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Selected Short Stories - Complete and Unabridged With Introduction and Notes
This volume contains 30 of Maupassant's classic stories:
Boule de Suif
In the Spring
The Graveyard Sisterhood
Madame Tellier's Establishment
A Ruse
An Old Man
Rust
Two Friends
The Jewels
The Conservatory
The Matter with André
My Uncle Jules
A Duel
The Convert
In the Bedroom
Regret
The decoration
The Piece of String
The Model
The Hand
Idyll
Mother Savage
Guillemot Rock
Imprudence
The Signal
In the Woods
The Devil
The Horla
The Mask
Mouche.
A fair selection of the master's short story output. Roger Colet has written the introduction for the Penguin Classic edition..
Boule de Suif
In the Spring
The Graveyard Sisterhood
Madame Tellier's Establishment
A Ruse
An Old Man
Rust
Two Friends
The Jewels
The Conservatory
The Matter with André
My Uncle Jules
A Duel
The Convert
In the Bedroom
Regret
The decoration
The Piece of String
The Model
The Hand
Idyll
Mother Savage
Guillemot Rock
Imprudence
The Signal
In the Woods
The Devil
The Horla
The Mask
Mouche.
A fair selection of the master's short story output. Roger Colet has written the introduction for the Penguin Classic edition..
246 pages, Paperback
First published April 28, 1971
155 people are currently reading
3656 people want to read
About the author
Guy de Maupassant
7,379 books3,009 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 - 30 of 156 reviews
December 28, 2018
Master storyteller Guy De Maupassant covered the full range in his short fiction, by turns as realist as Balzac, as romantic as Dumas, as naturalist as Zola, as decadent as Lorrain or as Gothic as Poe. What a powerful, versatile imagination. This collection of short stories includes three well-known classics – Boule De Suif, The Piece of String, Madame Tellier’s Establishment – but I will focus on four very short tales that, by telling detail and the author’s grasp of the nuances of psychology, capture the human heart.
A VENDETTA
In a tiny Italian fishing cottage built on a mountainside overlooking the sea, a widow lives alone with her adult son and dog named Frisky. But one night tragedy strikes: after a quarrel, the victim of underhandedness and betrayal, her son, Antoine, is knifed by one Nicolas Ravolati, who escapes back across the sea to Sardinia. After the son’s body is brought back to the cottage, the old grieving widow sits next to howling, grieving Frisky and then bends over the body and says, “Don’t worry my boy, my poor child, I will avenge you. Do you hear me? It’s your mother’s promise, and your mother always keeps her word, you know that.”
In the days that follow, looking out at sea in the direction of Sardinia, she can discern the white spec that is the home town of Nicolas Ravolati. But what can she, so old and so weak, possibly do to avenge her son? Then, ah, Maupassant, you clever master! We read: “One night, as Frisky began to howl, the mother has a sudden inspiration, the fierce vindictive inspiration of a savage.” What unfolds is simply unforgettable. Thanks, Guy. Frisky, love that dog’s name.
THE MODEL
How deep is our love; how extreme our emotions: what moves us to sacrifice our lives; why would we be willing to destroy everything in a fit of passion? A short tale of love, obsession, remorse and more love. This Maupassant story of a painter and his wife reminds me of how we as humans can develop our minds to be super-sharp, our bodies to be incredibly strong and flexible, but what about the emotions? Curiously enough, the emotions play such a major role, enough to keep us and the world spinning round and round and round.
TWO FRIENDS
How to articulate the close bond of friendship amid the stupidity of war, the warm blood of humanity amid the cold blood of inhumanity? Maupassant captures the human, all too human in this tale of two Parisians, French to their marrow, as they decide, after a few drinks, to brave the chances of encountering Prussian soldiers in order to relive the simple pleasure of fishing they both enjoyed out in the countryside prior to the war. The artistry of every single touch of character, bit of dialogue and unfolding of events is a stroke of storytelling genius.
THE MINUET
During a discussion amid friends, an elderly bachelor who stepped over many a dead body during his years of military service and witnessed multiple additional tragedies in his long life, spoke up: “The crude violence of nature or man may bring cries of horror or indignation to our lips, but it does not wring the heart or send the shiver down the spine, as does the sight of certain heart-rending, though trivial incidents. . . . Suddenly there opens before us a chink of that mysterious door leading to the intricate maze of the subconscious mind with its incurable misery, the more deep-seated because apparently not acute, the more agonizing because apparently indefinable, the more enduring because apparently imaginary; these persists in the soul as it were a trail of sadness, an after-taste of bitterness, a feeling of disillusion, which it takes years to dispel.”
