The World's Greatest Short Stories

The Death of Olivier Bécaille

English · Short Stories, Gothic Fiction

Experience a radio presentation of Guy de Maupassant’s short story “The Death of Olivier Bécaille,” about a man who is mistakenly believed to be dead and buried alive. The story follows Olivier’s desperate struggle to escape and the unsettling consequences of returning to a life that has moved on without him.

Part of The World’s Greatest Short Stories, this broadcast brings classic literary fiction to radio through dramatic performance. Maupassant’s tale combines suspense with a sharp, darkly comic view of human behavior, turning a terrifying predicament into a reflection on identity, marriage, and social convention.

The result is an intimate, eerie listening experience shaped by the story’s escalating tension and its wry, unsentimental perspective. It offers a compact encounter with a celebrated work of nineteenth-century fiction in a form suited to attentive listening.

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.