guy de maupassant wrote loads of short stories. there's bound to be a marriage one
guy de maupassant wrote loads of short stories. there's bound to be a marriage one
I have read the entire Maupassant collection, more than once, and no, divorce is not a primary motif. Hypocrisy, adultery, even rape gets a highlight, but not divorce.Originally Posted by kelby_lake
His novels rather play with the theme that most men with pretensions are like everyone else. Actually, his novel, Bel-Ami, does have a sordid, trumped up divorce in it, but it is a short novel, and the OP wants short stories.
There's a very good story by W. Somerset Maugham, "The Force of Circumstance", in which the young wife of a British civil servant joins her husband in Asia only to find out that he has lived with a native woman and had children by her. She then decides to separate. The story is set in the twenties, I guess, so there must have been important social issues (of respectability, etc.) at stake. It's very, very well written.
I know you don't have much time, but maybe you should read Edith Wharton's novella "The House of Mirth". It's quite short, and deals with the pressure society exerts on a penniless young woman to find a husband who can support her.
Hope this helped!
Last edited by Pecksie; 11-13-2008 at 10:58 AM.
I don't have a short story, but A Modern Instance by William Dean Howells is about a marriage and it's ultimate end in divorce, which at the time is a disgrace. The couple live in Massachusetts and have to go to Indiana to get a legal separation. Other novels that fit the bill are The Portrait of a Lady, which doesn't end in divorce, but is the study of a marriage that should; The Age of Innocence - another marriage that should; and Sister Carrie, which treats marriage like used Kleenex. But sorry, no short stories come to mind. Marriage might be too complex and detailed a topic to fit the short story.
No damn cat, no damn cradle - Newt Honniker
Richard Ford's collection of short stories, A Multitude of Sins, focuses quite a lot on adultery. They're very easy to read.
painted veil by S. Maugham - has something to dabout marriage tooo, especially in the beginning, deep thinking about whom to marry, reasons for / against marrying X.
And Greene's 'The End of the Affair'.
I've mentioned What Maisie Knew, haven't I? That's a really good one to do.
Fanny and Annie, a short story by DH lawrence is exactly what you're looking for.
Chekhov and Joyce Carol Oates' "The Lady with the Pet Dog," both great renditions.
Just peruse "The Canterbury Tales". A good percentage of them are about marriage and infidelity within.
Not short. More about what happens to the woman when the marriage falls apart, but worthy of a read nevertheless.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Heart-Countr...7298586&sr=1-9
“A little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion.” –Francis Bacon
It may not fit your description perfectly, but I have to recommend Madame Bovary as well.
Noću, u intimnom, poluglasnom razgovoru sa samim sobom, nikako ne mogu zapravo logički opravdati zašto se u posljednje vrijeme toliko uzrujavam zbog ljudske gluposti.
Miroslav Krleža
I second the "Force of Circumstance", like all of his writing, with the possible exception of "Up at the Villa", Maugham`s stories are very well written and he was, of course, at the centre of a famous divorce case himself.
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