Strong as Death

“Strong as Death” (1889) is one of six novels by the classic of French literature Guy de Maupassant. It’s a story about a dramatic love affair between a popular Parisian artist, Olivier Bertin, and a lady of high society.

The artist can’t live without music, and the man can’t live without a loving and beloved woman. For Olivier Bertin, whose talent as a portraitist brought him wealth and fame, his muse and lover became one person—Anna, Countess de Guirlar. The lovers remained faithful to each other for twelve long years.

But inspiration is fickle, and passion is capricious. Anna grows older, her beauty fades. She attracts Olivier less and less, both as a woman and as a creator’s muse. With horror, he realizes that with every day he’s falling in love—more strongly and more hopelessly—with the young daughter of Anna, in whom, as if, the youth of her mother has returned to earth…