All writers, Victor Hugo as much as M. Zola, have insistently claimed the absolute and incontrovertible right to compose - that is to say, to imagine or observe - in accordance with their individual conception of originality, and that is a special manner of thinking, seeing, understanding, and judging. Now the critic who assumes that "the novel" can be defined in conformity with the ideas he has based on the novels he prefers, and that certain immutable rules of construction can be laid down, will always find himself at war with the artistic temperament of a writer who introduces a new manner of work. A critic really worthy of the name ought to be an analyst, devoid of preferences or passions; like an expert in pictures, he should simply estimate the artistic value of the object of art submitted to him. His intelligence, open to everything, must so far supersede his individuality as to leave him free to discover and praise books which as a man he may not like, but which as a judge he must duly appreciate...

The reader, who looks for no more in a book than that it should satisfy the natural tendencies of his own mind, wants the writer to respond to his predominant taste, and he invariably praises a work or a passage which appeals to his imagination, whether idealistic, gay, licentious, melancholy, dreamy or positive, as "striking" or "well written."

The public as a whole is composed of various groups, whose cry to us writers is:

"Comfort me."

"Amuse me."

"Touch me."

"Make me dream."

"Make me laugh."

"Make me shudder."

"Make me weep."

"Make me think."

And only a few chosen spirits say to the artist: "Give me something fine in any form which may suit you best, according to your own temperament."

The artist makes the attempt; succeeds or fails.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Guy de Maupassant, born in 1850 and died in 1893, was a major French writer and literary journalist. A protégé of Flaubert and close to Zola, he left a lasting mark with six novels—including "Bel-Ami" and "Pierre et Jean"—and especially with his many short stories, such as "Boule de Suif" and "Le Horla". His work blends realism, the fantastic, and deep pessimism, all rendered with exceptional style. His literary career, though brief, was highly influential, and his fame endures through numerous film adaptations.