Beautiful Friend (Illustrated Edition)

Author: (French) Guy de Maupassant
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1989-06-01
Features: The Beautiful Lady is a highly revealing novel. Through the creation of these modern adventurers, it portrays the ugly souls of bourgeois politicians, profoundly exposing the complex political and economic phenomena of the Third French Republic, presenting a historical panorama of late 19th-century France. The outwardly beautiful Duroy is an unscrupulous climber who seizes opportunities and uses women to rise to prominence, achieving rapid success, immense wealth, and dazzling social status in a short time. The Beautiful Lady is a representative of Maupassant's long novels. Published in May 1885, it caused a sensation and was reprinted over thirty times within a few months. The junior officer Duroy from the French colonial army in Algeria arrives in Paris and is introduced by a friend to become an editor for La Vie Fran?aise. Relying on his handsome appearance and his ability to charm women, he，，。er, he abducts the daughter of the newspaper owner, forcing the owner to marry her, and becomes the editor-in-chief of the newspaper. The novel also hints at the end that he is about to become a senator and a minister of the cabinet, with a promising future. The third aspect of the novel's revelations lies in the creation of a typical modern adventurer. This adventurer is not the figure in the colonies in the East, but an unscrupulous individual who climbs to the top in a short period, achieving rapid success, acquiring immense wealth, and gaining remarkable social status. Duroy's success lies in his ability to seize two opportunities. The first opportunity is at the newspaper office. If his Notes from African Service, which draws on his own experiences, happens to meet the political needs of the time, then once he becomes familiar with the newspaper's operations, he directly participates in the plot to overthrow the government, excels in literary maneuvering, and becomes a key writer for Walter's faction, earning the owner's recognition and promotion, eventually becoming the chief editor of the "Social News" column.