Le horla
Editorial Design
Le Horla is a psychological horror story by Guy de Maupassant about a man who begins to feel haunted by an invisible being, the "Horla," in his home. Written as a diary, the protagonist describes how this entity seems to control him and drain his energy, driving him toward paranoia and madness.
The story explores themes of obsession, loss of control, and fear of the unknown, reflecting Maupassant's own struggles with mental health.
Photography
Nicolas Molinero
Guy de Maupassant has a series of stories with a similar style, exploring the darker side of the human mind and the supernatural. Among them is La Chevelure (in English, The Hair), another story with an unsettling and psychological tone.
La Chevelure
Maupassant tells the story of a man’s obsession with a lock of a woman’s hair that he finds in an antique piece of furniture. After this discovery, the protagonist begins to develop an obsessive, almost pathological love for the unknown owner of the hair, eventually losing his grip on reality. As in Le Horla, Maupassant uses the story to explore the boundaries between reason and madness, delving into themes such as fetishism, obsession, and loneliness.
Both stories are part of Maupassant's collection of unsettling tales, where he examines the complexities of the human mind and the invisible forces that seem to govern our lives.
