Maupassant's "Strong as Death"

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A novel, written in 1889, it is a boring book compared to Maupassant's short stories. The main character is Olivier Bertin, a society portrait artist in great demand by Parisian women, one of whom, a countess, Any de Guilleroy, becomes his life long mistress.  The characters go on and on about their little vanities and only examine themselves in a superficial manner. Their great love is disturbed by Any's realization of  Olivier's growing infatuation with Annette, Any's young daughter who is a more perfect copy of Any herself. Olivier finally admits, to himself, that he loves Annette but becomes morose when he catches sight of his name in an art review and realizes he is too old to win her over:
[H]e saw his own name, and these words at the end of a sentence struck him like a blow of the fist full in the chest: "The old-fashioned art of Olivier Bertin. (191)


In the end, he admits his love of Annette to Any and claims he cannot control it:
 [T]his love has something irresistible, destroying, stronger than death. I belong to it as a burning house belongs to the fire. (195)
Frye said that to understand an age you need to read the dull books; if this book is a sign of the ages then Parisian society was a beautiful, self-involved, superficial place to live in the 1880's.

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