France | Lecturia

Guy de Maupassant: The Apparition

The Apparition is a short story by Guy de Maupassant, published in Le Gaulois on April 4, 1883. It tells the disturbing experience of an elderly marquis who, at a social gathering, decides to share an event that has tormented him for more than fifty years. In his youth, an old friend asks him to retrieve some documents from his former home. On arrival, the marquis finds an atmosphere of abandonment and a gloomy environment that will be the setting for a terrifying experience that will leave an indelible mark of fear.

Guy de Maupassant: The Dowry

“The Dowry” (1884), a short story by Guy de Maupassant, tells the story of Simon Lebrumet, a notary who marries Juanita Cordier in the village of Boutigny-le-Revours. The marriage is no surprise to anyone, for Lebrumet needs money to buy a notary’s office and Juanita has a dowry of three hundred thousand francs. He is a lovely man, and she is an attractive but somewhat provincial young woman. The first days of their marriage are full of sweetness and passion, with Lebrumet showing himself as a tender and delicate husband. The couple plans a trip to Paris to enjoy their honeymoon, taking the dowry to pay the notary’s fee.

Guy de Maupassant: A Mother of Monsters

In “The Mother of Monsters,” a story by Guy de Maupassant, a man recounts a creepy tale while walking along the beach, where he spots an elegant and enigmatic woman. Years before, during a visit to the countryside, his friend took him to meet a robust and sinister woman residing in an idyllic country house. Nicknamed “Devil,” this woman was infamous in the area for a horrifying reason: all her children were born with monstrous deformities. Infused with an atmosphere of mystery and terror, the story gradually unveils the dreadful secret of the “Mother of Monsters.”