Guy de Maupassant – Page 9

The WEIRD TALES of Guy de Maupassant

SFFaudio Commentary

The Weird Tales of Guy de Maupassant After listening to the excellent Who Knows? by Guy de Maupassant, found in H.P. Lovecraft’s Book Of The Supernatural, I’ve been looking for a definitive source for all of de Maupassant’s weird tales. I haven’t found one. I read somewhere that about 10% of his stories were tilted towards the weird, supernatural, or horror, but I haven’t seen the breakdown anywhere. The man, it says on Wikipedia, “authored some 300 short stories.” They were, of course, written in French, so there’s also the small matter of matching of various English translations of French titles – so it isn’t all completely straightforward. In the process of looking for it though I’ve learned much that I’ve found interesting.

For instance, did you know that Guy de Maupassant was the nephew of the novelist Gustave Flaubert?

Or, that he knew Henry James?

Or, that while still a youth he was shown a mummified hand by Algernon Swinburne?

I like all those facts!

So, I’m starting a list or a series of lists to track and match the various SFF related Guy de Maupassant stories I find.

Weird or weirdish:
Who Knows? – the narrator experiences strange things with the furniture of his house.
The Diary Of A Madman (aka A Madman) – a murderous judge – it’s SPOOKY, SCARY, but has no supernatural elements.
The Hand (aka The Flayed Hand) – posted about HERE.
The Inn – said to be similar to Stephen King’s The Shining, a BBC audio drama adaptation exists.
A Night in Paris (aka A Queer Night in Paris?)- ‘a paranoid nightmare: the narrator feels compelled to walk the streets’
The Horla (1887) – a diary of a man haunted by an invisible being – podcast HERE, posted about HERE.

Said to be weird:
The Englishman
The Apparition
The Specter
The Ghost
The Story Of A Law Suit
Was It A Dream?
Was He Mad?
The Heritage
The Olive Grove
A Traveller’s Tale
The Grave
Moonlight
The Moribund
The Horrible
The Man With Blue Eyes
Little Louise Roque
Mad
Beside a Dead Man
The Golden Braid
He?
A Dead Woman’s Secret
A Night In Whitechapel
A Widow
After Death
Belhomme’s Beast
Christmas Eve
Countess Satan
Graveyard Sirens
Room No. Eleven
The Blind Man
Coco
The Mannerism
The Dead Girl

From “Contes fantastiques complets“:
La Main d’écorché
Le Docteur Héraclius Gloss
Sur l’eau
Magnétisme
Rêves
La Peur
Le Loup
Menuet
La Légende du mont Saint-Michel
Conte de Noël
La Mère aux monstres
Auprès d’un mort
Apparition
Lui?
La Main (La main)
La Chevelure
Le Tic
La Peur
Un fou?
A vendre
L’Inconnue
Lettre d’un fou
Sur les chats
Un cas de divorce
L’Auberge
Le Horla
Madame Hermet
La Morte
La Nuit
Un portrait
L’Endormeuse
L’Homme de Mars
Qui sait?

The Morbid, Mysterious and Macabre in the Tales of Guy de Maupassant: |PDF|

The Flayed Hand (1875; a.k.a. The Hand; The Englishman)
On the River (1881)
Graveyard Sirens (1881; a.k.a. Tombstones; Grave-Walkers)
Am I Insane? (1882)
Magnetism (1882)
The Blind Man (1882)
Fear (1883; a.k.a. The Traveler’s Story)
At Sea (1883)
Beside a Dead Man (1883; a.k.a. Beside Schopenhauer’s Corpse; The Smile of Shopenhauer)
The Mad Woman (1883)
The Spectre (1883; a.k.a. The Apparition; A Ghost; The Story of the Law-Suit)
The White Wolf (1883; a.k.a. The Wolf)
A Miracle (1883)
Revenge (1883; a.k.a. Moiron)
The Orphan (1883)
The Terror (1884; a.k.a. He?)
Denis (1884)
From the Tomb (1884; a.k.a. The Spasm)
Suicides (1884)
The Grave (1884)
Letter Found On A Corpse (1884; a.k.a. Found On A Drowned Man; The Drowned Man)
The Golden Braid (1885; a.k.a. A Tress of Hair; The Head of Hair; One Phase of Love)
Coco (1885)
A Mother of Monsters (1885; a.k.a. A Strange Traffic)
After Death (1885; a.k.a. A Father’s Confession)
Room No. Eleven (1885)
A Vendetta (1885; a.k.a. Semillante)
Little Louise Roque (1886; a.k.a. The Case of Louise Roque)
The Diary of a Madman (1886; a.k.a. The Madman)
The Horla (1886)
On Cats (1886)
Solitude (1886)
The Inn (1887; a.k.a. The Hostelry)
The Devil (1887)
Was it a Dream? (1889)
The Magic Couch (1889)
The Drowned Man (1890; a.k.a. The Parrot)
Who Knows? (1890)

