Maupassant short story recommendation?

[genoveva]

Hi, I'm looking for recommendations of short stories by Guy de Maupassant. There are so many! If you've read some, which did you really like more than others? Also, I am looking for some of his poetry. Can you post some here if you have any? Many thanks.

[alexno1]

You may read these two short stories..
A coup d'Etat
and
A family affair

[iravadog]

The Vendetta
The diamond necklace
The fishing excursion

[Janine]

I loved "The Diamond Necklace"...I just discovered it is available on this site.
Of course, all his stories that I have read, I a have liked emensely...you really can not go wrong. He was a fine short story writer - one of the best! I was just thinking how we need a 'Maupassant Short Story' discussion thread. Someone should start one. He would be so much fun to discuss.

[Emil Miller]

Hi, I'm looking for recommendations of short stories by Guy de Maupassant. There are so many! If you've read some, which did you really like more than others? Also, I am looking for some of his poetry. Can you post some here if you have any? Many thanks.

From well over two hundred short stories, two of the best must be La Mere Sauvage and A Piece of String.

[mortalterror]

Ball of Fat(Boule de Suif) was my favorite, and came highly recommended by Ernest Hemingway, when I read it in an anthology of war stories he edited. Then I'd suggest reading Two Friends. The stories act as bookends to one experience of war. The first is about how French people act with one another, relationships under stress. The second is about that too, but with the added interest of showing us how they face death together. After those tales, I'd cool off by reading A Piece of String. I've never seen such a tightly plotted, well structured example of the short story form. It's truly like a ship in a bottle with everything necessary already prepared beforehand, and waiting for the inciting incident to hoist the sail and make it complete. In addition to Maupassant's unflinching naturalism, he has a real knack for psychology and character which shines through at every turn. Once you've tried those on for size, I think you would find The Horla interesting. It's a ghost story, something like H.P. Lovecraft would be writing a few decades later. With those four you really get a sense of the range this author possessed for invention.