When I was talking to Dad recently, he mentioned that my writing style in this blog reminded him of works that he’d read by Guy de Maupassant. Dad mentioned 2 works: “On the Water” and “On the Novel”. Dad also recommended that I use the translations by Lewis Galantiere.

This got me curious. As far as I know, I’ve never reminded anyone of the works of 19th century Frenchmen. I’ve also been wondering about my writing voice. I suspect that it’s been evolving as I keep writing, but I’ve no real information about where my voice has been or where it’s going.

All that I needed now was Lewis Galantiere’s translation of Guy de Maupassant’s “On the Water” and “On the Novel”. How tough could that be?

I figured that 19th century works would be available for free in Project Gutenberg. I was right but they didn’t mention any of Lewis Galantiere’s translations nor the essays that Dad had cited.

Amazon and Barnes & Noble were both willing to sell me Lewis Galantiere’s translations of Guy de Maupassant’s works but I couldn’t tell if the works contained the essays that I wanted. At this point in my research, I hadn’t convinced myself to spend money on long shots yet.

I had more luck with my local public library – Kent District Library. I found the essays in 2 different books and they’re winging their way to me as I write this.

With any luck I’ll soon have a better insight to what Dad was talking about.