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Mademoiselle Fifi
In French
180 pages, Paperback
First published April 10, 2020
About the author
Guy de Maupassant
7,687 books3,098 followersHenri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer. He is one of the fathers of the modern short story. A protege of Flaubert, Maupassant's short stories are characterized by their economy of style and their efficient effortless dénouement. He also wrote six short novels. A number of his stories often denote the futility of war and the innocent civilians who get crushed in it - many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
May 3, 2026
I see that pretty much all of the other reviews are about the title story in this collection, which is indeed a fine example of what Nina Björk calls the ninja feminist theme: Rachel, a Jewish good time girl in Prussian-occupied 1870s France, is invited to the château along with four other prostitutes for an evening of drunken debauchery. But the sadistic officer to whom she's been assigned pushes her a little too far; suddenly she picks up a knife from the table and cuts his throat, then against all the odds gets away clean.
I read this and thought, as I often do with Maupassant, how extraordinary that it was written by a man. And the next story, "Madame Baptiste", even more so. The narrator, possibly Maupassant, is stuck in a little country town and comes upon a small funeral procession, led by a young man who cannot stop weeping. He takes one of the other mourners aside and asks what has happened. It turns out to be truly horrible. The deceased, a young woman, was sexually abused by one of her father's servants, a man named Baptiste, when she was only eleven.
The crime was discovered, Baptiste was given a life sentence, but after that no one will talk to the girl; she's impure, you see, what self-respecting mother would let her daughters consort with this piece of trash. They call her "Madame Baptiste", sometimes within her hearing. Even her own parents can hardly bring themselves to touch her. But to everyone's surprise, an enlightened young man from the big city moves to the sleepy country town, become enamoured of this fallen woman, and goes so far as to marry her. She worships him as a god, he's the one person who's ever shown her any kindness.
Alas, one day they're at the country fair, and a drunken farmer is awarded second prize in a category where he was sure he deserved first. "I don't want your fucking second prize!" he yells at the judge. "Who do you think I am, Baptiste?" Everyone stares at the poor woman; the mourner, who's telling the story to Maupassant, asks whether he's ever seen a person go mad in front of his eyes. It's not a common sight, but he's witnessed it himself. She never says another word but just shrinks into herself and refuses to be comforted. On the way home, when they're crossing the bridge, she dashes for the parapet and before anyone can react throws herself over the edge. The water is deep under the arches, and by the time they fish her out she's dead. And because it's a suicide, she can't be buried in sanctified ground.
I don't want you to think all the stories are like this; Maupassant had a broad range, and he does comic just as well as dramatic and tragic. I also liked the final one, "Le Remplaçant", where the theme of female empowerment is given a different twist. Once again, we get the account third hand. The narrator is telling a story he got from a friend, an officer in the Dragoons, who had been trying to find out why a couple of his soldiers had recently fought a duel. He gets a delightfully circumstantial explanation from one of the men, whose dialect I will attempt to transpose into English:
"So yer see sir, there's this widow what lives in the town, got left a fair bit by 'er late 'ubby. An' all the fellers knows she likes 'andsome young men. Well what's wrong wiv that I say, if we likes pretty young gels she can like 'andsome young men, fair's fair. So I meets 'er one day in the street an' she says, like wiv a wink yer know, soldier, why don't you come up and see me sometime. An' when I goes and does that she shows me what she means so there ain't no misunderstandings. I thinks to meself, I likes 'em younger but I could do with the dosh, I promised I would send somethin' to me old man. So onward and upward! that's what the Dragoons says. We does the business and when we're finished I can see she wants more, but I tells her, polite but firm like, ma'am, if a glass costs two shillings then two glasses costs four shillings, yer get my drift? So she pulls out a guinea but I hesitates like an' she goes a bit red an' says, is that not enough my good man? an' I says, that ain't the problem ma'am, but a guinea gets lost so easy in my pocket lining, yer wouldn't 'ave it in 'alf-crowns would yer? Nothing easier, she says, an' she gives me the 'alf-crowns an' we're at it again."
The commanding officer tells Maupassant that the soldier, according to his testimony, had visited the widow one afternoon a week for a year and a half; he was pleased with his half-crowns, and she was pleased with his work. Everything had been perfect until the fateful afternoon when the soldier, finding himself indisposed and worried about losing his lucrative part-time employment, had come upon the idea of persuading a colleague, another Dragoon from the same part of France, to take his place and split the proceeds fifty-fifty. But on returning to the barracks, the stand-in had refused to give up his share; he thought he'd done enough that he should keep it all. And so it had to be decided on the field of honour.
Maupassant and the officer are crying with laughter. So what happened in the end? asks Maupassant. Oh, said the officer, it was all settled amicably. Now they each have their afternoon and people are even happier than they were before.
This collection was just impossible to put down. There's a reason why he's often called the greatest short story writer of all time.
I read this and thought, as I often do with Maupassant, how extraordinary that it was written by a man. And the next story, "Madame Baptiste", even more so. The narrator, possibly Maupassant, is stuck in a little country town and comes upon a small funeral procession, led by a young man who cannot stop weeping. He takes one of the other mourners aside and asks what has happened. It turns out to be truly horrible. The deceased, a young woman, was sexually abused by one of her father's servants, a man named Baptiste, when she was only eleven.
