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Guy de Maupassant
Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5, 1850 in Dieppe.
He lived with his mother from the age of 11, as his
parents separated. He studied law, but joined the army
as a volunteer in the Franco-Prussian War. After the
War, in 1872, he settled in Paris and worked as a civil
servant for eight years. There he became close to the
famed writer, Gustave Flaubert, who influenced him
deeply. Maupassant's expansive body of work includes
three hundred short stories, six novels, three travel
books and one volume of verse. He died of syphilis on
July 6, 1893.
Complete Short Stories
Widely hailed as a naturalist author, Maupassant
based the subjects of his stories on the life he saw and
lived — the Norman peasantry, Franco-Prussian War,
bourgeoisie and fashionable Paris, among others. His
stories are brief and transparent anecdotes, depicting a
sweeping range — from the tragic to the comic aspects of
life. Nearly every story is built around ordinary
episodes from routine lives, and they offer insights
into the unknown and hidden sides of his characters.
Frustration, immorality, disillusionment, and even
madness, were some of the issues he kept returning to.
His stories are characterized by accurate observation,
controlled objectivity and a flawless writing technique
often marked by a wry humour. Countless writers,
including Somerset Maugham and O. Henry, are believed to
have fashioned their literature on Maupassant's
brilliant pen. |
