East/West: Appropriation of Aspects of the Orient in Maupassant's Bel-Ami

The Orient – encompassing North Africa, the Holy Land, and all of Asia – is a pervasive presence in Maupassant's novel Bel-Ami (1885), reflecting France's expansionist foreign policy and the appeal of Far Eastern art in the 1880's. The Orient of Bel-Ami is the realm of Nature, ruled by animal instinct. Protagonist Georges Duroy retains the brute code of survival internalized during military service in Algeria. In order to thrive as a civilian in treacherous Parisian milieus, he deploys predatory tactics cloaked by a veneer of civility. Starting as fledgling journalist he will infiltrate and ultimately conquer the hierarchies of power. It is in settings evoking aspects of the Orient that Duroy will form liaisons with the influential consorts who aid in his ascension. Duroy emerges as a pagan idol through appropriation of guises of the Orient, a triumph marking the erosion of the core values of French civilization. (SMB)