կյանքով, ցույց տալիս լիարժեք կյանքով ապրելու իր ցանկությունը
Ցավալի է, որ դեռ շատ տեղերում կանանց վերաբերում են ասես ինկուբատորների և միայն ժառանգ ունենալու նպատակով են ամուսնանում, բայց միթե կանայք իրավունք չունեն ընտրություն կատարելու և ապրելու իրենք իրենց համար
Ցավալի է, որ դեռ շատ տեղերում կանանց վերաբերում են ասես ինկուբատորների և միայն ժառանգ ունենալու նպատակով են ամուսնանում, բայց միթե կանայք իրավունք չունեն ընտրություն կատարելու և ապրելու իրենք իրենց համար
March 12, 2025
2.5 stars. would be higher but the ending sucked!!!! felt really cool to read such old literature in french!!! i am getting better at this language!!! very beautiful prose, and an appreciated mission of giving humanity to women, but ultimately fails to give the main character a life liberated from childbirth and marriage and humanity.
April 3, 2020
2/5 estrellas.
Me han recomendado muchísimo a Guy de Maupassant que quise darle la oportunidad con algo pequeño, pero me parece que la pifié.
Me gustó todo el girl power representado en la época, sin embargo, la historia flaqueó muchísimo en un montón de aspectos.
Primera lectura pero no la última, por supuesto que vamos a darle otra oportunidad con alguna otra historia.
Me han recomendado muchísimo a Guy de Maupassant que quise darle la oportunidad con algo pequeño, pero me parece que la pifié.
Me gustó todo el girl power representado en la época, sin embargo, la historia flaqueó muchísimo en un montón de aspectos.
Primera lectura pero no la última, por supuesto que vamos a darle otra oportunidad con alguna otra historia.
May 5, 2025
AKA: Idle Beauty; Mother of Invention; L’inutile beauté
This is the story of the Countess de Mascaret and her husband, Count de Mascaret. During their eleven-year marriage they have had seven children and the countess has fallen deaf to her husband's pointless flattery of her. She believes that her husband only loves her because he asserts claim over her youth and her life and her ability to have children. But the Countess harbors a dark secret, one of the children is not his. She confesses her indiscretion at the altar of a church and leaves the Count in the church while she returns home.
This is the story of the Countess de Mascaret and her husband, Count de Mascaret. During their eleven-year marriage they have had seven children and the countess has fallen deaf to her husband's pointless flattery of her. She believes that her husband only loves her because he asserts claim over her youth and her life and her ability to have children. But the Countess harbors a dark secret, one of the children is not his. She confesses her indiscretion at the altar of a church and leaves the Count in the church while she returns home.
December 6, 2015
"He also was looking into her eyes, and already he was shaking with passion, and he said in a low voice: “You are mad.” “No, but I will no longer be the victim of the hateful penalty of maternity, which you have inflicted on me for eleven years! I wish to live like a woman of the world, as I have a right to do, as all women have the right to do.” "
December 19, 2021
A simple tale of feminism.
This book made me surprised at how the thoughts of physical rights, having ambitions which by no means are righteous to give up, wanting to be a human of self than a human of social or marital obligations were present and being voiced way back in 1890. Perhaps, it was limited to Guy de Maupassant or more, I am not well-read on the matter but it was surprising and pleasant to know.
However, the thought that these rights that were expected to achieve in 1890 are still being a struggle to attain. We have reached the 21st century yet things are the same for the majority? What the hell?
This book made me surprised at how the thoughts of physical rights, having ambitions which by no means are righteous to give up, wanting to be a human of self than a human of social or marital obligations were present and being voiced way back in 1890. Perhaps, it was limited to Guy de Maupassant or more, I am not well-read on the matter but it was surprising and pleasant to know.
However, the thought that these rights that were expected to achieve in 1890 are still being a struggle to attain. We have reached the 21st century yet things are the same for the majority? What the hell?
August 13, 2022
“Yes, I will confess it, you have made me terribly jealous, because you are a woman of another race, of another soul, with other requirements.“
June 18, 2022
Guy de Maupassant's "Useless Beauty" is one of my favorites, it is a story about a tyrannical husband and his wife, Maupassant has a short discussion about God and his desire for future generations, interesting.
