tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470094.post112552463443395612..comments2024-03-18T16:55:31.971+00:00Comments on This Space: "After mankind, the Horla"Stephen Mitchelmorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01658772259307446873noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8470094.post-1125858484060234852005-09-04T19:28:00.000+01:002005-09-04T19:28:00.000+01:00The narrative does sort of deteriorate near the en...The narrative does sort of deteriorate near the end, don't you think, as he descends more into madness? <BR/><BR/>I think Maupassant was haunted by his own dementia -- he died in a madhouse not long after writing The Horla.<BR/><BR/>An interesting discussion of narrative reflecting the narrator's decreasing grip of reality can be found in Blanchot's study on Jean Paulhan's work, "Mystery in Literature," and also in "The Paradox of Aytre," both in Blanchot's book of essays _The Work of Fire_. Blanchot's introduction to _Faux Pas_ also talks about how difficult it is to convey despair through language, in "From Anguish to Language."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com