This selection of twenty-seven stories shows Maupassant at his comic, cruel,
and brilliant best. In addition to the poignant title story, it includes one of
the most famous tales ever written, The Necklace , and Le Horla, an account of a
disintegrating personality that chillingly parallels the author's own decline
into madness. All the stories demonstrate his genius for invention and his
ability to write unblinkingly about the absurdity of the human condition,
supporting Henry James' claim that in the annals of story-telling, Maupassant
stands \'like a lion in the path'.