Not weird, but still good:
The Necklace (aka The Diamond Necklace, aka La Parure) – a beautiful woman has a great fall – posted about HERE, and HERE, and there’s a play |PDF| and here’s a |PDF| of the story too.
The Piece Of String (aka A Piece Of Yarn) – Normandy farmers are all alike, and that’s the problem for one of them. |PDF|

More resources:
The Entire Original Maupassant Short Stories by Guy de Maupassant (translated by Albert M.C. Mcmaster, A.E. Hnderson, Mme. Quesada and others) |ETEXT|

Posted by Jesse Willis

CBSRMT: The Guy de Maupassant Murders by Sam Dann [RADIO DRAMA]

Aural Noir: Online Audio

CBS Radio Mystery Theater ran an astounding 1,399 original episodes. Unlike early radio drama series, in which popular episodes were re-staged, sometimes with the exact same script, not one of the nearly 1,400 episodes of CBSRMT episodes was re-done.

And yet, they came pretty damn close once. Episode #0715, which first aired in 1977, is called The Guy de Maupassant Murders. It takes direct inspiration in plot and structure from a short story by Guy de Maupassant called The Diary Of A Madman.

And yet The Diary Of A Madman was itself adapted as episode three years earlier!

Having heard them both I prefer The Guy de Maupassant Murders. I think that’s because I heard it first. But the performance is more interesting too, perhaps because it stars Fred Gwynne, best known for his role as Herman Munster.

When I first heard Gwynne’s performance I thought he was off – that he had just been unprofessional that day – it sounded as if he was just reading the script for the first time while they were recording – but upon a second listening I noticed that the way he delivers the lines completely fits the character and his psychology.

Judge for yourself.

CBS Radio Mystery Theater CBSRMT #0715 – The Guy de Maupassant Murders
By Sam Dann; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 45 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS
Broadcast: September 26, 1977
Provider: CBSRMT.com
The polymathic houskeeper for an aging bachelor judge follows the reports of a serial killer’s flagitious crimes with interest. The only clue is a note left on on each of the victims. It always reads “THOU SHALT KILL.”

Here’s a |PDF| of the story that inspired it.

Cast:
Fred Gwynne … Judge
Marian Seldes … Martha Mullins
Martha Greenhouse
Nat Polen

Episode #0062 from 1974 is available HERE and there’s handy YouTube version too:

Posted by Jesse Willis

Recent Arrivals: AudioGo: H.P. Lovecraft’s Book Of The Supernatural edited by Stephen Jones

SFFaudio Recent Arrivals

Recently arrived, and currently being soaked in through my skin and ears, is this giant collection of weird fiction. Assembled from a list of stories found in H.P. Lovecraft’s essay Supernatural Horror In Literature, it is a collection of well known and obscure classics by authors that H.P. Lovecraft loved.

Looking at the table of contents I noted that I’d already read several of the stories in this collection – including The Turn Of The Screw (we did a podcast about that one), the engimatic Christmas horror Markheim, the scientific ghost tale What Was It?, the unutterably creepy and horrific The Voice In The Night very recently, and many years ago, perhaps in high school, The Yellow Wallpaper. But even though I’ve read some of these stories already I’m still very excited. Each of the stories seems to be preceded by some relevant words by Lovecraft himself – and at the very least I will be listening to the mini-introductions to those stories I am well familiar with.

Until then I will content myself in listening to the unknown ones. For example, the frightful first person narrative of Who Knows? by Guy de Maupassant is thrilling and wondering me in the exact same way The Horla almost exactly one year ago. It’s wonderful!

