Au soleil

by Guy de Maupassant

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Genres: France, French Literature

112 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1884

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

[Sarra Tebib · Rating 3 out of 5]

Au Soleil is a collection of articles published in Le Gaulois by Guy de Maupassant, it was edited by Victor Havard who brought together a good part of the author's texts in 1884. Maupassant mainly talks about his trip to Algeria in 1881, France colonized the country, some Europeans settled there and others visited as tourists or as specialists. Maupassant was a reporter for a French newspaper at the time, he signed his articles with his name or pseudonyms such as "a colon" or "an officer"; the first text, entitled Au Soleil, begins with "To Pol Arnault", indicating that it is of an epistolary nature, Pol Arnault was a friend of his who, since he lived in Algeria, facilitated the trip for him. The titles of the chronicles are, apart from the first two and the last ones, the names of the cities and regions he traveled through, acting as a summary of his journey in Algeria.

This novel is part of a specific era in french literature. At the time, from the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th, Europeans traveled to french colonies in Africa, Asia, and America. They came back with journals or letters describing these places. This exotic travel literature became ethnic and even colonial. It had specific characteristics influenced both by Romanticism and imperialism.

These writers would describe Algeria (for example) as a well-deserved inheritance of ancient Rome, where people are lazy ignorant "savages" who need to be saved and civilized by the grand France. It was a mixture of: discovery and escape from the occidental materialism and monotony as well as a criticism of the culture of these different people diminishing them and reducing them to barbaric uncivilized slaves. Some writers would not express this political opinion of course and decided to simply describe landscapes, but still represented the Maghreb in and for the eyes of Europeans.

Guy de Maupassant did both! His depiction of the country was extremely confusing and contradictory: he obviously had a superior tone, mocking Algerians and berating them while complimenting french colonies and streets, yet at the same time, he idealized the place and defended autochthones by claiming the methods used by colonial forces were extreme and unfair. He certainly was not a Robinhood to Algerians but he was for sure one of the first writers to ever express a point of view that is against french politics in some way.

I enjoyed reading these articles, it was a fast interesting read. I had to study it for homework and it pleased me to see his writings through a different lens. I always loved reading Maupassant, his novels and novellas are really good and intriguing. I recommend Le Horla, Bel-Ami, La parure, La main.

[Zack2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very nice collection of travel writings by Maupassant.
The highlights here are his trek through the desert ("Le Zar'ez"), coming across sandstorms, bland food, strange animals, and a sea of salt; a heartwarming meeting with a Corsican monk ("Le Monastère de Corbara"); tales of a family of Corsican brigands ("Les Bandits corses"); and a tour of Brittany ("En Bretagne"), containing druidic myths, tales of shipwrecks and drownings, an encounter with a strange curé, and a great general temperate-coastline atmosphere.

[Cristian Castañeda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agradable diarío de viajes por el bueno de Guy, que ante lo aburrido de la cotidianidad en Paris decide ir a África, donde encontrará paisajes y sociedades que describe con su magistral pluma.

«Viajar es una especie de puerta por la que se sale de la realidad conocida para entrar en una realidad inexplorada que parece un sueño.»

[Ci · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disturbing and vivid.