Story in short- The Comtesse de Mascaret finally looking to stop her husband's tyranny.
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
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The Comtesse de Mascaret came down the steps just as her husband, who was coming home, appeared in
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the carriage entrance. He stopped for a few moments to look at his wife and turned rather pale. The countess was very beautiful, graceful and distinguished looking, with her long oval face, her complexion like yellow ivory, her large gray eyes and her black hair; and she got into her carriage without looking at him, without even seeming to have noticed him, with such a particularly high-bred air, that the furious jealousy by which he had been devoured for so long again gnawed at
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his heart. He went up to her and said: “You are going for a drive?” She merely replied disdainfully: “You see I am!”
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Husband and wife sat side by side without speaking. He was thinking how to begin a conversation, but she maintained such an obstinately hard look that he did not venture to make the attempt. At last, however, he cunningly, accidentally as it were, touched the countess’ gloved hand with his own, but she drew her arm away with a movement which was so expressive of disgust that he remained thoughtful, in spite of his usual authoritative and despotic character, and he said: “Gabrielle!”
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“What do you want?” “I think you are looking adorable.” She did not reply, but remained lying back in the carriage, looking like an irritated queen.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert ❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
Gabrielle is beautiful despite her bearing 7 children, she had heard from her sister in law that her husband wanted to keep her pregnant until her beauty is gone, because of his jealousy. She wants to be in society and thinks up a way that will anger him and keep him away from her for 6 years. She tells him that one of their children is not his, this drives him from his home and drives him crazy. She has had 6 years without worrying about babies when finally seeing he has suffered, tells him that she had lied and he finally believes her. They decide to become friends.
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the Comte de Mascaret continued: “My dear Gabrielle!” Unable to control herself any longer, she replied in an exasperated voice: “Oh! do leave me in peace, pray! I am not even allowed to have my carriage to myself now.” He pretended not to hear her and continued: “You never have looked so pretty as you do to-day.”
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Her patience had come to an end, and she replied with irrepressible anger: “You are wrong to notice it, for I swear to you that I will never have anything to do with you in that way again.” The count was decidedly stupefied and upset, and, his violent nature gaining the upper hand, he exclaimed: “What do you mean by that?” in a tone that betrayed rather the brutal master than the lover. She replied in a low voice, so that the servants might not hear amid the deafening noise of the wheels:
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“Ah! What do I mean by that? What do I mean by that? Now I recognize you again! Do you want me to tell everything?” “Yes.” “Everything that has weighed on my heart since I have been the victim of your terrible selfishness?”
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“Ah! You will hear some disagreeable things, but you must know that I am prepared for everything, that I fear nothing, and you less than any one to-day.” He also was looking into her eyes and was already shaking with rage as he said in a low voice: “You are mad.”
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“No, but I will no longer be the victim of the hateful penalty of maternity, which you have inflicted on me for eleven years! I wish to take my place in society as I have the right to do, as all women have the right to do.” He suddenly grew pale again and stammered: “I do not understand you.” “Oh! yes; you understand me well enough. It is now three months since I had my last child, and as I am still very beautiful, and as, in spite of all your efforts you cannot spoil my figure, as you just now perceived, when you saw me on the doorstep, you think it is time that I should think of having another child.” “But you are talking nonsense!” “No, I am not, I am thirty, and I have had seven children, and we have been married eleven years, and you hope that this will go on for ten years longer, after which you will leave off being jealous.” He seized her arm and squeezed it, saying: “I will not allow you to talk to me like that much longer.”
