Authors: 265
Books: 3,034
Poems & Short Stories: 3,123
Forum Members: 68,569
Forum Posts: 995,314
Guy de Maupassant was probably born at the Ch�teau de Miromesniel, Dieppe on August 5, 1850. In 1869 Maupassant started to study law in Paris, but soon, at the age of 20, he volunteered to serve in the army during the Franco-Prussian War. Between the years 1872 and 1880 Maupassant was a civil servant, first at the ministry of maritime affairs, then at the ministry of education.
As a poet Maupassant made his debut with Des Vers (1880). In the same year he published in the anthology Soir�es de Medan (1880), edited by E. Zola, his masterpiece, "Boule De Suif" ("Ball of Fat", 1880). 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 objectivity, highly controlled style, and sometimes by sheer comedy. Usually they were built around simple episodes from everyday life, which revealed the hidden sides of people. Among Maupassant's best-known books are Une Vie (A Woman's Life, 1883), about the frustrating existence of a Norman wife and Bel-Ami (1885), which depicts an unscrupulous journalist. Pierre Et Jean (1888) was a psychological study of two brothers. Maupassant's most upsetting horror story, Le Horla (1887), was about madness and suicide.
Maupassant had suffered from his 20s from syphilis. The disease later caused increasing mental disorder - also seen in his nightmarish stories, which have much in common with Edgar Allan Poe's supernatural visions. Critics have charted Maupassant's developing illness through his semi-autobiographical stories of abnormal psychology, but the theme of mental disorder is present even in his first collection, La Maison Tellier (1881), published at the height of his health.
On January 2, in 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat and was committed to the celebrated private asylum of Dr. Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris, where he died on July 6, 1893.
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Poem/Quote original text
Hi everyone, I am searching for the original text of a quote or poem (I don't know to categorize) he wrote. It's this one: To love very much is to love inadequately; we love-that is all. Love cannot be modified without being nullified. Love is a short word but it contains everything. Love means the body, the soul, the life, the entire being. We feel love as we feel the warmth of our blood, we breathe love as we breathe the air, we hold it in ourselves as we hold our thoughts. Nothing more exists for us. Love is not a word; it is a wordless state indicated by four letters. Can anyone provide me the original French text? Kind regards, Judith
Posted By Judith at Mon 7 Nov 2016, 4:00 PM in Maupassant, Guy de || 0 Replies
Realism in "The Necklace"
With his writing, Guy de Maupassant�s goal is to duplicate reality by combining his observations and reflections; however, he duplicates with such subtlety that the outcome is a surprise to the reader. De Maupassant wants readers to understand how people change depending on circumstances, while helping us see his perspective of life. I believe de Maupassant faithfully duplicates reality, because Cinderella is a fairy tale, but �The Necklace� is the story of what happens to a beautiful woman in the real world. Fairy tales have happy endings, but life �is brutal, inconsequential, and disconnected, full of inexplicable, illogical catastrophes� (Charters 1472). There are many examples of how the unreality of Cinderella compares and contrasts to Madame Loisel's ultimate reality. Both Cinderella and Mathilde (Madame Loisel) had a fancy dance to attend in an even fancier dress; both could hardly contain their excitement when the �day of the ball arrived� (Charters 881). Both women were the most beautiful and sought after of the ball. � was prettier than them all� (881). Both raced down the stairs to avoid disclosing her true self, one in rags, and the other in her �modest of common life� (Charters 881). Both experienced after-dance transportation problems followed by a letdown. �All was ended for � (Charters 882). Both women rested the hopes and dreams of life on one night of perfection. Instead of a handsome prince, Mathilde had a �little clerk� (Charters 879). Cinderella�s prince danced all night, but Mathilde�s husband sleepily watched the purses. Cinderella fled the palace the same time the clerk went to sleep :sleep:; he had to work the next day, you see, and he slept until his wife said it was time to go. In the real world, singing bippity-boppity could get a woman committed, but not a cab, especially at four o�clock in the morning. Cinderella lost a precious but breakable shoe; Mathilde lost precious but unbreakable stones. The most obvious difference, besides rodents converting into footmen et al., is the character of the two women. We like Cinderella because her insides are as beautiful as her outsides. However, we tend to dislike vain, superficial people like Mathilde, despite her exquisite fashion sense. Cinderella is a fairy tale that makes us want to believe in magic and true love. De Maupassant harshly disperses the fairy dust and shows us dirt. :eek: Ball invitations are hard to get, a dress replaces a vacation, loving husbands work hard to make their wives happy, and women like Mathilde who are beautiful and poor do not stay beautiful. In de Maupassant�s world, debts must be reimbursed with a decade of needless suffering. Oh, how Mathilde changed! �How life is strange and changeful! How little a thing is needed for us to be lost or to be saved!� (Charters 884). This could be the appropriate cry of Cinderella or Mathilde, and is de Maupassant�s �personal view of the world� (Charters 1471). De Maupassant�s carefully selected facts provide us with a cumulative sense of reality, the effect of which, in �The Necklace� is a dizzy whammy at the end. :flare: Work Cited Charters, Ann, The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction (9th Edition), Bedford/St. Martin�s, 2014. 978-1-4576-6461-8
Posted By Flavory at Thu 12 Nov 2015, 7:27 PM in Maupassant, Guy de || 10 Replies
First Read of Maupassant Short Stories - Unimpressed
