Bel-Ami (Oxford World's Classics)
by Guy de Maupassant
List Price:
Our Price: $7.88
You Save: $6.07 (44%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.70 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Guy de MaupassantEditor: Robert Lethbridge
Translator: Margaret Mauldon
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-10-15
ISBN: 0199553939
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780199553938
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Bel-Ami (Oxford World's Classics)
Book Review: A Scoundrel's Rise
Summary: 5 Stars
This Oxford World Classic version of Maupassant's masterpiece, "Bel Ami", is a complete package of historic and social context, story and glossary. The story itself has been well-reviewed by Amazon readers, so I will only briefly observe here a few salient features of the book that stood out for me.
A handsome but amoral young man (Georges Duroy) who has been endowed with an extraordinary load of pheromones, comes to Paris after military service to make his fortune. While not well educated or especially gifted with intellect, he is able to game the corrupt society of the time (circa 1884) using his looks and unfailing attraction for women of all ages and stations. His career rise comes through his ruthless manipulation of successive women, who are mostly very willingly used by Duroy, to attain professional and social standing and money. As this is a very pessimistic assessment of the French Third Republic by author Maupassant, the scoundrel not only wins in the end, but his nakedly open methods to gaining success are admired by the society that he is conquering.
This well-translated classic story is accompanied in the Oxford publication by a wonderfully complete introduction by Robert Lethridge, who provides an insightful commentary on the writer as well as explaining the social and political context for "Bel Ami." Lethridge has also compiled the helpful end notes/glossary that explain specific references in the novel.
Overall, this is a brilliant piece of writing by Maupassant, well-presented by Oxford Books. It is more than a little uncomfortable to read at times as the main character is such an unredeemable rotten egg, but the story has such power, that it's very hard to put down.
Summary of Bel-Ami (Oxford World's Classics)
Maupassant's second novel, Bel-Ami (1885) is the story of a ruthlessly ambitious young man (Georges Duroy, christened "Bel-Ami" by his female admirers) making it to the top in fin-de-sihcle Paris. It is a novel about money, sex, and power, set against the background of the politics of the French colonization of North Africa. It explores the dynamics of an urban society uncomfortably close to our own and is a devastating satire of the sleaziness of contemporary journalism.Bel-Ami enjoys the status of an authentic record of the apotheosis of bourgeois capitalism under the Third Republic. But the creative tension between its analysis of modern behavior and its identifiably late nineteenth-century fabric is one of the reasons why Bel-Ami remains one of the finest French novels of its time, as well as being recognized as Maupassant's greatest achievement as a novelist.
This new translation is complemented by fullest introduction and notes of any edition currently available.
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
Classics Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Classics Books
Native sonby Richard Wright
Perennial Library; Published: 1987; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.75
Native Son: And How Bigger Was Bornby Richard Wright
Perennial; Published: 1993-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $60.00
Raphael and the Noble Taskby Catherine Salton
Harper; Published: 2000-10-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
Island (Perennial Classics)by Aldous Huxley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2002-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
A Tree Grows in Brooklynby Betty Smith
Harper; Published: 2001-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.82
Price in other shops:
The Great Divorce CDby C. S. Lewis
HarperAudio; Published: 2003-11-25; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $12.90
Price in other shops:
Great Expectationsby Charles Dickens
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1979-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
This Side of Paradiseby Fitzgerald
Scribner Paper Fiction; Published: 1988-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
Black Coffee (Poirot)by Agatha Christie
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2002-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $68.32
Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1960s)by Joan Didion
Flamingo; Published: 2001-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.25
Similar Books and other products
The Plagueby Albert Camus
Vintage; Published: 1991-05-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.65
Price in other shops:
Suite Francaiseby Irene Nemirovsky
Vintage; Published: 2007-04-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.37
Price in other shops:
Silence of the Sea / Le Silence de la Mer: A Novel of French Resistance during the Second World War by 'Vercors'Berg Publishers; Published: 2002-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.38
Price in other shops:
How to BeMPI; Release date: 2009-11-17; DVD
Best price: $2.18
Price in other shops:
Bad Mother's HandbookLGF; Release date: 2010-08-24; DVD
Best price: $6.03
Price in other shops:
The Haunted AirmanKoch International; Release date: 2009-10-13; DVD
Best price: $5.29
Price in other shops:
The Immoralist (Penguin Classics)by Andre Gide
Penguin Classics; Published: 2001-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
Little AshesKoch International; Release date: 2010-01-26; DVD
Best price: $13.35
Price in other shops:
The Loverby Marguerite Duras
Pantheon; Published: 1998-09-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.48
Price in other shops:
Cosmopolis: A Novelby Don DeLillo
Scribner; Published: 2004-03-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.36
Price in other shops: