Most of us remember Maupassant from his short stories such as 'A piece of string', with vivid descriptions of social pressures and human foibles.  Bel Ami reminds us that his novels gave both a portrait of life in 19th century France but also insight into some more lasting themes in human nature. It is the story of Georges Duroy, a penniless ex-soldier who has come to seek his fortune in Paris after serving in Africa. By chance he meets a friend who is now a journalist, and who invites him to write a piece on 'Souvenirs of a solider in Africa'.  It turns out that the friend's wife is the more talented writer in the family.  Georges, who has little skill in writing, ultimately gets her help in putting it together and wins a place on the newspaper.  We watch his skill develop in using others, both professionally and sexually (sometimes with the same person).  In both realms, he has no regard for the other person. When seducing the wife of his boss, she murmured  "I swear that I have never had a lover"; while he thought: "That is a matter of indifference to me." Ultimately, he runs away with the woman's daughter, and the distraught parents feel bound to allow them to marry to save the girl's honor. At the ceremony he spies yet another previous mistress in the audience, and wants her as well:  'Suddenly he saw Mme. de Marelle, and the recollection of all the kisses he had given her and which she had returned, of all their caresses, of the sound of her voice, possessed him with the mad desire to regain her. She was so pretty, with her bright eyes and roguish air!' He is now rich, professionally successful, and the husband of a beautiful young heiress. As Maupassant puts it,  'The people of Paris envied him. Raising his eyes, he saw beyond the Place de la Concorde, the chamber of deputies, and it seemed to him that it was only a stone's throw from the portico of the Madeleine to that of the Palais Bourbon.'
          Bel Ami describes what we would probably now call a sociopath. It is a reminder that people without conscience, who use others without remorse or guilt, are not confined to the criminal class, but are often quite successful.  It may be some consolation that this success is usually limited to the outer world, and that inside they are driven by a hunger that can never be sated.  

 


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