Three Tales (The Collected Stories of the World's Greatest Writers)

199 pp. Full black leather, gilt titles and decorations, all edges gilt, silk moire endpapers, ribbon marker bound in. Translated into English from the original French by George Burnham Ives. Includes: A Simple Heart; The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaller; Herodias. "These three stories are dominated by questions of doubt, love, loneliness, and religious experience-together they confirm Flaubert as a master of the short story. 'A Simple Heart' relates the story of Félicité, an uneducated serving-woman who retains her Catholic faith despite a life of desolation and loss. 'The Legend of Saint Julian Hospitator,' inspired by a stained-glass window in Rouen cathedral, describes the fate of a sadistic hunter destined to murder his own parents. The blend of faith and cruelty that dominates this story may also be found in 'Herodias,' a reworking of the tale of Salome and John the Baptist.