The old bachelor then goes on to relay an experience he had many years ago at the Luxembourg garden in Paris whilst a young law student, when he would frequently visit this grand old 18th century-style garden in his leisure hours and indulge in dreamy philosophical musings. On a few such outing, he noticed there was another person, an oddly dressed little old gentlemen who also frequented the garden. On those occasions when the two of them had a chance encounter, they exchanged pleasantries but then the bachelor observed something peculiar: “Suddenly one morning, thinking himself quite alone, he began making strange movements; first a few little jumps, then a bow, then he executed an entrechant, which still showed agility in spite of his spindly legs; then he began a graceful pirouette, hopping and jigging up and down in the oddest way, smiling to an imaginary audience, bowing with his hand on his heart, contorting his poor old body like a marionette, waving pathetically ridiculous greetings to the empty air. He was dancing!” What happens in a future meeting with this odd gentlemen burns a hole deep in the old bachelor’s memory. As our bachelor wryly observes, such is the irrationality of life.
July 4, 2013
I read this book about ten years ago and I was reminded that I had it this morning when I was looking at another Goodreader's "shelves" as is my want.
Looking briefly through this selection of thirty short stories, the most famous of which was the "Boule de Suif", or "suet dumpling", I vividly recalled this one about a Rouen prostitute. She was:
"Short, completely round, fat as a pig, with puffy fingers constricted at the joints like strings of tiny sausages, taut shiny skin, and huge breasts swelling underneath her dress, her freshness was so attractive that she nonetheless remained desirable and much sought after."
I guess that there is no accounting for taste but this book is worth acquiring purely to read this.
The stories are wide and diverse and I feel that Maupassant was a great loss to the literary world with his early death in an asylum at the age of forty-two.
An excellent read!
Looking briefly through this selection of thirty short stories, the most famous of which was the "Boule de Suif", or "suet dumpling", I vividly recalled this one about a Rouen prostitute. She was:
"Short, completely round, fat as a pig, with puffy fingers constricted at the joints like strings of tiny sausages, taut shiny skin, and huge breasts swelling underneath her dress, her freshness was so attractive that she nonetheless remained desirable and much sought after."
I guess that there is no accounting for taste but this book is worth acquiring purely to read this.
The stories are wide and diverse and I feel that Maupassant was a great loss to the literary world with his early death in an asylum at the age of forty-two.
An excellent read!
March 13, 2016
I was close to giving a 5 star rating to this superb collection, in the end choosing four stars only because there are a few stories here that are not up to the standard of the rest.
Being British myself, I can say that our nation tends to stereotype the French as being rather too preoccupied with matters of the bedroom. It must be said that Maupassant does nothing to dispel this image. Love, or more accurately lust, is the predominant theme of these stories. Maupassant's male characters seem to fall head over heels for anything in a skirt, and his female characters are not exactly the type to follow vows of chastity either. In fact, hapless deceived husbands are a favourite theme of the author, and it seems to me that Maupassant enjoyed highlighting just how far people's actual behaviour varied from the conventional morality of the era.
That said, there is huge variety in these tales. "Rust" and "Madame Tellier's Establishment" are gloriously comic, whilst "Boule de Suif", "The Devil", and "The Matter with André", are all stories that highlight the uglier side of human nature. The Franco-Prussian War, in which Maupassant was a participant, features as the background to several of the tales. Maupassant uses this background to explore the unequal relationship between conqueror and conquered. Apart from the aforementioned "Boule de Suif", I found "Two Friends" to be a memorable story in this category.
For me personally though, "The Horla" was the best story of all in the collection and is up beside Anton Chekhov's "Vanka" as the most powerful short story I have read. I hadn't read Maupassant before, but after finishing this collection I would say his reputation as "The Master of the Short Story" is fully justified.
Being British myself, I can say that our nation tends to stereotype the French as being rather too preoccupied with matters of the bedroom. It must be said that Maupassant does nothing to dispel this image. Love, or more accurately lust, is the predominant theme of these stories. Maupassant's male characters seem to fall head over heels for anything in a skirt, and his female characters are not exactly the type to follow vows of chastity either. In fact, hapless deceived husbands are a favourite theme of the author, and it seems to me that Maupassant enjoyed highlighting just how far people's actual behaviour varied from the conventional morality of the era.
That said, there is huge variety in these tales. "Rust" and "Madame Tellier's Establishment" are gloriously comic, whilst "Boule de Suif", "The Devil", and "The Matter with André", are all stories that highlight the uglier side of human nature. The Franco-Prussian War, in which Maupassant was a participant, features as the background to several of the tales. Maupassant uses this background to explore the unequal relationship between conqueror and conquered. Apart from the aforementioned "Boule de Suif", I found "Two Friends" to be a memorable story in this category.
For me personally though, "The Horla" was the best story of all in the collection and is up beside Anton Chekhov's "Vanka" as the most powerful short story I have read. I hadn't read Maupassant before, but after finishing this collection I would say his reputation as "The Master of the Short Story" is fully justified.
July 23, 2021
قصص من أدب الرعب النفسي، تمحورت حول حالة الخوف الهَوَسَي من شيءٍ ما؛ مجهولٍ ما.
موباسان يرى أن الخوف ينشأ فقط مما لا نفهمه ومما لا يمكن معرفته وإدراك ماهيته، أما ما يصيبنا نتيجة الخطر الواضح فلا يعتبر خوفاً، وحول هذه الرؤية دارت جميع قصصه.
أن تبقى سجين فكرة، أو كيان، أو شعور، أو حالة .. غير بيّنة المعالم، تأخذ بك نحو أبعد الخيالات، وتملأ رأسك بمئات الاحتمالات؛ هي فعلاً أكثر الأشياء رعباً.
" العزلة خطرة بالنسبة إلى العقول التي تعمل. نحتاج حولنا، إلى رجال يفكرون ويتحدون. حين نكون وحيدين طويلاً، نملأ الفراغ بأشباح. "
موباسان يرى أن الخوف ينشأ فقط مما لا نفهمه ومما لا يمكن معرفته وإدراك ماهيته، أما ما يصيبنا نتيجة الخطر الواضح فلا يعتبر خوفاً، وحول هذه الرؤية دارت جميع قصصه.
أن تبقى سجين فكرة، أو كيان، أو شعور، أو حالة .. غير بيّنة المعالم، تأخذ بك نحو أبعد الخيالات، وتملأ رأسك بمئات الاحتمالات؛ هي فعلاً أكثر الأشياء رعباً.
" العزلة خطرة بالنسبة إلى العقول التي تعمل. نحتاج حولنا، إلى رجال يفكرون ويتحدون. حين نكون وحيدين طويلاً، نملأ الفراغ بأشباح. "
December 13, 2020
What can I say about Maupassant?
I had not read any of his works previously. Well after reading this collection I concur with most reviews that he was a masterful storyteller. Despite being penned nearly 150 years ago and having undergone translation to English, all the stories resonated and many were excellent. The kind you will remember forever.
Maupassant wrote extensively of life in Normandy during the Prussian occupation during the Franco-Prussian War. Several of his best stories are about this period.
He also wrote about prostitution. A few of Maupassant’s stories were scandalous for the time period and one story about a wet nurse is pretty risqué even by our 2020 norms.
The stories that I most liked:
1. Boule de Suif
Maupassant’s most famous short story about the sacrifice a prostitute is asked to make. Considered Maupassant’s best story for good reason. Great insights into man’s morality or lack of it.
2. Two Friends
Will two friends remain faithful in the presence of a Prussian interrogation?
3. Duel
A classic revenge story. Did I mention that Maupassant disliked Prussians? He fought in Franco-Prussian War.
4. The Convert
Comical story about a carpenter who is required to go to confession in order to get a contract from the church. I laughed out loud several times.
5. The Piece of String
Famous parable. How accusations without evidence can destroy lives.
6. Mother Savage
One of the best revenge stories I’ve read.
7. In the Woods
A middle aged couple is caught in a compromising position in the woods. Masterfully told and a surprisingly sweet story.
8. The Devil
A neighbor is hired on a lump sum basis for the care and death watch of an elderly woman whose son has to work the harvest. What could possibly go wrong?
9. The Horla
In a journal a man records his struggles with depression and insanity. Has an autobiographical slant. A few years after this story was written Maupassant tried to kill himself while suffering from syphilis and died a year later in an asylum.
10. Mouche
A politically incorrect story by today’s standards about a liberal woman who joins a group of five men each week for their boat trips along the Seine. They each vie for her affection.
5 stars. I was mightily impressed with the clarity of Maupassant’s writing. One of the best collections of short stories that I have ever read. Strongly recommended.
