Afterthoughts: On Horseback and Other Stories

In a Nutshell: This is a well considered collection of nine short stories which offer a good snapshot of Guy de Maupassant’s writing variance and ability. The cover price of £6.99 is worth it for The Horla alone but with the addition of greats such as Mademoiselle Fifi, The Necklace and The Piece of String, this is a collection that you shouldn’t hesitate to snap up.

Reading them as part of my Devouring de Maupassant challenge, It’s taken me a while to get through this Guy de Maupassant collection from Capuchin Classics, but now that I have it’s time to offer up my afterthoughts on what I thought of On Horseback and Other Stories as a whole.

First thing’s first, and a rundown of the stories which are included in this collection. The links lead off to my individual review for each story (with the exception of The Horla which I never did write up a review for – perfect five though!), but for those living life in the fast lane I’ve included my final rating next to each story:

• On Horseback (scored 4 out of 5)
• Madame Tellier’s Establishment (scored 4 out of 5)
• Mademoiselle Fifi (scored 4.5 out of 5)
• The Necklace – (scored 4 out of 5)
• The Piece of String – (scored 4.5 out of 5)
• That Pig of a Morin – (scored 3 out of 5)
• The Horla – (scored 5 out of 5)
• Two Little Soldiers – (scored 3 out of 5)
• The Christening – (scored 3 out of 5)

So make of my scoring what you will, but as you can see I’ve rated the majority of the stories in this collection quite highly, which to some extent must pay testament to the quality of the selection. However it seems that quality was not Capuchin Classic’s only consideration when putting together this collection. The cover blurb states that the collection’s aim is to provide a snapshot of Guy de Maupassant’s versatility in story telling, and to show how varied his stories can be. In reflection I think Edmund Howard (the man responsible for selection) has chosen well. His choices cover many of the story-telling elements that Maupassant employed and the subjects he covered.

From stories such as That Pig of a Morin which marry the elements of romanticism with comedy, to the completely dark and foreboding The Horla, which is as chilling as anything Poe ever managed to produce. From the nationalistic anti-Prussian offering of Mademoiselle Fifi to stories such as The Piece of String and The Necklace which explore the human condition when things take a turn for the worse, variety and great story-telling is definitely the key flavour of this collection.

There are some stories missing, whose inclusion may have improved on the collection i.e. Two Friends, The Prisoners and Boule de Suif, but given that the first two are anti-Prussian, and the latter is in some ways comparative with Madame Tellier’s Establishment, their inclusion may have upset the compiler’s goal of delivering variance, and to be fair none of these stories are any better than the included ones which already touch on these themes.

All in all then a well considered collection which offers a nice range of stories, which show Guy de Maupassant to be the short story writing genius he is.

Rating:

Capuchin Classics | March 2008 | £6.99 | PAPERBACK | 185 PP | ISBN 9780955519697