num_pages: 208
description: The novel is set in Paris in the upper-middle class environment of the leading journalists of the newspaper La Vie Française and their friends. It tells the story of Georges Duroy, who has spent three years in military service in Algeria. After working for six months as a clerk in Paris, an encounter with his former comrade, Forestier, enables him to start a career as a journalist. From a reporter of minor events and soft news, he gradually climbs his way up to chief editor. Duroy initially owes his success to Forestier’s wife, Madeleine, who helps him write his first articles and, when he later starts writing lead articles, she adds an edge and poignancy to them. At the same time, she uses her connections among leading politicians to provide him with behind the scenes information which allows him to become actively involved in politics.
language: English
title: Bel Ami by Guy de Maupassant, Fiction, Classics
titlecomplete: Bel Ami by Guy de Maupassant, Fiction, Classics
characters: Jacques Rival, Rachel, Comte de Vaudrec, Monsieur Walter, Madeleine Forestier (Du Roy), Norbert de Varenne, Charles Forestier, Virginie Walter, Clotilde de Marelle, Georges Duroy (Du Roy), Laurine de Marelle, Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu, Suzanne Walter
genres: French Literature, Romance, Fiction, Literature, Historical Fiction, School, Classics, Novels, France, 19th Century
ratings_count: 40102
places: Paris
publisher: Wildside Pr