The Horla: Classic Tales Edition
Written by Guy de Maupassant
Narrated by B. J. Harrison
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
An invisible, alien parasite slowly takes over the penetrating mind of a French Nobleman. He slowly loses control over his thoughts, his words, and his deeds. Is it insanity? Or is it, the Horla?
Guy de Maupassant
Guy de Maupassant was a French writer and poet considered to be one of the pioneers of the modern short story whose best-known works include "Boule de Suif," "Mother Sauvage," and "The Necklace." De Maupassant was heavily influenced by his mother, a divorcée who raised her sons on her own, and whose own love of the written word inspired his passion for writing. While studying poetry in Rouen, de Maupassant made the acquaintance of Gustave Flaubert, who became a supporter and life-long influence for the author. De Maupassant died in 1893 after being committed to an asylum in Paris.
More audiobooks from Guy De Maupassant
The Diamond Necklace and Other Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Top 10 Short Stories - European: The top ten short stories of all time written by European authors. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Necklace Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Top 10 Short Stories - The French: The top ten short stories of all time written by authors from France. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Horla
Related audiobooks
The Body Snatcher: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In a Glass Darkly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Victorian Anthologies: Horror – Volume 1: A collection of classic tales of dread Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5More Ghost Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great Ghost Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gothic Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gothic Tales of Terror Volume 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masque of the Red Death Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Uncanny Tales Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Monk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fall of The House of Usher Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Vampyre: And Other Short Gothic Tales Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Olalla: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Classic Tales of Horror Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Edgar Allan Poe - Selected Tales Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Willows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Terrible Old Man Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dracula's Guest and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Vampyre Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great God Pan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dunwich Horror Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Great God Pan and Other Weird Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil and Tom Walker, and Hurst of Hurstcote Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5MS Found in a Bottle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterville Ghost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Trial For Murder Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Turn of the Screw Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The House on the Borderland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tales of the Supernatural Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Horror Fiction For You
Different Seasons Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Holly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frankenstein Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hidden Pictures: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reformatory: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Under The Dome: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last House on Needless Street Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dead Until Dark Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lamb Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghost Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silence of the Lambs: 25th Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Troop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coraline Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5FantasticLand: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Needful Things Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Good Marriage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5House 23: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Head Full of Ghosts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Green Mile Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Watchers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mr. Mercedes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Misery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Intensity: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If It Bleeds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Severance: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bird Box: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Horla
151 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Horla - 1887 (final version) - Fantastic piece of Gothic horror! I've read Maupassant before but this is my first time reading this story. A series of journal entries as a man tells how he is not feeling well. He takes various vacations, feels better but his illness always returns when he gets back home. He starts to believe he is going mad as his physical ailments lead to hallucinations and eventually he muses upon whether he is a rational man having hallucinations or simply a madman. However, things take a different turn when he believes his hallucination may be real and perhaps his problem is a being not of this plane. A perfectly paced example of the Victorian Gothic.Letter From a Madman - 1885 (first draft published under a pen name) - This is a mere 10 pages compared to the over 40 of the final story and is only a hint of what would become "The Horla". A man writes a letter to a doctor asking him to be put away in the madhouse and then explains what he has been suffering. Starting out as an essay on the five senses and then going on to the man's hallucinations of experiencing the missing senses, this is not a particularly exciting short story though it does end on a creepy note. There are a lot of scenes and ideas that have been used in the final story "The Horla". One can see how this story must have left the author feeling there was much more that could be told from the basic idea he had presented here.The Horla - 1886 (first version) - Not the novella of the final version but a much longer short story than the "Letter..." A good story which I quite enjoyed and would have been satisfied with giving a 4*, but having read the final version see how the story lacks its haunting Gothic creepiness. For this version a doctor invites colleagues over to hear his patient's story; which the patient then proceeds to recount. First off with this set up, we know the "madman's" fate from the beginning which is unknown in the final version and part of the pacing. The story does now contain all the same elements and events that will fill the final story but since the patient is telling a story which has happened in the past it does not have the same eeriness as the final story which is told in real time journal entries.Altogether a wonderful experience reading the progress of an idea into a brilliant novella. Even though I enjoyed the first story (the final version) the most, the whole reading experience was a 5* event!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5An interesting short story, presented as a novella length book by including three different versions. Each version has a different approach to the narrative: first person narration, as a "Letter from a Madman", and in a frame story in which an alienist (psychiatrist) introduces a patient, who then tells the story. All versions include the basic ideas: our perceptions are limited, so how can we judge the reality of what lies beyond them? Is possession by an invisible being very different from the effects of hypnotic suggestion? The rationality of the madman, a well-informed, French country gentleman in the late 19th century, is what makes this story of unexplained events entertaining. The first, and final, version would've been enough for me, but add a star if you're interested in the alternative narrative techniques.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Old-school horror story. It reminds me of 'The Double' by Dostoevsky.