Let me first just say that I'm quite passed the stage in my life where I in any way think my opinion is an accurate judgement of the actual worth of a piece of art. That being said, I can't change what I like and what I don't like, and after reading a collection of short stories by Guy de Maupassant, I have to say I didn't really like them. Here's the list of stories I read (from the Wordsworth Classics edition): Boule de Suif Two Friends Madame Tellier's Establishment Madamoiselle Fifi Claire de Lune Miss Harriet The Necklace Madammoiselle Pearl The Piece of String Madame Husson's 'Rosier' That Pig of a Morin Useless Beauty The Other Orchard A Sale Love Two Little Soldiers Happiness Of these stories, the only ones I rally enjoyed were "Boule de Suif," "The Piece of String," and "The Other Orchard." The biggest problem I had with the stories and most of them were so damn depressing. I'm not usually one to shy away from dark tones in literature--I actually prefer them--but so many of these stories just end on complete downers, even the ones I like. The bad guys go unpunished, the good guy gets screwed, etc. It just got old. I get that that's a realistic way of telling stories, and it'd be equally as boring if they all ended happily, but a bit of justice now and then would have been nice. And the depressing endings weren't really my main issue; it's that the endings were usually completely uninteresting. So many times the stories would end in such an obvious way--it's like Maupassant didn't even try to think of an interesting ending. Some of the stories didn't even seem to have an ending at all, they just petered out. I don't want some twist ending every time but, come on, give me something. Maybe my expectations were set too high p, though I don't think that's unjustified as all I've heard about Maupassant is that he's one of, if not the, best short story writer of all time. These stories left me completely unimpressed. I know there was a lot of symbolism that I didn't pick up on (I could of, but I wasn't reading analytically--I rarely do when reading on my own for pleasure), so maybe reading from that perspective would've helped. It could have also been the translator (I've looked everywhere and can't find who it is in my rather cheap edition), but even a bad translation won't change the plot. Oh well, maybe I'll have better luck with O. Henry.
Posted By Mutatis-Mutandis at Thu 3 May 2012, 11:18 PM in Maupassant, Guy de || 19 Replies
De Maupassant Collection Recommendation
Okay, so if I were to buy just one collection of De Mauppasant's short stories, what should it be? I can get them all free on my Kindle, but I really like getting actual book forms of classics (and I'm on a actual-book kick at the moment). The choice of what to get is kind of divisive going by Amazon reviews.
Posted By Mutatis-Mutandis at Sat 8 Jan 2011, 4:33 AM in Maupassant, Guy de || 7 Replies
Help with a De Maupassant story
I have been looking for this story, which unfortunately is out of print in the sole greek edition it appears to have been part of. Its title should be something like "Little Rok" which is the name of one of the characters. I tried searching for it, both in english and french, but didnt find anything. Perhaps someone knows of the story (is the title different in the original version?) and can direct me to an etext of it? Anyway thanks for the help :)
Posted By Kyriakos at Thu 15 Jul 2010, 4:16 PM in Maupassant, Guy de || 4 Replies
Little Rok
Does anyone know where i could find an etext in english of the story "Little Rok" by Guy De Maupassant? Unfortunately the only edition i know of in greek which had it has been out of print for years. But i would love to read the story :)
Posted By Kyriakos at Tue 29 Jun 2010, 8:00 PM in Maupassant, Guy de || 0 Replies
Short story about statues?
I remember reading a story about a man who is going mad and believes statues are flying over his bed at night. I think it's Guy de Maupassant, but it could be somebody like Zola or even Kafka. Does this sound familiar?
Posted By voraciouskate at Fri 16 Apr 2010, 4:11 AM in Maupassant, Guy de || 4 Replies
at sea, help
i just read the short story "at sea" and im a little confused about it. im told that there is irony in the story but i dont seem to see it. what is the irony and what was guy trying to say when he wrote this? can anyone give me a short analysis of the story? so i have a total of three questions: 1) what is the irony 2)what was he trying to get accross when he wrote "at sea" 3)if anyone can write a short analysis of the story thank you
Posted By worksux at Mon 6 Apr 2009, 12:19 AM in Maupassant, Guy de || 1 Reply
In The Wood
I just finished reading this story and I really enjoyed it. I rather like Maupassant's writing and it seems in many ways we are of a same mind in our views about human society and the human psychology. Out of what little I have read so far In The Wood was a bit more upbeat than his other works though it was still a touch bittersweet in nature. It was quite a charming little story while still touched in sadness. Like his other works (from what I have read) it seems to have an important message to impart to us. How indeed sometimes we get too caught up in the things that appear important, the materialism, that we neglect the things that are truly important until it passes us by before we even notice and then we attempt to recapture those fleeting moments feeling regret for all the time we have let ourselves live without them. I think that the lessons of this story are turly timeless and I think many can relate. It also refelcts that no matter what. No matter how much time has passed and what has happend the passion never really dies. It is still there even if perhaps it has gown dormat.
Posted By Dark Muse at Fri 27 Mar 2009, 4:00 AM in Maupassant, Guy de || 0 Replies
Short Story Recomendations
Someone recomended the works of Guy de Maupassant to me but I have no idea where I should begin. So I am open to suggestions and recomendations.
Posted By Dark Muse at Mon 23 Mar 2009, 11:43 PM in Maupassant, Guy de || 2 Replies