SOURCE: Prince, Gerald. “‘Le Horla,’ Sex, and Colonization.” In Alteratives, edited by Warren Motte and Gerald Prince, pp. 181-88. Lexington, Ky.: French Forum Publishers, 1993.

In the following essay, Prince perceives “Le Horla” as a story about sexual desire, transgression, and colonization.

The protagonist of Maupassant's second version of “Le Horla” resides in a white house on the banks of the Seine, not far from the forest of Roumare and the capital of Normandy, Rouen.¹ His name is unknown to us and so is his age.² As for his physical appearance, we learn only that he is very tall (48) and that he wears a mustache and a beard (28, 31). He must be rich. At any rate, though he does not work, he employs no fewer than four servants (two men and two women: a valet, a driver, a cook, a wardrobe woman). He has no wife, no parents and no...