Bel-Ami

“A Sweet Friend” (1885) is one of the most famous works of the celebrated 19th-century French writer Guy de Maupassant. The novel was so successful that during the first two years after publication it went through fifty-one editions, was translated into all the languages of the world, adapted for film many times, and staged on theatrical stages.
Maupassant is famous for his mastery of depicting human vices with refined precision, wrapping his descriptions in corrupt and passionate love stories, and surrounding his heroes with an aura of a mysterious mixture of devilishness and temptation.
Maupassant is often called a master of erotic prose. But “A Sweet Friend” goes beyond this genre. The novel tells the story of the unhappy fate of a lothario from high society, who nevertheless had nothing except his unique ability to charm.
The story of the career of an ordinary seducer and spendthrift, Georges Duroy, developing in the spirit of an adventure novel, becomes a symbolic reflection of the hero’s and society’s spiritual impoverishment. The story of Duroy’s career and dizzying success as a “predator” in love continues to fascinate modern readers again and again.