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Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)

 


Henry-rené-albert-guy De Maupassant, or Guy de Maupassant, is generally considered to be the greatest French writer of short stories. One account says the location of his birth was the Château de Miromesnil, in Dieppe, though this is not certain. His paternal ancestors were of the minor aristocracy, and his maternal grandfather, Paul Le Poittevin, was Gustave Flaubert's godfather. His parents separated when he was 11 years old.

Maupassant was gifted with a photographic memory, which aided him in recollecting events and characters for his stories. As a teenager, Maupassant was shown, by the poet Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909), a mummified hand. He used this haunting image in his early short story La Main Ecorchée (1875). In 1869 Maupassant started to study law in Paris, but soon, at age 20, he volunteered to serve in the army during Franco-Prussian War. After his return to Paris, Maupassant joined the literary circle of Gustave Flaubert, who introduced him to some of the leading writers of his day, including Émile Zola, Ivan Turgenev, and Henry James. Flaubert saw Maupassant regularly and schooled him in the craft of being a writer.

From 1872 to 1880, Maupassant worked as a civil servant, first at the ministry of maritime affairs, then at the ministry of education. Toward the end of this time, Maupassant published his first poetry, Des Vers (1880). Later the same year he published his short story masterpiece, "Boule de Suif" (Ball of Fat) in the anthology Soirées de Medan (1880), edited by Émile Zola. The story, set during the Franco-Prussian War, is about passengers on a coach, one of whom is a well-known prostitute, nicknamed 'Boule de Suif.' The story later inspired director John Ford's Western film Stagecoach (1945).

During the 1880s Maupassant created some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. In tone, his tales were marked by precision of style and a range of expression. Although his stories range from moving drama to sometimes bizarre comedy, it is his macabre horror stories that have received much attention.

Among Maupassant's best known books is Une Vie (A Woman's Life, 1883), about the frustrating existence of a Norman wife, Bel-Ami (1885), which depicts an unscrupulous journalist. Pierre et Jean (1888) was a psychological study of two brothers. The novel was thought to be immoral, according to the classic definition, because the hero succeeds by doing wrong. Maupassant's most upsetting horror story, "Le Horla" (1887) (not to be confused with another of Maupassant's stories called "The Trip of Le Horla", which is about a hot air balloon), was about vampire-like ghouls, madness and suicide.

Maupassant had suffered from syphilis since his 20's, which caused him neurological and mental problem in his later years, and which undoubtedly accounts for his shortened lifespan. Some critics have alleged that Maupassant's developing illness can be seen through a growing preocuppation with mental illness in his stories. However, the theme of mental illness is present even in his first collection, La Maison Tellier (1881), published at the height of his health. Maupassant's horror fiction consists of some 39 stories, only a tenth of his total work. A recurring theme in these is madness: "A Queer Night in Paris" is a paranoid nightmare: its narrator feels compelled to walk the streets. In "Who Knows?" the subject suffers from delusions about the furniture in his house. "Diary of a Madman" is a story about a judge, who commits murder, just for the experience, and condemns an innocent man to death for the crime. "The Inn" has many similarities with Stephen King's novel The Shining. His story, "The Hand," based on his teenage recollection, has inspired later authors and movie directors. Maupassant's writing is sometimes compared with that of Edgar Allen Poe.

On January 2, 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat and was committed to the celebrated private asylum of Dr. Ésprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris, where he died next year. Maupassant's style has been imitated by countless writers, and his influence can be seen on such masters of the short story as W. Somerset Maugham and O. Henry.


List of Individual Story Titles in Each Volume

 

Selected Writings

GUY DE MAUPASSANT — A Biographical Sketch

INTRODUCTION

  1. MADEMOISELLE FIFI
  2. AN AFFAIR OF STATE.
  3. THE ARTIST
  4. THE HORLA
  5. MISS HARRIET
  6. THE HOLE
  7. LOVE
  8. THE INN
  9. A FAMILY
  10. BELLFLOWER
  11. WHO KNOWS?
  12. THE DEVIL
  13. EPIPHANY
  14. SIMON'S PAPA
  15. WAITER, A "BOCK"
  16. SEQUEL TO A DIVORCE
  17. THE MAD WOMAN
  18. IN VARIOUS ROLES
  19. THE FALSE GEMS
  20. COUNTESS SATAN
  21. THE COLONEL'S IDEAS
  22. TWO LITTLE SOLDIERS
  23. GHOSTS
  24. WAS IT A DREAM?
  25. THE DIARY OF A MADMAN
  26. AN UNFORTUNATE LIKENESS
  27. A COUNTRY EXCURSION


Original Short Stories, Volume 1

GUY DE MAUPASSANT — A STUDY BY POL. NEVEUX

  1. BOULE DE SUIF
  2. TWO FRIENDS
  3. THE LANCER'S WIFE

  4. THE PRISONERS
  5. TWO LITTLE SOLDIERS
  6. FATHER MILON
  7. A COUP D'ETAT
  8. LIEUTENANT LARE'S MARRIAGE
  9. THE HORRIBLE
  10. MADAME PARISSE
  11. MADEMOISELLE FIFI
  12. A DUEL


Original Short Stories, Volume 2

  1. THE COLONEL'S IDEAS
  2. MOTHER SAUVAGE
  3. EPIPHANY
  4. THE MUSTACHE
  5. CHATEAU DE SOLLES,
  6. MADAME BAPTISTE
  7. THE QUESTION OF LATIN
  8. A MEETING
  9. THE BLIND MAN
  10. INDISCRETION
  11. A FAMILY AFFAIR
  12. BESIDE SCHOPENHAUER'S CORPSE