H.P. Lovecraft’s Book Of The Supernatural
Edited by Stephen Jones; Read by Bronson Pinchot, Stephen Crossley, Davina Porter, Madeleine Lambert, Mark Peckham
MP3 DOWNLOAD – Approx. 16 Hours 44 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: AudioGo
Published: August 1, 2012
Written by arguably the most important horror writer of the twentieth century, H.P. Lovecraft’s 1927 essay Supernatural Horror in Literature traces the evolution of the genre from the early Gothic novels to the work of contemporary American and British authors. Throughout, Lovecraft acknowledges those authors and stories that he feels are the very finest the horror field has to offer: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, Guy de Maupassant, Ambrose Bierce, and Arthur Conan Doyle, each prefaced by Lovecraft’s own opinions and insights in their work. This chilling collection also contains Henry James’ wonderfully atmospheric short novel…The Turn of the Screw. For every fan of modern horror, here is an opportunity to rediscover the origins of the genre with some of most terrifying stories ever imagined.

Here’s the table of contents:
Introduction by editor Stephen Jones – Approx. 7 Minutes
Notes on Writing Weird Fiction By H.P. Lovecraft – Approx. 11 Minutes
The Tale of the German Student by Washington Irving – Approx. 14 Minutes
Markheim by Robert Louis Stevenson – Approx. 49 Minutes
Who Knows? by Guy de Maupassant – Approx. 34 Minutes
The Invisible Eye by Erckmann-Chatrian – Approx. 41 Minutes
The Torture by Hope by Villiers de l’Isle Adam – Approx. 15 Minutes
Ms. Found in a Bottle by Edgar Allan Poe – Approx. 29 Minutes
What Was It? by Fitz-James O’Brien – Approx. 34 Minutes
The Middle Toe of the Right Foot by Ambrose Bierce – Approx. 24 Minutes
The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James – Approx. 4 Hours 52 Minutes
The Dead Smile by F. Marion Crawford – Approx. 57 Minutes
The Wind In The Rose-Bush by Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman – Approx. 38 Minutes
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman – Approx. 36 Minutes
The Recrudescence of Imray by Rudyard Kipling – Approx. 30 Minutes
The Hands Of Karma (Ingwa-banashi) by Lafcadio Hearn – Approx. 11 Minutes
The Burial Of The Rats by Bram Stoker – Approx. 1 Hour 7 Minutes
The Red Lodge by H.R. Wakefield – Approx. 35 Minutes
The Captain Of The Pole-Star by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – Approx. 1 Hour 6 Minutes
The Villa Desiree by May Sinclair – Approx. 28 Minutes
The Voice In The Night by William Hope Hodgson – Approx. 36 Minutes
Novel of the White Powder by Arthur Machen – Approx. 48 Minutes

Posted by Jesse Willis

New Releases: AudioGo: H.P. Lovecraft’s Book Of The Supernatural

New Releases

H.P. Lovecraft’s Book Of The Supernatural
Edited by Stephen Jones; Read by Bronson Pinchot, Stephen Crossley, Davina Porter, Madeleine Lambert, Mark Peckham
MP3 DOWNLOAD – [UNABRIDGED]
Publisher: AudioGo
Published: August 1, 2012
Written by arguably the most important horror writer of the twentieth century, H. P. Lovecraft’s 1927 essay Supernatural Horror in Literature traces the evolution of the genre from the early Gothic novels to the work of contemporary American and British authors. Throughout, Lovecraft acknowledges those authors and stories that he feels are the very finest the horror field has to offer: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, Guy de Maupassant, Ambrose Bierce, and Arthur Conan Doyle, each prefaced by Lovecraft’s own opinions and insights in their work. This chilling collection also contains Henry James’ wonderfully atmospheric short novel…The Turn of the Screw. For every fan of modern horror, here is an opportunity to rediscover the origins of the genre with some of most terrifying stories ever imagined.

The audio sample says it includes “20 classics of the macabre.” ~~I’ll try to get a list.~~

Here’s the TOC:

an introduction by editor Stephen Jones
Notes on Writing Weird Fiction By H.P. Lovecraft
The Tale of the German Student by Washington Irving
Markheim by Robert Louis Stevenson
Who Knows? by Guy de Maupassant
The Invisible Eye by Erckmann-Chatrian
The Torture by Hope by Villiers de l’Isle Adam
Ms. Found in a Bottle by Edgar Allan Poe
What Was It? by Fitz-James O’Brien
The Middle Toe of the Right Foot by Ambrose Bierce
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The Dead Smile by F. Marion Crawford
The Wind in the Rose-Bush by Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Recrudescence of Imray by Rudyard Kipling
The Hands of Karma (Ingwa-banashi) by Lafcadio Hearn
The Burial of the Rats by Bram Stoker
The Red Lodge by H.R. Wakefield
The Captain of the Pole-Star by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Villa Desiree by May Sinclair
The Voice in the Night by William Hope Hodgson
Novel of the White Powder by Arthur Machen

[Thanks Amy!]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Commentary: The art of book (and audiobook) arrangement

SFFaudio Commentary

I’ve never understood the appeal of the art of flower arrangement – flowers are pretty, and I guess they’re full of symbolism – but other than that I don’t really get the appeal.

