Guy de Maupassant: How uncontrolled syphilis affected the artists and writers of the Belle Époque

Madness has always been associated with artistic talent . True or false, it's true that there are artists among the mad, and madmen among artists. However, there is a form of madness that was very common in the 19th and early 20th centuries that is virtually nonexistent today. It's surprising to note this fact, given that—not without reason—we might consider the world to be increasingly mad . However, we are talking about a type of mental disorder associated with an infection that is now entirely preventable and curable: syphilis .

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by a bacterium called Treponema pallidum, which is sensitive to penicillin (discovered in 1928) among other antibiotics. Also in the second decade of the last century , latex condoms, which prevent the spread of syphilis, began to be mass-produced.

But what happened before penicillin and latex?

An old medical adage that appears to date back to the 17th century is often cited: "A night with Venus, a lifetime with Mercury," because that element was the only one known to control the progression of the disease. The truth is, it's not entirely certain whether it controlled the disease; what is certain is the toxicity of the remedy. It caused hair and tooth loss, skin ulcers, bleeding, and neuropathy.

In the 19th century, syphilis was a rampant epidemic , especially among the young bohemians of Belle Époque Paris , who flaunted a life of sexual indulgence and recklessness. So much so that it was nicknamed "French Disease."

Thus, one of the most characteristic cardiovascular signs of advanced syphilis has gone down in the history of medicine, named after a French poet : the rhythmic oscillation of the head associated with aortic insufficiency is called Musset's sign . Musset, the poet who charmingly described the Parisian bohemian scene of the first half of the 19th century, whose characters—Museta and Mimí—had their first taste of tango by way of opera, died of syphilis at a very young age.

But we were talking about syphilis and insanity, and the French also left relevant examples of this. The final stage of the disease could seriously affect the brain, causing delusions of grandeur and persecution. Guy de Maupassant , a prolific and brilliant short story writer , left the memory of his maladjusted behavior among the editors of the time, although today we only remember his magnificent work, ignoring such eccentricities.

It's paradoxical that he achieved success at a very young age with "Boule de sebo ," a masterful story centered on a plump prostitute who uses syphilis as a weapon against the enemy during the Franco-Prussian War. That same disease would lead him to die years later in an asylum for the insane.

The early Maupassant is, above all, a costumbrista author, who describes the society of his time in stories filled with incisive irony and dry humor. He describes both the frivolity of the metropolitan elite and the pettiness of the provincials in Normandy, where he was born. However, he himself confesses his fascination with madness in the voice of the narrator of another of his stories: Miss Harriet.

" I am drawn to madmen . These people live in a mysterious land of strange dreams, in that impenetrable cloud of madness where everything they have seen on earth, everything they have loved, everything they have done, begins anew for them in an imagined existence outside all the laws that govern things and rule human thought. For them, the impossible does not exist; the improbable disappears; the magical becomes constant, and the supernatural becomes familiar."

Although madness runs throughout his work , in his later stories it is the axis of his disturbing writing. "The Horla" is the autobiographical account—in diary form—of a man who perceives a terrifying presence in his own home. The Horla (the name the narrator gives to this disturbing entity) is invisible and silent. Yet it is there. There is complete certainty of this, as with all delusions. The narrator believes he has found proof: his milk reserves are dwindling, as if the monster were feeding on it. Although he struggles at first, he eventually resigns himself to being controlled by the intruder.

"I am lost! Someone possesses my soul and rules it! Someone orders all my acts, all my movements, all my thoughts . I am no longer anything in myself, nothing but a slave and terrified spectator of all the things I do."

Madness has taken hold of the narrator, as it would years later with Maupassant himself . Most scholars conclude that this story reflects how the mental disturbance caused by syphilis progressed and influenced his literary output .

But… there's always a but. It turns out that an earlier version of the story was found that predates the publication of the one we know by seven years, when the author was not yet affected by neurosyphilis. So perhaps "The Horla" wasn't a product of Maupassant's delirium but of his prodigious imagination. Crazy or not, his stories (especially the three I mention in these lines) are worth reading.

Silvia Horowitz was born in Buenos Aires in 1961. She is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. She has published four novels. Her most recent is 1989, a Bewitched Country (2022).