The crime was discovered, Baptiste was given a life sentence, but after that no one will talk to the girl; she's impure, you see, what self-respecting mother would let her daughters consort with this piece of trash. They call her "Madame Baptiste", sometimes within her hearing. Even her own parents can hardly bring themselves to touch her. But to everyone's surprise, an enlightened young man from the big city moves to the sleepy country town, become enamoured of this fallen woman, and goes so far as to marry her. She worships him as a god, he's the one person who's ever shown her any kindness.
Alas, one day they're at the country fair, and a drunken farmer is awarded second prize in a category where he was sure he deserved first. "I don't want your fucking second prize!" he yells at the judge. "Who do you think I am, Baptiste?" Everyone stares at the poor woman; the mourner, who's telling the story to Maupassant, asks whether he's ever seen a person go mad in front of his eyes. It's not a common sight, but he's witnessed it himself. She never says another word but just shrinks into herself and refuses to be comforted. On the way home, when they're crossing the bridge, she dashes for the parapet and before anyone can react throws herself over the edge. The water is deep under the arches, and by the time they fish her out she's dead. And because it's a suicide, she can't be buried in sanctified ground.
I don't want you to think all the stories are like this; Maupassant had a broad range, and he does comic just as well as dramatic and tragic. I also liked the final one, "Le Remplaçant", where the theme of female empowerment is given a different twist. Once again, we get the account third hand. The narrator is telling a story he got from a friend, an officer in the Dragoons, who had been trying to find out why a couple of his soldiers had recently fought a duel. He gets a delightfully circumstantial explanation from one of the men, whose dialect I will attempt to transpose into English:
"So yer see sir, there's this widow what lives in the town, got left a fair bit by 'er late 'ubby. An' all the fellers knows she likes 'andsome young men. Well what's wrong wiv that I say, if we likes pretty young gels she can like 'andsome young men, fair's fair. So I meets 'er one day in the street an' she says, like wiv a wink yer know, soldier, why don't you come up and see me sometime. An' when I goes and does that she shows me what she means so there ain't no misunderstandings. I thinks to meself, I likes 'em younger but I could do with the dosh, I promised I would send somethin' to me old man. So onward and upward! that's what the Dragoons says. We does the business and when we're finished I can see she wants more, but I tells her, polite but firm like, ma'am, if a glass costs two shillings then two glasses costs four shillings, yer get my drift? So she pulls out a guinea but I hesitates like an' she goes a bit red an' says, is that not enough my good man? an' I says, that ain't the problem ma'am, but a guinea gets lost so easy in my pocket lining, yer wouldn't 'ave it in 'alf-crowns would yer? Nothing easier, she says, an' she gives me the 'alf-crowns an' we're at it again."
The commanding officer tells Maupassant that the soldier, according to his testimony, had visited the widow one afternoon a week for a year and a half; he was pleased with his half-crowns, and she was pleased with his work. Everything had been perfect until the fateful afternoon when the soldier, finding himself indisposed and worried about losing his lucrative part-time employment, had come upon the idea of persuading a colleague, another Dragoon from the same part of France, to take his place and split the proceeds fifty-fifty. But on returning to the barracks, the stand-in had refused to give up his share; he thought he'd done enough that he should keep it all. And so it had to be decided on the field of honour.
Maupassant and the officer are crying with laughter. So what happened in the end? asks Maupassant. Oh, said the officer, it was all settled amicably. Now they each have their afternoon and people are even happier than they were before.
This collection was just impossible to put down. There's a reason why he's often called the greatest short story writer of all time.
January 29, 2025
En 2025 je veux embody cette female rage parce que c'était iconique!
J'aurais préféré cette histoire dans un format plus long, par contre!
7.5/10
J'aurais préféré cette histoire dans un format plus long, par contre!
7.5/10
November 20, 2021
I have listened to Guy de Maupassant's "Mademoiselle Fifi" on Family Theater, old time radio program, several times already so I was looking to compare and I added the link below for those interested. Basically it is fairly spot on but there are differences and the radio version has a more patriotic vibe, not saying that the short story is lacking in that department.
Mademoiselle Fifi is harsher and more destructive in the story, very unlikable character but more so.
Story in short- The Prussians have taken over a town and are also looking for a good time with some French girls.
Old time radio - Family Theater September 14, 1949
https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com...
I didn't read this edition but from a Delphi collection of his works.
"Major Graf Von Farlsberg, the Prussian commandant, was reading his newspaper as he lay back in a great easy- chair, with his booted feet on the beautiful marble mantelpiece where his spurs had made two holes, which had grown deeper every day during the three months that he had been in the chateau of Uville."
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert ❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
The radio version has only 2 females and they are not looking for fun, whereas 5 prostitutes are reluctant but give in and try to please except one, who doesn't case too much trouble until provoked not just by words but actions which cause her to stab Baron von Eyrick . Rachel escapes the drunken, riotous and dazed party. Both story and radio version have her safe from the Prussian man hunt for her. The town's only resistance against the occupiers was to withhold the ringing of the church bells which the priest refuses to ring but after the death of von Eyrick, the town is having to pay with searches and other intimidations, so that the commandant thinks he is quite safe in that his order of ringing the bell will fail. The bells are heard not just once but many times which makes many think it is haunted. Finally the Germans leave and the truth is known, Rachel was hiding in the bell tower and the priest to safe her life rang the bells. In the radio version, there is a Prussian/French narrator. In the story Rachel, who was a prositute becomes an honest wife when a patriot marries her.