On the other hand, I find that whenever I visit someone’s home I’m immediately off and looking at their bookshelves. To me that’s where the real art of arrangement happens.

I happened to do a little of that myself today.

It started yesterday – when I spotted this perfectly good bookshelf being given away! FREE!

Free Bookshelf!

I snapped it right up, dusted it right off, and found a place for it in my apartment.

My New Bookshelf!

Then I policed up various books, and audiobooks, from various other overflowing shelves and arranged them in a handy and functional order.

Arrangement

They’re all basically grouped by author. Some of the books I’ve had for decades, others are quite new.

Here are a few details:

Blackstone Audio - Robert A. Heinlein Audiobooks

Blackstone Audio - Philip K. Dick Audiobooks

Robert E. Howard books and audiobooks

Top shelf - Robert Silverberg, Guy de Maupassant, Robert A. Heinlein, Mark Twain, Full Cast Audio, Edgar Allan Poe

Posted by Jesse Willis

The SFFaudio Podcast #155 – READALONG: Five Nebula Nominated Short Stories

Podcast

The SFFaudio Podcast #155 – Jenny, Tamahome, and Jesse talk about the five Nebula 2011 nominated short stories for which there are audio versions.

Talked about on today’s show:

the Clarkesworld one was too quiet (by the way, we use Levelator), April Fools jokes fall out of date, The Cartographer Wasps And The Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu, Jenny’s favorite, it’s science and it’s fiction but is it science fiction?, George Orwell’s Animal Farm, “nerdy mapmakers”, Ottoman Empire, Jenny is into language, ‘thrumming’, revolution, The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu, Tam was moved to tweet it, Jhumpa Lahiri and first generation Americans, do we need the fantastic part?, Mike Resnic-y, workshop stories, “he’s such a tool”, movie version?, Asian magic realism, the owl on Home Depot, Murakami, Jesse likes Leggos, childhood, Jesse please explain Mama, We Are Zhenya by Tom Crosshill, Tam sounds just like narrator Stefan Rudnicki, quantum mechanics, author’s blog post about the story, intellectual heft, it’s a five year old, Flowers For Algernon, head-eating clouds, Lost, YA novel about singularity, superpowers, and giant robots, author was a nuclear operator, Zhenya is everywhere, and now with a slightly older child — Movement by Nancy Fulda, we’ve read The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time |OUR READALONG|, “temporal autism”, we’ve also read Speed Of Dark |READ OUR REVIEW| so we are autism experts, or Asperger’s?, Daniel Tammet and prime numbers, “she doesn’t want new shoes”, father’s bug killer, (note: here I got E. Lily Yu mixed up with Yoon Ha Lee’s Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain from Sffaudio 120, here’s the full text and audio from Lightspeed), Her Husband’s Hands by Adam-Troy Castro, horror, SUPER CREEPY DO NOT WANT, the hyphen in the author’s name was originally a typo, Chiller Theater, war, The Hand with Michael Caine, Guy De Maupassant, House of Holes by Nicholson Baker, Bianca’s Hands by Theodore Sturgeon (podcasted by Spider Robinson), It by Sturgeon, some story about brains, eyes, and taste buds, Pruzy’s Pot (podcasted by Spider Robinson) has a monster under the toilet that does things, we make our Nebula picks and predictions, a moving story about ponies from last year, Kij Johnson, a story about sex with an alien, which story will be remembered in ten years? Toy Story III with immigrants, we will discuss Among Others by Jo Walton, sexy Welsh accent in the audiobook, Tam’s amazing Welsh accent, waiting for Jo’s series on Hugo-nominated novellas, get off my lawn with your books series’s!, how to find good stories/books, Christopher Priest’s amazing post, anything good after 1950?, Stories by Neil Gaiman and Alan Sarrantonio, The Truth Is A Cave In The Black Mountains |READ OUR POST|, Joe Landsdale on novels

Posted by Tamahome