Guy de Maupassant’s "Bel Ami" is a brutal and cynical masterpiece of French realism, a scathing indictment of the moral corruption in Parisian high society during the Third Republic. The novel charts the meteoric and ruthless rise of Georges Duroy, a handsome but hollow former soldier who arrives in Paris with an insatiable appetite for wealth and power. By chance, he secures a job as a journalist at the influential newspaper La Vie Française, where he quickly learns the dark arts of manipulating public opinion to serve the financial and political interests of his employers.

Duroy’s ascent is propelled by a series of calculated seductions. He first becomes the lover of Clotilde de Marelle, who provides him with affection and funds. Upon the death of his friend and colleague, he marries the shrewd Madeleine Forestier, who masterminds his political columns and secures his social position. Duroy’s ambition, however, knows no bounds. He systematically betrays and discards everyone who helps him, orchestrating a public scandal to divorce Madeleine and seize her fortune. He then sets his sights on the ultimate prize: Suzanne Walter, the young, innocent daughter of his boss, whose immense dowry represents the pinnacle of his aspirations. The title, "Bel Ami" ("Beautiful Friend"), is an ironic label for a man devoid of genuine friendship or love. De Maupassant’s clinical prose exposes a society where journalism is propaganda, politics is a sham, and marriage is a transaction, offering a disturbingly relevant portrait of a charismatic opportunist whose amorality mirrors the corrupt world he inhabits.

Table of Contents:

• Bel Ami. Part 1

• Bel Ami. Part 2

• Bel Ami. Part 3