Bel-Ami

Bel-Ami follows Georges Duroy as he seeks wealth and fame. Short of money, he longs to escape his narrow life. His growing drive draws him into the world of the press. Guy de Maupassant sets this novel in Paris during 1880–1885.

This work of French fiction explores ambition and social corruption. It suits readers drawn to novels about class and power. Duroy stands for a social type, not a rare case. Army life, journalism, women, and his peers help shape him. So do the examples set by financiers and politicians.

The wider story shows how money bends public life. Bank schemes bring vast gains to dishonest men. Those men use the press to serve their own ends. Walter, a financier and deputy, uses his paper for business. Politics helps him add illegal gains to his legal wealth. Laroche-Mathieu gains office through empty talk and intrigue. He steals money, then gets caught with another man's wife. One reporter invents interviews without meeting the people concerned. Political aims and affairs also shape the women's lives.

Maupassant draws on parts of his own life. The novel comes from the mature phase of his career. This edition includes a preface credited to Gabaret Ibraileanu. It reads Duroy's faults as signs of a corrupt class.