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“And I shall talk to you till the end, until I have finished all I have to say to you, and if you try to prevent me, I shall raise my voice so that the two servants, who are on the box, may hear. I only allowed you to come with me for that object, for I have these witnesses who will oblige you to listen to me and to contain yourself, so now pay attention to what I say. I have always felt an antipathy to you, and I have always let you see it, for I have never lied, monsieur. You married me in spite of myself; you forced my
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parents, who were in embarrassed circumstances, to give me to you, because you were rich, and they obliged me to marry you in spite of my tears. “So you bought me, and as soon as I was in your power, as soon as I had become your companion, ready to attach myself to you, to forget your coercive and threatening proceedings, in order that I might only remember that I ought to be a devoted wife and to love you as much as it might be possible for me to love you, you became jealous, you,
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as no man has ever been before, with the base, ignoble jealousy of a spy, which was as degrading to you as it was to me. I had not been married eight months when you suspected me of every perfidiousness, and you even told me so. What a disgrace! And as you could not prevent me from being beautiful and from pleasing people, from being called in drawing-rooms and also in the newspapers one of the most beautiful women in Paris, you tried everything you could think of to keep admirers from me, and you
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hit upon the abominable idea of making me spend my life in a constant state of motherhood, until the time should come when I should disgust every man. Oh, do not deny it. I did not understand it for some time, but then I guessed it. You even boasted about it to your sister, who told me of it, for she is fond of me and was disgusted at your boorish coarseness. “Ah! Remember how you have behaved in the past! How for eleven years you have compelled me to give up all society and simply be a
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mother to your children. And then you would grow disgusted with me and I was sent into the country, the family chateau, among fields and meadows. And when I reappeared, fresh, pretty and unspoiled, still seductive and constantly surrounded by admirers, hoping that at last I should live a little more like a rich young society woman, you were seized with jealousy again, and you began once more to persecute me with that infamous and hateful desire from which you are suffering at this moment by my side. And it is
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not the desire of possessing me — for I should never have refused myself to you, but it is the wish to make me unsightly. “And then that abominable and mysterious thing occurred which I was a long time in understanding (but I grew sharp by dint of watching your thoughts and actions): You attached yourself to your children with all the security which they gave you while I bore them. You felt affection for them, with all your aversion to me, and in spite of your ignoble fears, which were momentarily allayed by your pleasure in seeing me lose my symmetry. “Oh! how often have I noticed that joy in you! I have seen it in your eyes and guessed it. You loved your children as victories, and not because they were of your own blood. They were victories over me, over my youth, over my beauty, over my charms, over the compliments which were paid me and over those that were whispered around me without being paid to me personally. And you are proud of them, you make a parade of them, you take
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them out for drives in your break in the Bois de Boulogne and you give them donkey rides at Montmorency. You take them to theatrical matinees so that you may be seen in the midst of them, so that the people may say: ‘What a kind father’ and that it may be repeated — — “ He had seized her wrist with savage brutality, and he squeezed it so violently that she was quiet and nearly cried out with the pain and he said to her in a whisper: “I love my children, do you hear? What you have just told me is disgraceful in a mother. But you belong to me; I am master — your master — I can exact from you what I like and when I like — and I have the law-on my side.” He was trying to crush her fingers in the strong grip of his large, muscular hand, and she, livid with pain, tried in vain to free them from that vise which was crushing them. The agony made her breathe hard and the tears came into her eyes. “You see that I am the master and the stronger,” he said. When he somewhat loosened his grip, she asked
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him: “Do you think that I am a religious woman?” He was surprised and stammered “Yes.” “Do you think that I could lie if I swore to the truth of anything to you before an altar on which Christ’s body is?” “No.” “Will you go with me to some church?” “What for?” “You shall see. Will you?” “If you absolutely wish it, yes.”
Story in short- The Comtesse de Mascaret finally looking to stop her husband's tyranny.
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
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The Comtesse de Mascaret came down the steps just as her husband, who was coming home, appeared in
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the carriage entrance. He stopped for a few moments to look at his wife and turned rather pale. The countess was very beautiful, graceful and distinguished looking, with her long oval face, her complexion like yellow ivory, her large gray eyes and her black hair; and she got into her carriage without looking at him, without even seeming to have noticed him, with such a particularly high-bred air, that the furious jealousy by which he had been devoured for so long again gnawed at
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his heart. He went up to her and said: “You are going for a drive?” She merely replied disdainfully: “You see I am!”
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Husband and wife sat side by side without speaking. He was thinking how to begin a conversation, but she maintained such an obstinately hard look that he did not venture to make the attempt. At last, however, he cunningly, accidentally as it were, touched the countess’ gloved hand with his own, but she drew her arm away with a movement which was so expressive of disgust that he remained thoughtful, in spite of his usual authoritative and despotic character, and he said: “Gabrielle!”
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“What do you want?” “I think you are looking adorable.” She did not reply, but remained lying back in the carriage, looking like an irritated queen.
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert ❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
Gabrielle is beautiful despite her bearing 7 children, she had heard from her sister in law that her husband wanted to keep her pregnant until her beauty is gone, because of his jealousy. She wants to be in society and thinks up a way that will anger him and keep him away from her for 6 years. She tells him that one of their children is not his, this drives him from his home and drives him crazy. She has had 6 years without worrying about babies when finally seeing he has suffered, tells him that she had lied and he finally believes her. They decide to become friends.
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the Comte de Mascaret continued: “My dear Gabrielle!” Unable to control herself any longer, she replied in an exasperated voice: “Oh! do leave me in peace, pray! I am not even allowed to have my carriage to myself now.” He pretended not to hear her and continued: “You never have looked so pretty as you do to-day.”
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Her patience had come to an end, and she replied with irrepressible anger: “You are wrong to notice it, for I swear to you that I will never have anything to do with you in that way again.” The count was decidedly stupefied and upset, and, his violent nature gaining the upper hand, he exclaimed: “What do you mean by that?” in a tone that betrayed rather the brutal master than the lover. She replied in a low voice, so that the servants might not hear amid the deafening noise of the wheels:
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“Ah! What do I mean by that? What do I mean by that? Now I recognize you again! Do you want me to tell everything?” “Yes.” “Everything that has weighed on my heart since I have been the victim of your terrible selfishness?”
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“Ah! You will hear some disagreeable things, but you must know that I am prepared for everything, that I fear nothing, and you less than any one to-day.” He also was looking into her eyes and was already shaking with rage as he said in a low voice: “You are mad.”
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“No, but I will no longer be the victim of the hateful penalty of maternity, which you have inflicted on me for eleven years! I wish to take my place in society as I have the right to do, as all women have the right to do.” He suddenly grew pale again and stammered: “I do not understand you.” “Oh! yes; you understand me well enough. It is now three months since I had my last child, and as I am still very beautiful, and as, in spite of all your efforts you cannot spoil my figure, as you just now perceived, when you saw me on the doorstep, you think it is time that I should think of having another child.” “But you are talking nonsense!” “No, I am not, I am thirty, and I have had seven children, and we have been married eleven years, and you hope that this will go on for ten years longer, after which you will leave off being jealous.” He seized her arm and squeezed it, saying: “I will not allow you to talk to me like that much longer.”
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“And I shall talk to you till the end, until I have finished all I have to say to you, and if you try to prevent me, I shall raise my voice so that the two servants, who are on the box, may hear. I only allowed you to come with me for that object, for I have these witnesses who will oblige you to listen to me and to contain yourself, so now pay attention to what I say. I have always felt an antipathy to you, and I have always let you see it, for I have never lied, monsieur. You married me in spite of myself; you forced my
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parents, who were in embarrassed circumstances, to give me to you, because you were rich, and they obliged me to marry you in spite of my tears. “So you bought me, and as soon as I was in your power, as soon as I had become your companion, ready to attach myself to you, to forget your coercive and threatening proceedings, in order that I might only remember that I ought to be a devoted wife and to love you as much as it might be possible for me to love you, you became jealous, you,
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as no man has ever been before, with the base, ignoble jealousy of a spy, which was as degrading to you as it was to me. I had not been married eight months when you suspected me of every perfidiousness, and you even told me so. What a disgrace! And as you could not prevent me from being beautiful and from pleasing people, from being called in drawing-rooms and also in the newspapers one of the most beautiful women in Paris, you tried everything you could think of to keep admirers from me, and you
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hit upon the abominable idea of making me spend my life in a constant state of motherhood, until the time should come when I should disgust every man. Oh, do not deny it. I did not understand it for some time, but then I guessed it. You even boasted about it to your sister, who told me of it, for she is fond of me and was disgusted at your boorish coarseness. “Ah! Remember how you have behaved in the past! How for eleven years you have compelled me to give up all society and simply be a
