Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant

by Guy de Maupassant

Guy de Maupassant, France's gift to the world of short stories, was a prolific writer of this genre. His complete collection numbers just under 200. Volume X contains the following titles:

1. The Christening

2. The Farmer's Wife

3. The Devil

4. The Snipe

5. The Will

6. Walter Schnaff's Adventure

7. At Sea

8. Minuet

9. The Son

10. That Pig of a Morin

11. Saint Anthony

12. Lasting Love

13. Pierrot

14. A Normandy Joke

15. Father Matthew

Public Domain (P)2021 Voices of Today

Genres: Classics, Short Stories, Fiction, France, Literature, 19th Century, Horror

807 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 1911

About the author

Henri 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.

Reviews

[Nilanjana Haldar · Rating 5 out of 5]

6th grade or lower I think, that's when this found its way into my humble beginnings...

I had learnt to bifurcate into unknown worlds right around its appearance into my life and the first wasn't very far from a certain tale titled, "Was it all a dream?" This particular story I recall revolving around a wind-swept cliff and a synagogue aroused many different silent questions I hadn't quite learnt to put into words until now. Questions like, "Where and how was I so available in person to stuff I was reading?" or "How could I hear the graveyard gravel rock and swing about the courtyard in clear distinction of the arrival of a real ghost?" announced in my mind, but I couldn’t read them like you are reading now. I couldn’t. I felt their worldly feelings, but actual words were impossible back then because I barely knew language as much as I do now.

So the only way I interpreted this story back then was in extraordinary 'forgottenness'---a 'forgottenness' that chose to forget because it retorted, self-contradicted in unuttered ways given its erstwhile inability to comprehend just how it had so deeply lost itself in this 'page-world' realm it had squarely stepping in.

This was my scenario back then, upon reading 'Guy de Maupassant'. My English hadn't taken birth and I had the dictionary next to me the whole time but much till Matilda, I had begun locating friendships in the run of words, and breaking off from a tale to collect their meanings proved to carry more pleasure than otherwise.

But while I had yet to learn the inexhaustible nature of literary art, I had quite frankly discovered its presence in Guy’s stories and one fine day, I felt the first shiver bubble past my skin, in conclusion of a chapter I had been reading which revolved around a severed hand that appeared in and out of existence in multiple locations in the quarters that this protagonist resided in. What at the time formed a reappearing nightmare for days no end I can now understand to be a master’s skill. This, I’ll tell you, was in enormous contrast to the way the world works now——‘Everybody is in so much hurry to get things done, and to ‘Get’/‘Get’/‘Get.’ This, however, came from a time where I could spend an entire month thinking about and talking to the characters of a book, and ramifying their original stories into directions of my own. I’m glad I am reviewing this book after all these years because this revitalises my desirelessness in rushing like other so many others out there. I desire to lose myself in one and take its inmates to worlds unknown, and die thus.

But even in my juvenile mind, I had come to appreciate that Guy’s stories weren’t gummed together as pieces that would take over a reader’s mind. They were intended to alter, much like diversify, our takes on people and really make us quit our judgements that now so stereotypically pollute the world. I shall give you another example to this end. It hails from a story of a man who fell in love with a woman’s locks of hair. Just her locks of hair! He hadn’t even met her. I think about 6 pages of the story wheel around this lust for dead cells, which sufficed day’s endings and life’s satisfaction of a human. And he was all well-rounded and regularly behaved otherwise. So, what thoughts would you construe around such a human? That he is insane?! Well, that’s not how it appeared to me at the time I read it in 6th grade. Back then, my mind wasn’t polluted by stereotypes and every variant of events seemingly had a place in the world for me (something I am reverting back to, these days). It wasn’t insanity for me and in many ways, I relished the pleasure he felt in his caressing the locks of hair. So, in all honestly, this revelation continues to strike me even today that EVERY SINGLE book and story in the world has a place----it may be universally rejected---but cosmically they exist so they have a place. Minds push them away but they still exist, so whatever made them exist wanted them here! :)

How far have I gone into your work, Guy? :P

Well, if Guy hadn’t come back in those years I would have learnt to surmise as most people do (well-meaning people but still corrupted by stereotypes). But I happened to be very lucky to have been dumped with this book which was given to my brother for a very short time, by his friend's father. I don’t know why my brother was given the book when he was never interested in reading it. Nobody knew what a quiet sister derived silently, surreptitiously from it, in the small humble beginnings that she grew up in!

Guy is a very beautiful writer and this book I recommend for anybody with a deep, contemplative mind : )

[L J Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not the edition I read. I couldn't find a link on Goodreads for the correct book. After finishing the thirteen volumes of short stories that can be downloaded for free from Project Gutenberg, I had read only 180 of his 311 short stories. The Centaur Press edition, an ebook available from Amazon with the title COMPLETE SHORT STORIES adds over 100 short stories towards completing Maupassant's total output. And, like the Gutenberg editions, none of these stories is a "fake Maupassant", of which there are 65 tales that usually clutter up most of the available editions. There are over 600 pages in this book of stories that are "new" and generally very hard to find. There are about a dozen of Maupassant's stories that have never been translated into the English language. So, how were these 100 extra stories? It is hard to imagine why a full half of these are not in every edition. There are plentiful "mediocre" stories that read like incidents rather than as fully developed tales, but a full half of them are a pleasure to read and maybe half a dozen are amongst his best work. If you are a Maupassant addict, as I am, you should check out this ebook and really enjoy yourself.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying my year long read of Maupassant short stories. Grateful he finally got beyond the war stories in this volume. Now on to Volume 3...

[Lext · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is short-story writing at its best. I read some of these as a kid, and I still remember the plot of many of them. They're just unforgettable stories. They're concise, funny, satirical, and they describe life at its most mundane and yet most interesting and sometimes shocking juncture. It's a kind of life that someone who grows up in America may never imagine, the kind of closed, stuffy Old World life that may just exist unchanged for millennia. Highly recommended.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something I have been wanting to tackle for years.
"The Necklace" and "A Piece of String" will always be my favorites.

[Dr Tanzeel · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent stories...though most stories are about war

[Grey Matter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maupassant's ability to conjure a plethora of diverse characters is just astounding. He portrays intricate emotions in the most magnificent manner, especially in the cases of disturbed characters. One can only guess that there's a part of the author in these struggling souls.. We can very much comprehend his longing for someone throught his short stories.. His dread of solitude is very much evident in some of them. The presence of strong and intelligent female characters is admirable. Mrs Harriet, Ugly, Chali, Littlr Louise Roque is some of my favourites among many.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.10⭐

Stories marked with * found in the Project Gutenberg version of the Entire Original Maupassant Short Stories> are in fact not by Maupassant at all, but by other authors (shown in parenthesis) and falsely attributed to him.

Guy De Maupassant—A Study by Pol Neveux 4⭐

Volume I
Boule De Suif 5⭐
Two Friends 5⭐
*The Lancer's Wife (written by Jean Richepin) 2.5⭐
The Prisoners 3.5⭐
Two Little Soldiers 3.5⭐
Father Milon 4.25⭐
A Coup D'état 4.25⭐
Lieutenant Lare's Marriage 3⭐
The Horrible 3.5⭐
Madame Parisse 3⭐
Mademoiselle Fiifi 5⭐
A Duel 4⭐

VOLUME II
The Colonel's Ideas 3.5⭐
Mother Sauvage 4.5⭐
Epiphany 4.25⭐
The Mustache 3⭐
Madame Baptiste 5⭐
The Question of Latin 3.5⭐
A Meeting 3.5⭐
The Blind Man 5⭐
Indiscretion 3.25⭐
A Family Affair 5⭐
Beside Schopenhauer's Corpse 4⭐

Volume III
Miss Harriet 5⭐
Little Louise Roque 5⭐
The Donkey 3⭐
Morion 4.5⭐
The Dispenser of Holy Water 4⭐
A Parricide 4.25⭐
Bertha 4⭐
The Patron 3.5⭐
The Door 3.5⭐
A Sale 3⭐
The Impolite Sex 3⭐
A Wedding Gift 3.5⭐
The Relic 3⭐

Volume IV
The Moribund 4.25⭐
The Gamekeeper 4⭐
The Story of a Farm Girl 3.5⭐
The Wreck 5⭐
Theodule Sabot's Confession 3.25⭐
The Wrong House 3⭐
The Diamond Necklace 5⭐
The Marquis De Fumerol 3⭐
The Trip of Le Horla 3.5⭐
Farewell! 4⭐
The Wolf 3.5⭐
The Inn 4⭐

Volume V
Monsieur Parent 4⭐
Queen Hortense 4⭐
Timbuctoo 3.5⭐
Tombstones 5⭐
Mademoiselle Pearl 4⭐
*The Thief (written by René Maizeroy) 3.25⭐
Clair De Lune 4.5⭐
Waiter, A "Bock" 4⭐
After 4.25⭐
Forgiveness 3⭐
In the Spring 4.25⭐
A Queer Night in Paris 4⭐

Volume VI
That Costly Ride 4⭐
Useless Beauty 5⭐
The Father 5⭐
My Uncle Sosthenes 4.5⭐
The Baroness 4.25⭐
Mother and Son 3⭐
The Hand 3.5⭐
A Tress of Hair 4⭐
On the River 4⭐
The Cripple 4.5⭐
A Stroll 5⭐
Alexandre 3.25⭐
The Log 3.5⭐
Julie Romain 3.5⭐
The Rondoli Sisters 4⭐

Volume VII
The False Gems 3.25⭐
Fascination 3⭐
Yvette Samoris 3.5⭐
A Vendetta 5⭐
My Twenty-Five Days 3⭐
"The Terror" 4.25⭐
Legend of Mont St. Michel 3.25⭐
A New Year's Gift 5⭐
Friend Patience 2⭐
Abandoned 5⭐
The Maison Tellier 5⭐
Denis 4.5⭐
My Wife 4.25⭐
The Unknown 3.25⭐
The Apparition 4.25⭐

Volume VIII
Clochette 4.25⭐
The Kiss 5⭐
The Legion of Honor 3.25⭐
The Test 4⭐
Found on a Drowned Man 5⭐
The Orphan 4.25⭐
The Beggar 5⭐
The Rabbit 3⭐
His Avenger 5⭐
My Uncle Jules 3.5⭐
The Model 3.5⭐
A Vagabond 5⭐
The Fishing Hole 5⭐
The Spasm 4⭐
In the Wood 4⭐
Martine 4⭐
All Over 4.25⭐
The Parrot 4.25⭐
The Piece of String 5⭐

Volume IX
Toine 3.25⭐
Madame Husson's "Rosier" 3.5⭐
The Adopted Son 5⭐
Coward 4⭐
Old Mongilet 3.5⭐
Moonlight 4.5⭐
The First Snowfall 3.5⭐
Sundays of a Bourgeois 4.25⭐
A Recollection 3.5⭐
Our Letters 5⭐
The Love of Long Ago 5⭐
Friend Joseph 5⭐
The Effeminates 3.5⭐
Old Amable 4.5⭐

Volume X
The Christening 5⭐
The Farmer's Wife 3.5⭐
The Devil 4.5⭐
The Snipe 3⭐
The Will 3.5⭐
Walter Schnaffs' Adventure 5⭐
At Sea 4.25⭐
Minuet 5⭐
The Son 4⭐
That Pig of a Morin 3.5⭐
Saint Anthony 4.25⭐
Lasting Love 4.5⭐
Pierrot 5⭐
A Normandy Joke 5⭐
Father Matthew 3.5⭐

Volume XI
The Umbrella 5⭐
Belhomme's Beast 4.5⭐
Discovery 4.25⭐
The Accursed Bread 2.5⭐
The Dowry 3.5⭐
The Diary of a Madman 5⭐
The Mask 4⭐
The Penguins' Rook 4⭐
A Family 4⭐
Suicides 5⭐
An Artifice 5⭐
Dreams 3.5⭐
Simon's Papa 5⭐

Volume XII
The Child 5⭐
A Country Excursion 4.25⭐
Rose 4.25⭐
Rosalie Prudent 4⭐
Regret 5⭐
A Sister's Confession 4.25⭐
Coco 5⭐
Dead Waman's Secret 5⭐
A Humble Drama 4⭐
Mademoiselle Cocotte 4.25⭐
The Corsican Bandit 4.75⭐
The Grave 5⭐

Volume XIII
Old Judas 4.25⭐
The Little Cask 4.25⭐
Boitelle 5⭐
A Widow 4.25⭐
The Englishman of Etretat 4⭐
Magnetism 3⭐
A Father's Confession 4.5⭐
A Mother of Monsters 4.25⭐
An Uncomfortable Bed 4⭐
A Portrait 4⭐
The Drunkard 5⭐
The Wardrobe 3.5⭐
The Mountain Pool 5⭐
A Cremation 4⭐
Misti 3.25⭐
Madame Hermet 4.5
The Magic Couch 4.25⭐

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guy de Maupassant specialized in understanding the messteries of the human heart.

Not mysteries but mess-teries, or ways that people could inflict terrible suffering upon themselves.

There's a time in life to find this sort of introspection compelling, if not downright addictive. Some folks may never lose their fascination with it. When I read a bunch of short stories by De Maupassant, it was the PERFECTEST time for me to wallow in the various nuances of suffering. Probably I was about sixteen.

I LOVED THE WRITING STYLE OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT

But mostly that is because I was able to understand it pretty well, despite struggle with the French language and my likely not knowing the meaning of many of the words. (One can stop only so many times to thumb through one's dictionary yet again.)

However, I could still feel the feelings. Oh, those feelings! Therefore, I loved Guy de Maupassant.

WHAT KIND OF WORRYING THOUGH? THERE ARE SO MANY KINDS. WHAT WAS HIS KIND?

Although I'm no Guy scholar, I can provided one example, "The Piece of String." Here's one point at a time.

1. Maitre Hauchecorne is taking a walk with his enemy Maitre Malandain.
Adult me: Why?

2. Hauchecorne sees a piece of string on the sidewalk and wants to take it home.
Adult me: Totally understandable. In my basement I have a fine ball of string, and in the garage I have a thicker kind. Is it called "twine"? One could collect worse things.

3. The dissembling begins. While bending over to pick up the string, Hauchecorne sees that Malandain is looking at him. So Hauchecorne pretends that he has been searching for a random something.
Adult me: A sweet reminder that, back in Guy's day, the majority of people were still capable of feeling SHAME.

4. Fast-forward to the ending: Hauchecorne has made a false accusation about Malandain. As a result, Malandain's reputation is ended. As a result of that... Hauchecorne feels so guilty about what he's caused. How guilty? Pretty darned guilty. The character dies of a broken heart.
Adult me: Life is so complicated. Had I made that leetle series of mistakes to save face, I might have felt terrible too.

Although these days, most of us adults are covered with a certain amount of moral grime, aren't we? Similar to our air pollution.

Tender consciences may no longer kill us, but we continue to be educated through the messteries of the human heart.

[Monique Cameron · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the edition I downloaded from Project Gutenberg, there are 7 volumes combined in one book. I read through the first three volumes. His stories are literary with a focus on character and setting rather than on plot. I've never read characters so well described, yet often so unappealing. The theme of almost all of them is very dark. Almost all of the first volume's stories were set in war-time. Only few of the stories in the first three volumes were enjoyable so I would only recommend this book to men, particularly those interested in the military.

What originally attracted me to this book was having read Miss Pearl (the French version) in high school. I skipped ahead to find it and enjoyed it just as much as I did then. I don't plan to read the rest of the stories in the remaining volumes.

[gerard brangan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of course one knows of Maupassant's reputation, and this long and varied collection offers a superb insight into his work and his world. The style is admirable and very well suited to those wanting to wander unhurriedly through an almost forgotten world. But the author masterfully treats topics and themes that are universal and timeless.
However for the modern reader encountering some of these characters and scenarios in the light of current world views, he or she may be surprised ( even shocked or scandalised) at a language that is far from political correctness and bordering on sexist, racist, misogynistic at times.
We should however be careful I suppose not to judge the past by today's standards.

[Ricardo de Almeida Rocha]

após ler "uma vida" de guy de maupassant se instala uma saudade de dias muito antigos. não é muito fácil encontrar o livro, mas é possível transportar esse afeto para seus contos, um aqui outro acolá. simples, às vezes sutis, passando a virtude de terem sido muito trabalhados, que é o grande trunfo dos que não são naturalmente geniais. seu segredo está em a pensão tellier: trabalhar o texto sem deixar de lado a emoção, dificílima combinação que não tem como dar errado.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true masterpiece! A treasure trove of literature. Monsieur Guy de Maupassant is a master of the short story form. I enjoyed every single story from start to finish. My two favorite were The Jewels and The Horla. Special thanks to my dear sister Kendra of Phoenix, AZ for giving me this special book.

[Duffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mother read de Maupassant and M. R. James stories aloud when she was pregnant with me. She threw books at me to read, and these I treasured because she wanted to discuss them with her. She would get so excited. I still read them. They hold up today, most of them, as much as Lovecraft's and Poe's. I advise you all to get this book for your littlest kids. May they never sleep again.

[Veysel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guy de Maupassant – Mücevherler
Şekerim, gerçek mücevheri ödeyip satın almanın yolunu bulamadığımız zaman, kendimizi sadece güzellik ve tatlılıkla süslenmiş gösteririz, işte mücevherlerin en enderi de budur.

[ross🐞 · Rating 4 out of 5]

i read some of these for my french class and enjoyed them so much that i read more on my own. guy de maupassant is an incredible storyteller and also sort of a historian — the attitudes, characters and events of his stories tell us a lot about that specific period in french society.

[Catarina Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

entertaining to read on the train going towards an evening of entertainment, you feel like you get there in 3 short stories and not some boring 35minutes

[isidora · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

I forgot how much I like Maupassant's stories. The Franco-Prussian war and military topics can get a bit tedious, but I love the elegance of his style. Some of my favorite stories: Miss Harriet, The Diamond Neckless, The False Gems, The Piece of Strings.
This might not be the edition I have read. My copy also consists of 13 volumes and is called the same, but it has 1500 pages (which makes much more sense since there are 180 stories).

[T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the book that would not end, 1000 pages of short stories, and I am compulsive enough that once started, I wanted to read it all, and I did! Most of the stories were pretty good, some were excellent and some were not so good. Many were about the Prussian occupation of France, or about small town French life. Glad I read it, glad its finished!

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

The longest book of short stories I've ever read - a struggle to read at times, don't think I'd read it again in a hurry! Took me 2 months to read which is a lifetime for me, I usually get through books in a couple of days!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not read this version- but i remember the stories....