"The commandant shook hands with him and drank his cup of coffee (3 sixth that morning), while he listened to his subordinate’s report of what had occurred; and then they both went to the window and declared that it was a very unpleasant outlook. The major, who was a quiet man, with a wife at home, could accommodate himself to everything; but the captain, who led a fast life, who was in the habit of frequenting low resorts, and enjoying women’s society, was angry at having to be shut up for three months in that wretched hole."
"Baron von Eyrick, a very short, fair-haired man, who was proud and brutal toward men, harsh toward prisoners and as explosive as gunpowder. Since he had been in France his comrades had called him nothing but Mademoiselle Fifi. They had given him that nickname on account of his dandified style and small waist, which looked as if he wore corsets;"
"The dining-room of the chateau was a magnificent long room, whose fine old mirrors, that were cracked by pistol bullets, and whose Flemish tapestry, which was cut to ribbons, and hanging in rags in places from sword- cuts, told too well what Mademoiselle Fifi’s occupation was during his spare time."
“What sort of an entertainment, captain?” the major asked, taking his pipe out of his mouth. “I will arrange all that, commandant,” the baron said. “I will send Le Devoir to Rouen, and he will bring back some ladies. I know where they can be found, We will have supper here, as all the materials are at hand and; at least, we shall have a jolly evening.”
"But all the other officers had risen and surrounded their chief, saying: “Let the captain have his way, commandant; it is terribly dull here.” And the major ended by yielding. “Very well,”
"When he left the chateau, the lawful owner, Comte Fernand d’Amoys d’Uville, had not had time to carry away or to hide anything except the plate, which had been stowed away in a hole made in one of the walls. As he was very rich and had good taste, the large drawing-room, which opened into the dining-room, looked like a gallery in a museum, before his precipitate flight. Expensive oil paintings, water colors and drawings hung against the walls, while on the tables, on the hanging shelves and in elegant glass cupboards there were a thousand ornaments: small vases, statuettes, groups of Dresden china and grotesque Chinese figures, old ivory and Venetian glass, which filled the large room with their costly and fantastic array."
"The little marquis went into the drawing-room to get what he wanted, and he brought back a small, delicate china teapot, which he filled with gunpowder, and carefully introduced a piece of punk through the spout. This he lighted and took his infernal machine into the next room, but he came back immediately and shut the door. The Germans all stood expectant, their faces full of childish, smiling curiosity, and as soon as the explosion had shaken the chateau, they all rushed in at once."
"The bells had not rung since their arrival. That was the only resistance which the invaders had met with in the neighborhood. The parish priest had not refused to take in and to feed the Prussian soldiers; he had several times even drunk a bottle of beer or claret with the hostile commandant, who often employed him as a benevolent intermediary; but it was no use to ask him for a single stroke of the bells; he would sooner have allowed himself to be shot. That was his way of protesting against the invasion, a peaceful and silent protest, the only one, he said, which was suitable to a priest, who was a man of mildness, and not of blood; and every one, for twenty-five miles round, praised Abbe Chantavoine’s firmness and heroism in venturing to proclaim the public mourning by the obstinate silence of his church bells."
"Five women dismounted, five handsome girls whom a comrade of the captain, to whom Le Devoir had presented his card, had selected with care. They had not required much pressing, as they had got to know the Prussians in the three months during which they had had to do with them, and so they resigned themselves to the men as they did to the state of affairs. They went at once into the dining-room, which looked still more dismal in its dilapidated condition when it was lighted up; while the table covered with choice dishes, the beautiful china and glass, and the plate, which had been found in the hole in the wall where its owner had hidden it, gave it the appearance of a bandits’ inn, where they were supping after committing a robbery in the place."
"Suddenly Rachel choked, and began to cough until the tears came into her eyes, while smoke came through her nostrils. Under pretence of kissing her, the count had blown a whiff of tobacco into her mouth. She did not fly into a rage and did not say a word, but she looked at her tormentor with latent hatred in her dark eyes."
"Mademoiselle Fifi had taken Rachel on his knee, and, getting excited, at one moment he kissed the little black curls on her neck and at another he pinched her furiously and made her scream, for he was seized by a species of ferocity, and tormented by his desire to hurt her. He often held her close to him and pressed a long kiss on the Jewess’ rosy mouth until she lost her breath, and at last he bit her until a stream of blood ran down her chin and on to her bodice. For the second time she looked him full in the face, and as she bathed the wound, she said: “You will have to pay for, that!” But he merely laughed a hard laugh and said: “I will pay.”
"The captain, who no doubt wished to impart an appearance of gallantry to the orgy, raised his glass again and said: “To our victories over hearts.” and, thereupon Lieutenant Otto, who was a species of bear from the Black Forest, jumped up, inflamed and saturated with drink, and suddenly seized by an access of alcoholic patriotism, he cried: “To our victories over France!” Drunk as they were, the women were silent, but Rachel turned round, trembling, and said: “See here, I know some Frenchmen in whose presence you would not dare say that.” But the little count, still holding her on his knee, began to laugh, for the wine had made him very merry, and said: “Ha! ha! ha! I have never met any of them myself. As soon as we show ourselves, they run away!” The girl, who was in a terrible rage, shouted into his face: “You are lying, you dirty scoundrel!”
“All the women in France belong to us also!” At that she got up so quickly that the glass upset, spilling the amber-colored wine on her black hair as if to baptize her, and broke into a hundred fragments, as it fell to the floor. Her lips trembling, she defied
the looks of the officer, who was still laughing, and stammered out in a voice choked with rage: “That — that — that — is not true — for you shall not have the women of France!” He sat down again so as to laugh at his ease; and, trying to speak with the Parisian accent, he said: “She is good, very good! Then why did you come here, my dear?” She was thunderstruck and made no reply for a moment, for in her agitation she did not understand him at first, but as soon as she grasped his meaning she said to him indignantly and vehemently: “I! I! I am not a woman, I am only a strumpet, and that is all that Prussians want.” Almost before she had finished he slapped her full in the face; but as he was raising his hand again, as if to strike her, she seized a small dessert knife with a silver blade from the table and, almost mad with rage, stabbed him right in the hollow of his neck."
"All the officers shouted in horror and leaped up tumultuously; but, throwing her chair between the legs of Lieutenant Otto, who fell down at full length, she ran to the window, opened it before they could seize her a jumped out into the night and the pouring rain. In two minutes Mademoiselle Fifi was dead, and Fritz and Otto drew their swords and wanted to kill the women, who threw themselves at their feet and clung to their knees."
"In the morning they all returned. Two soldiers had been killed and three others wounded by their comrades in the ardor of that chase and in the confusion of that nocturnal pursuit, but they had not caught Rachel. Then the inhabitants of the district were terrorized, the houses were turned topsy-turvy, the country was scoured and beaten up, over and over again, but the Jewess did not seem to have left a single trace of her passage behind her. When the general was told of it he gave orders to hush up the affair, so as not to set a bad example to the army, but he severely censured the commandant, who in turn punished his inferiors. The general had said: “One does not go to war in order to amuse one’s self and to caress prostitutes.” Graf von Farlsberg, in his exasperation, made up his mind to have his revenge on the district, but as he required a pretext for showing severity, he sent for the priest and ordered him to have the bell tolled at the funeral of Baron von Eyrick. Contrary to all expectation, the priest showed himself humble and most respectful, and when Mademoiselle Fifi’s body left the Chateau d’Uville on its way to the cemetery, carried by soldiers, preceded, surrounded and followed by soldiers who marched with loaded rifles, for the first time the bell sounded its funeral knell in a lively manner, as if a friendly hand were caressing it. At night it rang again, and the next day, and every day; it rang as much as any one could desire. Sometimes even it would start at night and sound gently through the darkness, seized with a strange joy, awakened one could not tell why. All the peasants in the neighborhood declared that it was bewitched, and nobody except the priest and the sacristan would now go near the church tower. And they went because a poor girl was living there in grief and solitude and provided for secretly by those two men."
"A short time afterward a patriot who had no prejudices, and who liked her because of her bold deed, and who afterward loved her for herself, married her and made her a lady quite as good as many others."
Mademoiselle Fifi is harsher and more destructive in the story, very unlikable character but more so.
Story in short- The Prussians have taken over a town and are also looking for a good time with some French girls.
Old time radio - Family Theater September 14, 1949
https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com...
I didn't read this edition but from a Delphi collection of his works.
"Major Graf Von Farlsberg, the Prussian commandant, was reading his newspaper as he lay back in a great easy- chair, with his booted feet on the beautiful marble mantelpiece where his spurs had made two holes, which had grown deeper every day during the three months that he had been in the chateau of Uville."
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert ❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
The radio version has only 2 females and they are not looking for fun, whereas 5 prostitutes are reluctant but give in and try to please except one, who doesn't case too much trouble until provoked not just by words but actions which cause her to stab Baron von Eyrick . Rachel escapes the drunken, riotous and dazed party. Both story and radio version have her safe from the Prussian man hunt for her. The town's only resistance against the occupiers was to withhold the ringing of the church bells which the priest refuses to ring but after the death of von Eyrick, the town is having to pay with searches and other intimidations, so that the commandant thinks he is quite safe in that his order of ringing the bell will fail. The bells are heard not just once but many times which makes many think it is haunted. Finally the Germans leave and the truth is known, Rachel was hiding in the bell tower and the priest to safe her life rang the bells. In the radio version, there is a Prussian/French narrator. In the story Rachel, who was a prositute becomes an honest wife when a patriot marries her.
"The commandant shook hands with him and drank his cup of coffee (3 sixth that morning), while he listened to his subordinate’s report of what had occurred; and then they both went to the window and declared that it was a very unpleasant outlook. The major, who was a quiet man, with a wife at home, could accommodate himself to everything; but the captain, who led a fast life, who was in the habit of frequenting low resorts, and enjoying women’s society, was angry at having to be shut up for three months in that wretched hole."
"Baron von Eyrick, a very short, fair-haired man, who was proud and brutal toward men, harsh toward prisoners and as explosive as gunpowder. Since he had been in France his comrades had called him nothing but Mademoiselle Fifi. They had given him that nickname on account of his dandified style and small waist, which looked as if he wore corsets;"
"The dining-room of the chateau was a magnificent long room, whose fine old mirrors, that were cracked by pistol bullets, and whose Flemish tapestry, which was cut to ribbons, and hanging in rags in places from sword- cuts, told too well what Mademoiselle Fifi’s occupation was during his spare time."
“What sort of an entertainment, captain?” the major asked, taking his pipe out of his mouth. “I will arrange all that, commandant,” the baron said. “I will send Le Devoir to Rouen, and he will bring back some ladies. I know where they can be found, We will have supper here, as all the materials are at hand and; at least, we shall have a jolly evening.”
"But all the other officers had risen and surrounded their chief, saying: “Let the captain have his way, commandant; it is terribly dull here.” And the major ended by yielding. “Very well,”
"When he left the chateau, the lawful owner, Comte Fernand d’Amoys d’Uville, had not had time to carry away or to hide anything except the plate, which had been stowed away in a hole made in one of the walls. As he was very rich and had good taste, the large drawing-room, which opened into the dining-room, looked like a gallery in a museum, before his precipitate flight. Expensive oil paintings, water colors and drawings hung against the walls, while on the tables, on the hanging shelves and in elegant glass cupboards there were a thousand ornaments: small vases, statuettes, groups of Dresden china and grotesque Chinese figures, old ivory and Venetian glass, which filled the large room with their costly and fantastic array."
"The little marquis went into the drawing-room to get what he wanted, and he brought back a small, delicate china teapot, which he filled with gunpowder, and carefully introduced a piece of punk through the spout. This he lighted and took his infernal machine into the next room, but he came back immediately and shut the door. The Germans all stood expectant, their faces full of childish, smiling curiosity, and as soon as the explosion had shaken the chateau, they all rushed in at once."
"The bells had not rung since their arrival. That was the only resistance which the invaders had met with in the neighborhood. The parish priest had not refused to take in and to feed the Prussian soldiers; he had several times even drunk a bottle of beer or claret with the hostile commandant, who often employed him as a benevolent intermediary; but it was no use to ask him for a single stroke of the bells; he would sooner have allowed himself to be shot. That was his way of protesting against the invasion, a peaceful and silent protest, the only one, he said, which was suitable to a priest, who was a man of mildness, and not of blood; and every one, for twenty-five miles round, praised Abbe Chantavoine’s firmness and heroism in venturing to proclaim the public mourning by the obstinate silence of his church bells."
"Five women dismounted, five handsome girls whom a comrade of the captain, to whom Le Devoir had presented his card, had selected with care. They had not required much pressing, as they had got to know the Prussians in the three months during which they had had to do with them, and so they resigned themselves to the men as they did to the state of affairs. They went at once into the dining-room, which looked still more dismal in its dilapidated condition when it was lighted up; while the table covered with choice dishes, the beautiful china and glass, and the plate, which had been found in the hole in the wall where its owner had hidden it, gave it the appearance of a bandits’ inn, where they were supping after committing a robbery in the place."
"Suddenly Rachel choked, and began to cough until the tears came into her eyes, while smoke came through her nostrils. Under pretence of kissing her, the count had blown a whiff of tobacco into her mouth. She did not fly into a rage and did not say a word, but she looked at her tormentor with latent hatred in her dark eyes."
"Mademoiselle Fifi had taken Rachel on his knee, and, getting excited, at one moment he kissed the little black curls on her neck and at another he pinched her furiously and made her scream, for he was seized by a species of ferocity, and tormented by his desire to hurt her. He often held her close to him and pressed a long kiss on the Jewess’ rosy mouth until she lost her breath, and at last he bit her until a stream of blood ran down her chin and on to her bodice. For the second time she looked him full in the face, and as she bathed the wound, she said: “You will have to pay for, that!” But he merely laughed a hard laugh and said: “I will pay.”
"The captain, who no doubt wished to impart an appearance of gallantry to the orgy, raised his glass again and said: “To our victories over hearts.” and, thereupon Lieutenant Otto, who was a species of bear from the Black Forest, jumped up, inflamed and saturated with drink, and suddenly seized by an access of alcoholic patriotism, he cried: “To our victories over France!” Drunk as they were, the women were silent, but Rachel turned round, trembling, and said: “See here, I know some Frenchmen in whose presence you would not dare say that.” But the little count, still holding her on his knee, began to laugh, for the wine had made him very merry, and said: “Ha! ha! ha! I have never met any of them myself. As soon as we show ourselves, they run away!” The girl, who was in a terrible rage, shouted into his face: “You are lying, you dirty scoundrel!”
“All the women in France belong to us also!” At that she got up so quickly that the glass upset, spilling the amber-colored wine on her black hair as if to baptize her, and broke into a hundred fragments, as it fell to the floor. Her lips trembling, she defied
the looks of the officer, who was still laughing, and stammered out in a voice choked with rage: “That — that — that — is not true — for you shall not have the women of France!” He sat down again so as to laugh at his ease; and, trying to speak with the Parisian accent, he said: “She is good, very good! Then why did you come here, my dear?” She was thunderstruck and made no reply for a moment, for in her agitation she did not understand him at first, but as soon as she grasped his meaning she said to him indignantly and vehemently: “I! I! I am not a woman, I am only a strumpet, and that is all that Prussians want.” Almost before she had finished he slapped her full in the face; but as he was raising his hand again, as if to strike her, she seized a small dessert knife with a silver blade from the table and, almost mad with rage, stabbed him right in the hollow of his neck."
"All the officers shouted in horror and leaped up tumultuously; but, throwing her chair between the legs of Lieutenant Otto, who fell down at full length, she ran to the window, opened it before they could seize her a jumped out into the night and the pouring rain. In two minutes Mademoiselle Fifi was dead, and Fritz and Otto drew their swords and wanted to kill the women, who threw themselves at their feet and clung to their knees."
"In the morning they all returned. Two soldiers had been killed and three others wounded by their comrades in the ardor of that chase and in the confusion of that nocturnal pursuit, but they had not caught Rachel. Then the inhabitants of the district were terrorized, the houses were turned topsy-turvy, the country was scoured and beaten up, over and over again, but the Jewess did not seem to have left a single trace of her passage behind her. When the general was told of it he gave orders to hush up the affair, so as not to set a bad example to the army, but he severely censured the commandant, who in turn punished his inferiors. The general had said: “One does not go to war in order to amuse one’s self and to caress prostitutes.” Graf von Farlsberg, in his exasperation, made up his mind to have his revenge on the district, but as he required a pretext for showing severity, he sent for the priest and ordered him to have the bell tolled at the funeral of Baron von Eyrick. Contrary to all expectation, the priest showed himself humble and most respectful, and when Mademoiselle Fifi’s body left the Chateau d’Uville on its way to the cemetery, carried by soldiers, preceded, surrounded and followed by soldiers who marched with loaded rifles, for the first time the bell sounded its funeral knell in a lively manner, as if a friendly hand were caressing it. At night it rang again, and the next day, and every day; it rang as much as any one could desire. Sometimes even it would start at night and sound gently through the darkness, seized with a strange joy, awakened one could not tell why. All the peasants in the neighborhood declared that it was bewitched, and nobody except the priest and the sacristan would now go near the church tower. And they went because a poor girl was living there in grief and solitude and provided for secretly by those two men."
"A short time afterward a patriot who had no prejudices, and who liked her because of her bold deed, and who afterward loved her for herself, married her and made her a lady quite as good as many others."
December 3, 2018
Una delizia breve, da gustare assieme al caffè, ridacchiando amaramente dell'ironia spesso intrinseca della vita.
August 26, 2023
A group of very bored and very blasé not to say savagely brutal Prussian officers stationed in the hastily abandoned Chateau d'Uville in Normandy after the French defeat in the War of 1870 decided to organize a banquet with a group of prostitutes from the nearby town of Rouen. The banquet goes more or less as planned until the final round of champagne and cognac when the most aggressive of the officers starts to insult the French nation, their men and their women. The officer responsible for this behavior was Baron von Eyrick nicknamed Mademoiselle Fifi by his comrades on account of his dandified style and small waist, which looked as if he wore corsets and on account of the habit, he had acquired of employing the French expression, 'Fi, fi donc'. Things do not at all go as planned for the officer and things take a surprising turn.
February 20, 2023
(Audiolibro) Il racconto parte con un ritmo lento che ben descrive l'atmosfera annoiata dei soldati prussiani a Rouen, occupanti la casa di un nobile fuggito precipitosamente subito prima dell'arrivo delle truppe occupanti.
Poi la storia prende una piega diversa, si anima e si risolve in maniera inaspettata.
Sempre brillante lo stile di Maupassant e la sottile ironia che fa capolino in alcune sue affermazioni.
Poi la storia prende una piega diversa, si anima e si risolve in maniera inaspettata.
Sempre brillante lo stile di Maupassant e la sottile ironia che fa capolino in alcune sue affermazioni.
June 28, 2021
Prussian soldiers acting like pigs while occupying the French get a bit more than they bargained for when they take on some strumpets. This tackles the callousness of war. Library download narrated by George Guidell.
December 15, 2022
3.25 stars
December 23, 2022
Le talent de Maupassant est indéniable, mais il est aussi à lire sans aucune solennité et avec tout l'humour qu'il utilise pour décrire les vices de la société de l'époque.
June 29, 2023
La fine è sublime
December 8, 2023
Di sicuro c’è un livello di lettura più profondo che non ho colto.
December 25, 2023
I didn’t like this one either! At least Guy is educating me on the Prussian Occupation of France in the 1800’s…
March 21, 2024
Such drama.
August 31, 2024
Good for her.
March 14, 2025
Corto y obsceno en todo su esplendor , algo normal en Guy de Maupassant
September 10, 2017
Prima di iniziare a leggere questo libro mi sono detta che senz'altro, una volta terminato, sarei stata felice di averlo letto. Così è stato, devo dirlo. Ripeterò a proposito di Maupassant quello che già avevo detto recensendo "Bel-Ami": non è Flaubert e non è Zola, perché manca della spinta lirica del primo e dell'acutissima capacità analitica del secondo.
Tuttavia, la caratteristica principale che mi fa amare Maupassant, e che mi ha fatto adorare questa raccolta di racconti, è la sua immediatezza. Ha una prosa di taglio giornalistico, estremamente visiva e fotografica. Il piglio cronachistico si nota anche nell'ironia spesso amara di questi racconti, veri spaccati di vita francese che riguardano tutte le classi sociali e non risparmiano nessuno, spesso sfociando nella vera e propria satira.
Gli argomenti sono i più disparati: la guerra franco-prussiana, con personaggi memorabili quali il devastante Mademoiselle Fifì e la bella prostituta Rachel, o i due pescatori che muoiono letteralmente "per sbaglio" (o per ingenuità); gli intrighi amorosi, tra amanti che muoiono e tresche non scoperte per un pelo; la dignità della donna di strada e l'ipocrisia della popolazione "bene", si veda il memorabile "Boule de Suif" (racconto fra i più famosi di Maupassant, che chiude la raccolta ma non è neanche, a parer mio, il più riuscito). Punte di grande profondità tocca l'introspezione di un omicida, di grande sensualità quello scenario africano che Guy conosceva così bene. In generale, però, viene messa alla berlina la società francese tutta quanta (contadini, sacerdoti, pie donne, signorotti di campagna, nobili di città, anziani, giovani, medici...), con un occhio di riguardo per il mondo medio borghese. Molti di questi racconti sono divertentissimi, davvero, senza per questo mancare di spunti di riflessione e di critica verso la società di cui Maupassant era acuto osservatore. Altri sono, ripeto, molto intensi e molto amari. Specie per quanto riguarda le donne, prostitute o mogli infelici, che spesso cercano una vita migliore o una via di fuga e trovano infranti tutti i loro sogni nel muro del mondo reale e delle sue convenzioni.
Lettura vivamente consigliata.
Tuttavia, la caratteristica principale che mi fa amare Maupassant, e che mi ha fatto adorare questa raccolta di racconti, è la sua immediatezza. Ha una prosa di taglio giornalistico, estremamente visiva e fotografica. Il piglio cronachistico si nota anche nell'ironia spesso amara di questi racconti, veri spaccati di vita francese che riguardano tutte le classi sociali e non risparmiano nessuno, spesso sfociando nella vera e propria satira.
Gli argomenti sono i più disparati: la guerra franco-prussiana, con personaggi memorabili quali il devastante Mademoiselle Fifì e la bella prostituta Rachel, o i due pescatori che muoiono letteralmente "per sbaglio" (o per ingenuità); gli intrighi amorosi, tra amanti che muoiono e tresche non scoperte per un pelo; la dignità della donna di strada e l'ipocrisia della popolazione "bene", si veda il memorabile "Boule de Suif" (racconto fra i più famosi di Maupassant, che chiude la raccolta ma non è neanche, a parer mio, il più riuscito). Punte di grande profondità tocca l'introspezione di un omicida, di grande sensualità quello scenario africano che Guy conosceva così bene. In generale, però, viene messa alla berlina la società francese tutta quanta (contadini, sacerdoti, pie donne, signorotti di campagna, nobili di città, anziani, giovani, medici...), con un occhio di riguardo per il mondo medio borghese. Molti di questi racconti sono divertentissimi, davvero, senza per questo mancare di spunti di riflessione e di critica verso la società di cui Maupassant era acuto osservatore. Altri sono, ripeto, molto intensi e molto amari. Specie per quanto riguarda le donne, prostitute o mogli infelici, che spesso cercano una vita migliore o una via di fuga e trovano infranti tutti i loro sogni nel muro del mondo reale e delle sue convenzioni.
Lettura vivamente consigliata.
April 3, 2020
Mea culpa, me grandissima culpa!
Guy de Maupassant, autore di questa raccolta di suoi racconti denominata "La signorina Fifì" - dal titolo di uno dei suddetti racconti - è uno di quegli autori che si conoscono senza conoscerli. Si studiano a scuola: Balzac, Poe, Svevo, D'Annunzio, Maupassant, Manzoni, Alighieri... ma quanti di questi autori, esclusi brani e volumi propinatici a scuola, sono poi stati da noi annoverati come "gente che scrive roba che posso leggere" piuttosto che "quelli che fanno studiare alle medie e al liceo"?
Il problema dell'assurgere alle vette divine di autore meritevole di inclusione nei testi scolastici è, ahimé, l'automatica antipatia della stragrande maggioranza degli studenti e, spesso, il conseguente oblio.
Immaginate quindi il mio stupore quando ho scoperto che non solo il titolo mi aveva ingannato - pensavo fosse un romanzo che rotasse attorno a una certa signorina Fifì, magari una sorta di "Emma" alla francese... stolto! - ma che ne apprezzavo pure il contenuto!
Maupassant ha, da un lato, un pungente umorismo alla francese apprezzabilissimo, dall'altro tanto talento e, per finire, la capacità di affrontare temi di un certo rilievo per l'epoca in cui è vissuto senza dilungarsi e senza farlo pesare come un sermone. I racconti di questo volumetto sono molto brevi e molto intensi e danno un'ottima panoramica di come la gente pensasse, agisse e di quale fosse l'inclinazione generale verso temi come il ruolo della donna, la sessualità, la guerra, il potere e molto altro. Assolutamente allucinante, in senso buono, il fatto che Maupassant sia (fosse) così maledettamente bravo.
Non posso fare a meno di pensare, una volta di più, che a scuola il modo in cui vengono insegnati gli autori e presentate le loro opere sia di quanto più deleterio e deterrente per gli studenti, anche considerando il fatto che la fascia d'età va normalmente dagli 11 ai 19 anni circa. Età difficile, che mal affronta pomposi scrittori morti da un sacco di tempo presentati da individui vecchi quanto e spesso più dei genitori.
Un vero peccato. Ve lo consiglio assolutamente.
Guy de Maupassant, autore di questa raccolta di suoi racconti denominata "La signorina Fifì" - dal titolo di uno dei suddetti racconti - è uno di quegli autori che si conoscono senza conoscerli. Si studiano a scuola: Balzac, Poe, Svevo, D'Annunzio, Maupassant, Manzoni, Alighieri... ma quanti di questi autori, esclusi brani e volumi propinatici a scuola, sono poi stati da noi annoverati come "gente che scrive roba che posso leggere" piuttosto che "quelli che fanno studiare alle medie e al liceo"?
Il problema dell'assurgere alle vette divine di autore meritevole di inclusione nei testi scolastici è, ahimé, l'automatica antipatia della stragrande maggioranza degli studenti e, spesso, il conseguente oblio.
Immaginate quindi il mio stupore quando ho scoperto che non solo il titolo mi aveva ingannato - pensavo fosse un romanzo che rotasse attorno a una certa signorina Fifì, magari una sorta di "Emma" alla francese... stolto! - ma che ne apprezzavo pure il contenuto!
Maupassant ha, da un lato, un pungente umorismo alla francese apprezzabilissimo, dall'altro tanto talento e, per finire, la capacità di affrontare temi di un certo rilievo per l'epoca in cui è vissuto senza dilungarsi e senza farlo pesare come un sermone. I racconti di questo volumetto sono molto brevi e molto intensi e danno un'ottima panoramica di come la gente pensasse, agisse e di quale fosse l'inclinazione generale verso temi come il ruolo della donna, la sessualità, la guerra, il potere e molto altro. Assolutamente allucinante, in senso buono, il fatto che Maupassant sia (fosse) così maledettamente bravo.
Non posso fare a meno di pensare, una volta di più, che a scuola il modo in cui vengono insegnati gli autori e presentate le loro opere sia di quanto più deleterio e deterrente per gli studenti, anche considerando il fatto che la fascia d'età va normalmente dagli 11 ai 19 anni circa. Età difficile, che mal affronta pomposi scrittori morti da un sacco di tempo presentati da individui vecchi quanto e spesso più dei genitori.
Un vero peccato. Ve lo consiglio assolutamente.
June 22, 2017
My very first impression about this story, was not at all positive. In fact, I felt that it is named as complicatedly as the writer, in a desperate bid to attract readers and I was really bored with the slow pace and difficult to pronounce names of Protagonists. In the very beginning, the feminist in me reared her head and decided that the writer is a man given to worldly pleasures, has no respect for women and the story is going to be a steady tale of vulgarity served under the guise of romance.
But, Thank God, I persisted and was able to feel the actual import of the story, hidden beneath layers and layers of satire and cynicism. Guy is a fantastic satirist and enjoying his stories requires an open minded approach
But, Thank God, I persisted and was able to feel the actual import of the story, hidden beneath layers and layers of satire and cynicism. Guy is a fantastic satirist and enjoying his stories requires an open minded approach
August 9, 2017
Intertextualidad
Menciones directas:
-
Indirecta:
* Retoma Maupassant el motivo de la prostituta patriota que es más valiente que cualquier otro hombre en el relato, como hiciera dos años antes con "Bola de sebo" (1880).
* Lugares:
-Ruan, Normandía, Francia.
-Río Andelle, Francia.
* Ambientes: Palaciego, iglesia, urbano.
* Eventos: Guerra franco-prusiana (1870-71).
* Figuras recurrentes: Militar representado/a negativamente, prostituta virtuosa.
Menciones directas:
-
Indirecta:
* Retoma Maupassant el motivo de la prostituta patriota que es más valiente que cualquier otro hombre en el relato, como hiciera dos años antes con "Bola de sebo" (1880).
* Lugares:
-Ruan, Normandía, Francia.
-Río Andelle, Francia.
* Ambientes: Palaciego, iglesia, urbano.
* Eventos: Guerra franco-prusiana (1870-71).
* Figuras recurrentes: Militar representado/a negativamente, prostituta virtuosa.
May 31, 2018
For whom the bell tolls. Prussians occupy French aristocrat’s chateau. They are rude, crude and lewd. One night they gather up several local strumpets for an evening of cultural delights. The wine and champagne and assorted liqueurs were copiously imbibed. Things were said, actions taken — empty pursuit followed, the Prussians went home but the bell continued to toll. 3.8 stars rounded to 4: recommended but not essential reading.
July 13, 2018
Nice writing style, which will make me consider reading more of Guy de Maupassant’s work, however, whilst enjoyable, this story was a bit random. I’d say a very good (very) short story.
I read this in a two-parter with another short story called 'The Devil' - A good short story of how individual needs are placed above others and the ‘burden’ of dying. Really well written.
I read this in a two-parter with another short story called 'The Devil' - A good short story of how individual needs are placed above others and the ‘burden’ of dying. Really well written.
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