Horizons have just published Professor Anthony (Toni) Aquilina’s fourth collection of Guy de Maupassant’s long and short stories translated into Maltese, “‘Mademoiselle Perle’ u Aktar”. The other three collections were entitled: “‘Sbuħija Moħlija’ u Stejjer Oħra” (Faraxa); “‘Tal-Ilma Mbierek’ u Rakkonti Oħra” (Klabb Kotba Maltin) and “ ‘Marroca’ u Rakkonti Oħra” (Agenda).
“‘Mademoiselle Perle’ u Aktar” is a presentation of yet another 12 of Maupassant’s most beautifully-crafted stories, all of which make typically compulsive reading. And for the more discerning reader they are also accompanied by about one hundred references. Above all, one definitely finds in these carefully selected stories the tenderness, the derision, the cynicism and the ferocity of Guy de Maupassant’s genius.
Guy de Maupassant himself produced several collections, such as The Contes de la bécasse, Le Horla et autres contes fantastiques etc., regrouping a substantial number of those tales he had published earlier in newspapers and magazines like Le Gaulois, Gil Blas and Le Figaro, enabling him to earn a lot of money along the way. Then there are other collections regrouping Maupassant’s stories at the whims of various publishers.
Maupassant’s numerous contes et nouvelles (over 300) and half a dozen novels, Une Vie, Bel-Ami, Mont-Oriol, Pierre et Jean, Fort comme la mort and Notre Coeur enjoy wide readership in many languages to this very day as they carry the imprint of his own image: prolific, brilliant, full of paradoxes.
Professor Anthony (Toni) Aquilina is a member of the Department of Translation, Terminology and Interpreting Studies, within the Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta.