Novellas Volume 2 • Guy de Maupassant

Maupassant is an author I keep coming back to. His books and short stories are simply too much of a delight to resist, so it was only a matter of time before I added Volume 2 of his short stories from the Manesse Verlag to my collection. I have already reviewed the first volume, and you might wonder why I’m reviewing Volume 2 here as well. The quality and excellence of the stories are, as expected, of the same high standard as in the first volume. Nevertheless, it makes sense to me to write a bit more about this great author and about the beautiful Manesse books.

Reading this collection of stories is like binge-watching an entire season of The Big Bang Theory. You can’t stop, you feel well entertained, and you devour one episode after another. When the evening is over, you wonder how time flew by so quickly. You may forget many details right away, but some scenes remain vividly in your memory. Maupassant is both entertaining and profound — and, of course, on a much higher level than any sitcom.

He wrote about three hundred short stories, so it’s no surprise that the fifty stories in Volume 2 do not differ in theme, style, or length from those in the first volume. Once again, a wide variety of scenes, brief tales, incidents, and anecdotes are told here. Often biting, sometimes funny, with a pinch of wit, often laced with cynicism or irony, but always hitting the sore spot — Maupassant presents stories that pack a punch. Across all social classes, he mercilessly exposes the weaknesses of human thought and behavior. Often the ending is not a spectacular punchline, but when you reflect on the story afterwards, you realize that the understated ending creates the strongest effect.

The stories are usually about ten pages long, making them perfect little bites to enjoy in between — for anyone who can actually put the book down after just one. And it’s exactly in this brevity that the art lies, and the reason why Maupassant’s short stories are considered world literature. In just a few pages, Maupassant manages to portray people from different backgrounds, giving them both individuality and universality. With clear and simple language, he paints a picture that unfolds like a painting before the reader’s eyes. The stories often deal with death — which usually reveals a secret or an event — with hunting, of course with love and marriage, and with military life. Two gothic stories surprised me, as they don’t quite fit the rest of the tone, but they show how versatile Maupassant really was.

I often wonder what kind of person one must be to write such stories. When you read a bit about Maupassant, it becomes clear that he didn’t live an ordinary life — at least it seems that way. He died in his early forties, in a state of insanity, after years of fearing he would go mad like his brother. He suffered from syphilis and had attempted suicide. On his yacht, the Bel-Ami, he took several trips, and his life story overall reads quite adventurously. In Afloat, he wrote about some of his thoughts and his journey along the southern coast of France aboard the Bel-Ami.

So far, every one of his books has been a five-star premium read for me, and he remains one of my absolute favorites. I can also refer you to the other reviews of his works that I’ve already blogged about. I love how he gradually sketches his protagonists through his stories — as the picture becomes more detailed, a generalized core of truth emerges. I often find myself agreeing with him: “Yes, that’s how people are.” That’s a conclusion I’ve reached many times. What’s fascinating is that Maupassant was quite aware that he himself wasn’t exempt from those weaknesses — just as we like to believe that supermarket manipulation psychology doesn’t affect us, yet we still fall for it every day. At least that’s what I infer, and I read it between the lines of Afloat.

I also want to say a few words about the Manesse books themselves. By now, I’ve grown to love these small, compact, and elegantly bound linen editions. They’re beautifully handy, high-quality, and clearly belong to the premium segment for me. They do come at a price, and at first glance, they may seem small or even slight compared to editions from other publishers. But for me, it’s the perfect trade-off between fine hardcover quality and convenient format. The Manesse Verlag really strikes a chord with me here.

Additionally, the publisher, much like dtv or Hanser Verlag, stands for high-quality content and good translations. You can easily pick up a Manesse book from the 1970s without worry and still get something of great quality. This fact alone makes me indifferent to any supposed decline in publishing culture. Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit — but it’s a comforting thought that there are tons of classics out there, easily available from antiquarian booksellers, more than enough for a lifetime of reading. Surprisingly, even these older editions still hold their value today.

Conclusion: Maupassant is one of my absolute favorite authors, and with this collection of fifty more stories, he hits the mark for me just as perfectly as in the first volume. These diverse stories mercilessly expose human weaknesses but are also often funny, biting, conciliatory, thrilling, and simply entertaining — they’re downright addictive. In the briefest space, Maupassant manages to captivate the reader and offer glimpses into the lives of people from all walks of life. His themes are as timeless as the beautiful, small, handy, and refined Manesse editions that provide such a fitting home for them. A book that makes my heart beat faster — both for its content and its presentation.

Book information: Short Stories Volume 2 • Guy de Maupassant • Manesse Verlag • 664 pages • ISBN 9783717521228