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mother to your children. And then you would grow disgusted with me and I was sent into the country, the family chateau, among fields and meadows. And when I reappeared, fresh, pretty and unspoiled, still seductive and constantly surrounded by admirers, hoping that at last I should live a little more like a rich young society woman, you were seized with jealousy again, and you began once more to persecute me with that infamous and hateful desire from which you are suffering at this moment by my side. And it is
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not the desire of possessing me — for I should never have refused myself to you, but it is the wish to make me unsightly. “And then that abominable and mysterious thing occurred which I was a long time in understanding (but I grew sharp by dint of watching your thoughts and actions): You attached yourself to your children with all the security which they gave you while I bore them. You felt affection for them, with all your aversion to me, and in spite of your ignoble fears, which were momentarily allayed by your pleasure in seeing me lose my symmetry. “Oh! how often have I noticed that joy in you! I have seen it in your eyes and guessed it. You loved your children as victories, and not because they were of your own blood. They were victories over me, over my youth, over my beauty, over my charms, over the compliments which were paid me and over those that were whispered around me without being paid to me personally. And you are proud of them, you make a parade of them, you take
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them out for drives in your break in the Bois de Boulogne and you give them donkey rides at Montmorency. You take them to theatrical matinees so that you may be seen in the midst of them, so that the people may say: ‘What a kind father’ and that it may be repeated — — “ He had seized her wrist with savage brutality, and he squeezed it so violently that she was quiet and nearly cried out with the pain and he said to her in a whisper: “I love my children, do you hear? What you have just told me is disgraceful in a mother. But you belong to me; I am master — your master — I can exact from you what I like and when I like — and I have the law-on my side.” He was trying to crush her fingers in the strong grip of his large, muscular hand, and she, livid with pain, tried in vain to free them from that vise which was crushing them. The agony made her breathe hard and the tears came into her eyes. “You see that I am the master and the stronger,” he said. When he somewhat loosened his grip, she asked
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him: “Do you think that I am a religious woman?” He was surprised and stammered “Yes.” “Do you think that I could lie if I swore to the truth of anything to you before an altar on which Christ’s body is?” “No.” “Will you go with me to some church?” “What for?” “You shall see. Will you?” “If you absolutely wish it, yes.”
January 17, 2015
Este libro, en español y en la edición de Artemisa Ediciones, me lo habían regalado hace mucho rato y no lo había leído. El relato también aparece en la maravillosa edición de Los cuentos completos de la editorial Páginas de Espuma http://www.lamadrigueradelconejo.com/.... Es un pequeño relato de Maupassant en el que, con la anécdota de un matrimonio bendecido por la belleza y afectado por los celos, el autor logra plantear una estética muy personal, herética y humanista. Aunque corto, muy interesante y con pasajes dichosos como este "¿Sabéis como concibo yo a Dios? Como un monstruo órgano creador, desconocido por nosotros, que siembra por el espacio millares de mundos, como un único pez pondría huevos en el mar."
June 10, 2018
Seven children in eleven years and just thirty years old and exquisitely beautiful. It’s her husband’s way of protecting his chattel, keeping her for himself only, and thereby, away from other predatory males. But she is clever and tells him one big lie that sets her free. It takes her husband 6 years, but he does eventually conclude that she is more — much more than some beautiful figurine to keep locked up in a deep dark cellar of pregnancy.
December 24, 2017
Loved the way the story moved & how it eventually ended. Short as it may be, the story is a biting satire of the lives of the French aristocracy which saw women as only baby-producing machines. Time may have passed but some things may not have changed in certain places even today!
March 15, 2013
This is a very sad tale. I think the title is very descriptive. She was a useless beauty, only interested in herself.
April 24, 2014
könnte man als eine proto-feministische geschichte lesen.
February 1, 2020
la nature est notre ennemie, qu'il faut toujours lutter contre la nature, car elle nous ramène sans cesse à l'animal.
Ce qu'il y a de propre, de joli, d'élégant, d'idéal sur la terre, ce n'est pas Dieu qui l'y a mis, c'est l'homme, c'est le cerveau humain.
Dieu n'a créé que des êtres grossiers, pleins de germes des maladies, qui, après quelques années d'épanouissement bestial, vieillissent dans les infirmités, avec toutes les laideurs et toutes les impuissances de la décrépitude humaine. Il ne les a faits, semble-t-il, que pour se reproduire salement et pour mourir ensuite, ainsi que les insectes éphémères des soirs d'été.
