Strong as Death

The novel by the famous French writer Guy de Maupassant, “Strong as Death,” portrays a dramatic story of love between a popular Parisian painter, Olivier Bertin, and a high-society lady. Maupassant, the singer of love in its various forms and a master of psychological analysis, reveals to the reader the nature of passion—from its beginning to its tragic resolution. The writer’s pessimistic worldview (at this time he was already afflicted by an inherited mental illness) shapes the plot: a beautiful feeling cannot withstand tests; external and internal obstacles prove insurmountable; and the heroes are not ready for happiness.