Original Short Stories, Volume 3

  1. MISS HARRIET
  2. LITTLE LOUISE ROQUE
  3. THE DONKEY
  4. MOIRON
  5. THE DISPENSER OF HOLY WATER
  6. A PARRICIDE
  7. BERTHA
  8. THE PATRON
  9. THE DOOR
  10. A SALE
  11. THE IMPOLITE SEX
  12. A WEDDING GIFT
  13. THE RELIC


Original Short Stories, Volume 4

  1. THE MORIBUND
  2. THE GAMEKEEPER
  3. THE STORY OF A FARM GIRL
  4. THE WRECK
  5. THEODULE SABOT'S CONFESSION
  6. THE WRONG HOUSE
  7. THE DIAMOND NECKLACE
  8. THE MARQUIS DE FUMEROL
  9. THE TRIP OF LE HORLA
  10. FAREWELL!
  11. THE WOLF
  12. THE INN


Original Short Stories, Volume 5

  1. MONSIEUR PARENT
  2. QUEEN HORTENSE
  3. TIMBUCTOO
  4. TOMBSTONES
  5. MADEMOISELLE PEARL
  6. THE THIEF
  7. CLAIR DE LUNE
  8. WAITER, A "BOCK"
  9. AFTER
  10. FORGIVENESS
  11. IN THE SPRING
  12. A QUEER NIGHT IN PARIS


Original Short Stories, Volume 6

  1. THAT COSTLY RIDE
  2. USELESS BEAUTY

  3. THE FATHER
  4. MY UNCLE SOSTHENES
  5. THE BARONESS
  6. MOTHER AND SON
  7. THE HAND
  8. A TRESS OF HAIR
  9. ON THE RIVER
  10. THE CRIPPLE
  11. A STROLL
  12. ALEXANDRE
  13. THE LOG
  14. JULIE ROMAIN
  15. THE RONDOLI SISTERS


Original Short Stories, Volume 7

  1. THE FALSE GEMS
  2. FASCINATION
  3. YVETTE SAMORIS
  4. A VENDETTA
  5. MY TWENTY-FIVE DAYS
  6. LEGEND OF MONT ST. MICHEL
  7. A NEW YEAR'S GIFT
  8. FRIEND PATIENCE
  9. ABANDONED
  10. THE MAISON TELLIER
  11. DENIS
  12. MY WIFE
  13. THE UNKNOWN
  14. THE APPARITION


Original Short Stories, Volume 8

  1. CLOCHETTE
  2. THE KISS
  3. THE LEGION OF HONOR
  4. HOW HE GOT THE LEGION OF HONOR
  5. THE TEST
  6. FOUND ON A DROWNED MAN
  7. THE ORPHAN
  8. THE BEGGAR
  9. THE RABBIT
  10. HIS AVENGER
  11. MY UNCLE JULES
  12. THE MODEL
  13. A VAGABOND
  14. THE FISHING HOLE
  15. THE SPASM
  16. IN THE WOOD
  17. MARTINE
  18. ALL OVER
  19. THE PARROT
  20. THE PIECE OF STRING


Original Short Stories, Volume 9

  1. TOINE
  2. MADAME HUSSON'S "ROSIER"
  3. THE ADOPTED SON
  4. COWARD
  5. OLD MONGILET
  6. MOONLIGHT
  7. THE FIRST SNOWFALL
  8. SUNDAYS OF A BOURGEOIS
  9. A RECOLLECTION
  10. OUR LETTERS
  11. MY FRIEND:
  12. THE LOVE OF LONG AGO
  13. FRIEND JOSEPH
  14. THE EFFEMINATES
  15. OLD AMABLE


Original Short Stories, Volume 10

 

  1. THE CHRISTENING
  2. THE FARMER'S WIFE
  3. THE DEVIL
  4. THE SNIPE
  5. THE WILL
  6. WALTER SCHNAFFS' ADVENTURE
  7. AT SEA
  8. MINUET
  9. THE SON
  10. THAT PIG OF A MORIN
  11. SAINT ANTHONY
  12. LASTING LOVE
  13. PIERROT
  14. A NORMANDY JOKE
  15. FATHER MATTHEW


Original Short Stories, Volume 11

  1. THE UMBRELLA
  2. BELHOMME'S BEAST
  3. DISCOVERY
  4. THE ACCURSED BREAD
  5. THE DOWRY
  6. THE DIARY OF A MADMAN
  7. THE MASK
  8. THE PENGUINS' ROCK
  9. A FAMILY
  10. SUICIDES
  11. AN ARTIFICE
  12. DREAMS
  13. SIMON'S PAPA


Original Short Stories, Volume 12

  1. THE CHILD
  2. A COUNTRY EXCURSION
  3. ROSE
  4. ROSALIE PRUDENT
  5. REGRET
  6. A SISTER'S CONFESSION
  7. COCO
  8. DEAD WOMAN'S SECRET
  9. A HUMBLE DRAMA
  10. MADEMOISELLE COCOTTE
  11. THE CORSICAN BANDIT
  12. THE GRAVE


Original Short Stories, Volume 13

  1. OLD JUDAS
  2. THE LITTLE CASK
  3. BOITELLE
  4. A WIDOW
  5. THE ENGLISHMAN OF ETRETAT
  6. MAGNETISM
  7. A FATHER'S CONFESSION
  8. A MOTHER OF MONSTERS
  9. AN UNCOMFORTABLE BED
  10. A PORTRAIT
  11. THE DRUNKARD
  12. THE WARDROBE
  13. THE MOUNTAIN POOL
  14. A CREMATION
  15. MISTI
  16. MADAME HERMET
  17. THE MAGIC COUCH

 


The Classical Library, This HTML edition copyright ©2001.

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