Regarde ce théâtre. N'y a-t-il pas là-dedans un monde humain créé par nous, imprévu par les Destins éternels, ignoré d'Eux, compréhensible seulement par nos esprits, une distraction coquette, sensuelle, intelligente, inventée uniquement pour et par la petite bête mécontente et agitée que nous sommes.
la perfidie de cette cruelle farce de la nature qui ne permet jamais à un homme de savoir d'une façon certaine s'il est le père de son enfant.
Nous sommes deux races sur la terre. Ceux qui ont besoin des autres, que les autres distraient, occupent, reposent, et que la solitude harasse, épuise, anéantit, comme l'ascension d'un terrible glacier ou la traversée du désert, et ceux que les autres, au contraire, lassent, ennuient, gênent, courbaturent, tandis que l'isolement les calme, les baigne de repos dans l'indépendance et la fantaisie de leur pensée.
Les uns sont doués pour vivre en dehors, les autres pour vivre en dedans.
Ce qu'il y a de propre, de joli, d'élégant, d'idéal sur la terre, ce n'est pas Dieu qui l'y a mis, c'est l'homme, c'est le cerveau humain.
Dieu n'a créé que des êtres grossiers, pleins de germes des maladies, qui, après quelques années d'épanouissement bestial, vieillissent dans les infirmités, avec toutes les laideurs et toutes les impuissances de la décrépitude humaine. Il ne les a faits, semble-t-il, que pour se reproduire salement et pour mourir ensuite, ainsi que les insectes éphémères des soirs d'été.
Regarde ce théâtre. N'y a-t-il pas là-dedans un monde humain créé par nous, imprévu par les Destins éternels, ignoré d'Eux, compréhensible seulement par nos esprits, une distraction coquette, sensuelle, intelligente, inventée uniquement pour et par la petite bête mécontente et agitée que nous sommes.
la perfidie de cette cruelle farce de la nature qui ne permet jamais à un homme de savoir d'une façon certaine s'il est le père de son enfant.
Nous sommes deux races sur la terre. Ceux qui ont besoin des autres, que les autres distraient, occupent, reposent, et que la solitude harasse, épuise, anéantit, comme l'ascension d'un terrible glacier ou la traversée du désert, et ceux que les autres, au contraire, lassent, ennuient, gênent, courbaturent, tandis que l'isolement les calme, les baigne de repos dans l'indépendance et la fantaisie de leur pensée.
Les uns sont doués pour vivre en dehors, les autres pour vivre en dedans.
June 29, 2025
"God created only course beings, full of the germs of disease, who, after a few years of bestial enjoyment, grow old and infirm, with all the ugliness and all the want of power of human decreptitude."
"It is man who has introduced a little grace, beauty, unknown charm and mystery into creation by singing about it, interpreting it, by admiring it as a poet, idealizing it as an artist and by explaining it through science, doubtless making mistakes, but finding ingenious reasons, hidden grace and beauty, unknown charm and mystery in the various phenomena of Nature."
The story is about a woman trying to take a stand for herself in a very passive aggressive way. And then at one point we're reading along the lines of how nature itself is very conducive only to animal life. However, we as humans constantly strive to engage in arts and philosophy and science and literature which in turn elevates our human experience, and keeps us from reducing ourselves to mere beasts. And then we resume reading about the woman and her husband. Quite nice.
"It is man who has introduced a little grace, beauty, unknown charm and mystery into creation by singing about it, interpreting it, by admiring it as a poet, idealizing it as an artist and by explaining it through science, doubtless making mistakes, but finding ingenious reasons, hidden grace and beauty, unknown charm and mystery in the various phenomena of Nature."
The story is about a woman trying to take a stand for herself in a very passive aggressive way. And then at one point we're reading along the lines of how nature itself is very conducive only to animal life. However, we as humans constantly strive to engage in arts and philosophy and science and literature which in turn elevates our human experience, and keeps us from reducing ourselves to mere beasts. And then we resume reading about the woman and her husband. Quite nice.
August 11, 2023
Ne jamais j'ai été déçu par cet auteur impeccable ! Peut-être que la nouvelle je ne considère pas singulière, pourtant, amusante. Il y a des points que je pourrais marquer comme féministe, néanmoins, cet homme-là est Guy de Maupassant. je ne le crois pas avoir été pour le droit de la femme.
