b'It was raining as it only rains in Normandy, as though great gouts of water were being sprayed by some angry, giant hand.'/b Maupassant believed that we delude ourselves into believing that we are not animals acting upon instinct but rational creatures capable of idealistic beliefs and actions and survive only on the drug of self-deception. Maupassant's disgust with creation was only equalled by his contempt for human hypocrisy, and in these...