Maupassant has been called a literary nihilist -- but (and this is the second trait of his singular genius) in him nihilism finds itself coexistent with an animal energy so fresh and so intense that for a long time it deceives the closest observer. In an eloquent discourse, pronounced over his premature grave, Emile Zola well defined this illusion: "We congratulated him," said he, "upon that health which seemed unbreakable, and justly credited him with the soundest constitution of our band, as well as with the clearest mind and the sanest reason. It was then that this frightful thunderbolt destroyed him."

Author Biography

Paul Charles Joseph Bourget (1852 - 1935) was a French novelist and critic. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. Between 1872 and 1873, he produced a volume of verse, Au Bord de la Mer, which was followed by others, the last, Les Aveux, appearing in 1882. Meanwhile, he was making a name in literary journalism and in 1883 he published Essais de Psychologie Contemporaine, studies of eminent writers first printed in the Nouvelle Revue and now brought together. In 1884 Bourget paid a long visit to Britain, where he wrote his first published story (L'Irreparable). Cruelle Enigme followed in 1885; then Andre Cornelis (1886) and Mensonges (1887) - inspired by Octave Mirbeau's life - were received with much favor.