N'importe, l'idéologie des hommes/femmes de lettres ne m'a jamais intéressé lorsque je lis leurs ouvrages. Et cette nouvelle a exprimé des idées qui sont, comme je les ai trouvées, malheureusement, encore présentes dans notre culture (chez moi/nous). Et la manière dont l'auteur les narrées et construites sont splendides, à mon avis.
J'ai aimé bien la monologue d'un des personnages dans le troisième chapitre concernant sa haine pour Dieu, la nature, l'homme de la foule et les traditions que beaucoup les estiment.
Chapeau à cette pétite texte.
N'importe, l'idéologie des hommes/femmes de lettres ne m'a jamais intéressé lorsque je lis leurs ouvrages. Et cette nouvelle a exprimé des idées qui sont, comme je les ai trouvées, malheureusement, encore présentes dans notre culture (chez moi/nous). Et la manière dont l'auteur les narrées et construites sont splendides, à mon avis.
J'ai aimé bien la monologue d'un des personnages dans le troisième chapitre concernant sa haine pour Dieu, la nature, l'homme de la foule et les traditions que beaucoup les estiment.
Chapeau à cette pétite texte.
June 15, 2020
Es un relato breve, en el cual los celos y la desconfianza en la pareja parece mostrarse como tema principal incluso por encima de la dominación. No soy de la lectura pro-feminista, pero este relato trata en detalle como la belleza puede cegarnos al punto de caer en el egoísmo (la condesa) o en tomarla como algo que no va a esfumarse sin importar nuestro desinterés (el conde).
La mentira de la Condesa, quizás, fue su mejor hazaña ya que permitió a ambos redescubrir su matrimonio.
La mentira de la Condesa, quizás, fue su mejor hazaña ya que permitió a ambos redescubrir su matrimonio.
January 31, 2024
Diese letzte Kurzgeschichte meiner Sammlung von "Liebesnovellen" von Guy de Maupassant (herausgegeben von Marcel Reich-Ranicki) kann begründeterweise als feministisch bezeichnet werden. Die Ehefrau lehnt sich darin gegen ihren gebieterischen Ehemann auf. Leider kommt es in Akt 3 zu einem langen philosophischen Einwurf, der verquirrlt wirkt und keinen Mehrwert bietet. Daher wirkt die 'Kurzgeschichte' unnötig langgezogen und dummerweise auch langweilig.
April 25, 2020
I read this pocket book way back as part of a Reader's Digest collection. Something about this story stays with me. It's the cackle at the end of the story, and the way humans are taken for granted in a relationship. It has to be the author's insight into how we make each other understand things that matter, and above all our value for emotions unspoken.
February 2, 2026
El título de este libro, más allá de refinar el título de uno de los cuentos, es un poco limitado. Si bien pareciera que el compilador deseaba tomar una selección de cuentos sobre la belleza, vista como algo más sublime, encuentro un valor más interesante en otras aproximaciones como los códigos estéticos asociados al cambio del Siglo XIX al XX.
March 21, 2022
قصة قصيرة عن كونتيسا،وهي سيدة جميلة لها 7 أطفال ،تتحدى المألوف في مايعتقده الناس عن دور الأم والزوجة
قصة عن الشك الذي يشوب العلاقات الإنسانية ،عن مفاهيم الأمومة والأبوة ،وعن اتخاذ المرأة زمام قراراتها
قصة عن الشك الذي يشوب العلاقات الإنسانية ،عن مفاهيم الأمومة والأبوة ،وعن اتخاذ المرأة زمام قراراتها
September 23, 2025
إذا كنت تريد أن تستمتع بقراءة قصص جي دو موباسان فتجنب قراءة هذا الكتاب بهذه الترجمة الشنيعة. جاهدتُ كي أستطيع الانتهاء من قراءة القصة الأولى فيه (الجمال الزائف). ورغم يقيني من سوء الترجمة، لكن هذا لم يمنع نفورًا احتشد في قلبي تجاه موباسان بسبب هذه القصة. لعل قصة (الغريق) هي أفضل ما ضمه هذا الكتاب الكارثي.
September 14, 2018
En un cuento muy breve se desarrollan personajes muy profundos y vínculos muy complejos.
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