Status Updates From Complete Works of Guy de Ma...

p.35/6868. Une vie. I.

Beast in the Jungle

I told myself: 'I am surrounded by unknown things.' I imagined man without ears, suspecting the existence of sound as we suspect so many hidden mysteries, man noting acoustic phenomena whose nature and provenance he cannot determine. And I grew afraid of everything around me – afraid of the air, afraid of the night. From the moment we can know almost nothing, and from the moment that everything is limitless.

"And nothing could be heard in the great silence. The town was calm, and buried under the wintry frost, as this fall of snow, unnamable and floating, a sensation rather than a sound (trembling atoms which only seem to fill all the space), came to cover the earth.

Maupassant is SO REFRESHING. Better even than Chekhov, since he's able to treat women as people (more than C is able) and none of his stories (so far) have a crafted quality to them (unlike C's). Also this is super subjective and they're both super-great no matter what so :D

This is a Delph classic that I'm reading on my kindle. So far an excellent read.

These are horrible stories!

Interesting essay by Tolstoy. Starting Une vie.