I had not read any of his works previously. Well after reading this collection I concur with most reviews that he was a masterful storyteller. Despite being penned nearly 150 years ago and having undergone translation to English, all the stories resonated and many were excellent. The kind you will remember forever.
Maupassant wrote extensively of life in Normandy during the Prussian occupation during the Franco-Prussian War. Several of his best stories are about this period.
He also wrote about prostitution. A few of Maupassant’s stories were scandalous for the time period and one story about a wet nurse is pretty risqué even by our 2020 norms.
The stories that I most liked:
1. Boule de Suif
Maupassant’s most famous short story about the sacrifice a prostitute is asked to make. Considered Maupassant’s best story for good reason. Great insights into man’s morality or lack of it.
2. Two Friends
Will two friends remain faithful in the presence of a Prussian interrogation?
3. Duel
A classic revenge story. Did I mention that Maupassant disliked Prussians? He fought in Franco-Prussian War.
4. The Convert
Comical story about a carpenter who is required to go to confession in order to get a contract from the church. I laughed out loud several times.
5. The Piece of String
Famous parable. How accusations without evidence can destroy lives.
6. Mother Savage
One of the best revenge stories I’ve read.
7. In the Woods
A middle aged couple is caught in a compromising position in the woods. Masterfully told and a surprisingly sweet story.
8. The Devil
A neighbor is hired on a lump sum basis for the care and death watch of an elderly woman whose son has to work the harvest. What could possibly go wrong?
9. The Horla
In a journal a man records his struggles with depression and insanity. Has an autobiographical slant. A few years after this story was written Maupassant tried to kill himself while suffering from syphilis and died a year later in an asylum.
10. Mouche
A politically incorrect story by today’s standards about a liberal woman who joins a group of five men each week for their boat trips along the Seine. They each vie for her affection.
5 stars. I was mightily impressed with the clarity of Maupassant’s writing. One of the best collections of short stories that I have ever read. Strongly recommended.
August 4, 2018
Insightful, humane, modern --these are some of the words
that strike after reading Maupassant's stories and novels.
Never mind the puritanical comments on this site.
Maupassant touches deep chords of feeling -- the chords
of a full symphony. His characters refuse to be defeated inside their hearts; his irony pleads the case of human nature. But, always, Maupassant sees human pretense. Maupassant's people
--sometimes flawed, limited, foolish -- pass through enough experience, as did he, to bear the look at humanity itself. (The great director Max Ophuls filmed 3 stories under the title, "Le Plaisir." A work of consummate beauty).
"The Jewels" is considered x many superior to his more
pop "The Necklace." In the former, a gov clerk, married to
a simple beauty, enjoys sending her off to the opera (with
friends) when she's wearing her paste jewels. Ah, she loves
the fake glitteries so much, she finds more. Struck down
by pneumonia, she dies. Husby decides to sell her junk and
discovers they're worth a fortune--.
In "The Matter With Andre," a wife's lover pinches her infant black-blue to make him stop crying when they're abed. When husby returns and sees the scarred bebe...he fires the nanny "who found it impossible to find another situation."
A handsome buck, doing the quadrille at a club in
Montmartre, collapses on the dance floor and it's discovered
that he's wearing "The Mask." The real face is that of a
wrinkled relic. (See: Ophuls film).
In his short career, Maupassant left astonishing stories.
that strike after reading Maupassant's stories and novels.
Never mind the puritanical comments on this site.
Maupassant touches deep chords of feeling -- the chords
of a full symphony. His characters refuse to be defeated inside their hearts; his irony pleads the case of human nature. But, always, Maupassant sees human pretense. Maupassant's people
--sometimes flawed, limited, foolish -- pass through enough experience, as did he, to bear the look at humanity itself. (The great director Max Ophuls filmed 3 stories under the title, "Le Plaisir." A work of consummate beauty).
"The Jewels" is considered x many superior to his more
pop "The Necklace." In the former, a gov clerk, married to
a simple beauty, enjoys sending her off to the opera (with
friends) when she's wearing her paste jewels. Ah, she loves
the fake glitteries so much, she finds more. Struck down
by pneumonia, she dies. Husby decides to sell her junk and
discovers they're worth a fortune--.
In "The Matter With Andre," a wife's lover pinches her infant black-blue to make him stop crying when they're abed. When husby returns and sees the scarred bebe...he fires the nanny "who found it impossible to find another situation."
A handsome buck, doing the quadrille at a club in
Montmartre, collapses on the dance floor and it's discovered
that he's wearing "The Mask." The real face is that of a
wrinkled relic. (See: Ophuls film).
In his short career, Maupassant left astonishing stories.
March 23, 2017
Towards the end of his life, de Maupassant suffered from paranoia due to a syphilis infection. Reading his stories, though, I can see how he might have become paranoid in any case. He saw people very clearly and for the most part, what he saw wasn't pretty. De Maupassant shows us small failings playing out in ordinary lives. They aren't usually great Evils, but it's bad enough: pettiness, greed, lust, and self-interest. It's pretty dispiriting stuff, although often very funny, thanks to his particular art. The acuity of his observation make his stories timeless; after all, we haven't changed so much since he wrote them. The directness of his language make them approachable and easily understood. I think it's easy to underestimate the difficulty of writing so simply, and Flaubert's hand in de Maupassant's education is definitely discernible. I would be interested to read more of de Maupassant's supernatural tales, of which this collection only had a few. I liked his longer work, A Woman's Life, much less than the shorter works.
March 29, 2008
Man, this guy knew how to write a great story!
The best stories in this collection – Boule De Suif, Madame Tellier’s Establishment, and Mouche – are wonderful combinations of artful characterization, realistic descriptions of human pecadillos, sharp humor, liberal sexuality, and authorial cruelty. There is a good reason these are classics. Many of the other stories are sometimes half-baked confections where the balance of the above virtues is somewhat off.
Interestingly, there are a few quasi sci-fi/horror stories in the style of Poe, such as The Hand and, best of all, The Horla.
The best stories in this collection – Boule De Suif, Madame Tellier’s Establishment, and Mouche – are wonderful combinations of artful characterization, realistic descriptions of human pecadillos, sharp humor, liberal sexuality, and authorial cruelty. There is a good reason these are classics. Many of the other stories are sometimes half-baked confections where the balance of the above virtues is somewhat off.
Interestingly, there are a few quasi sci-fi/horror stories in the style of Poe, such as The Hand and, best of all, The Horla.
Read
May 29, 2018Going to have to set this aside for now. I simply cannot focus.
I don't want to give up on it: I've read it once before, many years ago, and this reading was to settle the Do I Really Want To Keep This Book question.
Not at all fair to allow sinus pressure to influence such a decision, though.
It's my nose, it's not the book. I'll come back to it Someday and try again.
I don't want to give up on it: I've read it once before, many years ago, and this reading was to settle the Do I Really Want To Keep This Book question.
Not at all fair to allow sinus pressure to influence such a decision, though.
It's my nose, it's not the book. I'll come back to it Someday and try again.
February 7, 2014
I read them when I stays at the high school. By preparing the competitive examination for begining secialist MD, I decided to read all books of Maupassant. I hesitated with Proust but I wanted short stories. In fact it was rather fast. I read all the books in a few days, neglecting even my exams.
Sometimes I read again one or more Novel choosen by random, and I am always dazzled by the style and the story.
Sometimes I read again one or more Novel choosen by random, and I am always dazzled by the style and the story.
April 17, 2021
Μετά κόπων και βασάνων το τελείωσα. Και αυτό για δύο λόγους.
Ο 1ος έχει να κάνει με τη δουλειά μου. Τα περιθώρια διαβάσματος λογοτεχνίας είναι λίγα, οπότε προσπαθώ να βρίσκω λίγο χρόνο για διάβασμα, σάμπως μπορούμε να πάμε πουθενά; Χαχα! (fake laugh, hiding real pain)
Ο 2ος είναι τα μεικτά συναισθήματα που μου άφησε η πρώτη μου επαφή με τον Μωπασάν. Περίμενα κάτι περισσότερο στο πνεύμα του Πόε ίσως, και σε κάποιες ιστορίες το επιτυγχάνει. Ειδικά στην ιστορία 'Ο Ώξαποδώ' (κυκλοφορεί αυτοτελής στα ελληνικά) έδωσε ρέστα και έσωσε την βαθμολόγια υπερ του. Λίγες ιστορίες έφτασαν σε αντίστοιχο επίπεδο, και κάποιες ήταν απογοητευτικά ανιαρές (τα τσιλιμπουρδίσματα της υψηλής κοινωνίας με αφήνουν παντελώς αδιάφορο). Πάει στην κατηγορία 'καλός, κααααάποια στιγμή στο μέλλον ίσως τα ξαναπούμε'.
Ο 1ος έχει να κάνει με τη δουλειά μου. Τα περιθώρια διαβάσματος λογοτεχνίας είναι λίγα, οπότε προσπαθώ να βρίσκω λίγο χρόνο για διάβασμα, σάμπως μπορούμε να πάμε πουθενά; Χαχα! (fake laugh, hiding real pain)
Ο 2ος είναι τα μεικτά συναισθήματα που μου άφησε η πρώτη μου επαφή με τον Μωπασάν. Περίμενα κάτι περισσότερο στο πνεύμα του Πόε ίσως, και σε κάποιες ιστορίες το επιτυγχάνει. Ειδικά στην ιστορία 'Ο Ώξαποδώ' (κυκλοφορεί αυτοτελής στα ελληνικά) έδωσε ρέστα και έσωσε την βαθμολόγια υπερ του. Λίγες ιστορίες έφτασαν σε αντίστοιχο επίπεδο, και κάποιες ήταν απογοητευτικά ανιαρές (τα τσιλιμπουρδίσματα της υψηλής κοινωνίας με αφήνουν παντελώς αδιάφορο). Πάει στην κατηγορία 'καλός, κααααάποια στιγμή στο μέλλον ίσως τα ξαναπούμε'.
September 2, 2021
Published in 1995, 'Selected Short Stories' is a small collection of 17 short stories by the author originally published over the years 1880-1890. I had come across a small number of impressive stories by this author in the past, so this collection was a good find and the quality is just astonishing - the impressive characterisations achieved in such a short time makes them so unlike the the brief character sketches that so many short stories must rely on. Various bios have referred to his repeated use of common themes like anti-war, the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War, and prostitution - this comes across quite well and is better for it, the tales often have a bit of an edge. Brilliant, I must search out more of the same.
August 2, 2024
3.25☆
although he truly is a master storyteller, guy de maupassant's short stories didn't leave a huge impression on me, except for a few out of the collection i read.
although he truly is a master storyteller, guy de maupassant's short stories didn't leave a huge impression on me, except for a few out of the collection i read.
November 4, 2024
Guy de Maupassant - the king of finishing his stories with wry, aphoristic sentences!
October 23, 2025
I can see why Maupassant is called the master of the French short story. He has a real sense of humanism and inklings of anti-war and good leftwing politics... though there are some weird stories in there, which brings it down a bit.
Favourites:
- Boyle de Suif
- The Hand
- Mother Savage
- The Horla
Favourites:
- Boyle de Suif
- The Hand
- Mother Savage
- The Horla
November 11, 2024
Most of the stories in this volume are thoroughly enjoyable. Mostly 10 pages. Mostly different subjects, with plenty of boasting Frenchmen, and saucy Frenchwomen. Prussian war is well represented with Mother Savage being a particular favorite.
August 8, 2018
This anthology is a wonderfully entertaining volume of comical bawdy stories, offering a sharp and withering analysis of people and society. Boule de Suif is a wonderful story of time and place, and people caught up in the moment exhibiting the very worst traits of human behaviour. When confronted by a crisis people will look to others to make sacrifices to help them overcome their own inconvenience rather than make sacrifices themselves. He doesn't shirk the chance to ridicule pompous bureaucrats and petty officials, or the materialism of middle class entrepreneurs, and shows that people, whatever they might say to the contrary about their sense of honour and duty, or their patriotism, or religious and moral scruples will revert to self interest when push comes to a shove ! The harlot, Boule de Suif, shames them all, of course, by being the only character in the story to adhere to her principles.
Maupassant was the best-selling writer of his generation and he published over 300 stories, some short, some long, and some very brief sketches which are merely anecdotal, but all contain an accurate portrayal of human behaviour as he reports what people say, and how they say it, allowing the reader to see the motivation and draw conclusions, rather than offering an internal dialogues. They bring to mind the paintings of Manet, Renoir, Monet and the Impressionists as they describe the joys and sufferings of the decadent and suffocating lives of le beau monde in belle époque France : boating on the Seine, train journeys, the random encounters of travellers, and rural pursuits like hunting and fishing, not to mention the lives and loves of a whole host of people including harlots and their admirers.
Like the artists Maupassant produces quick pithy sketches of life in Normandy, but they deceptively simple if presenting banal fragments of life, that are ruthlessly comic and, at the same time, devastatingly cruel to the characters involved making clear the hypocrisy underpinning everyone's life.
Maupassant was the best-selling writer of his generation and he published over 300 stories, some short, some long, and some very brief sketches which are merely anecdotal, but all contain an accurate portrayal of human behaviour as he reports what people say, and how they say it, allowing the reader to see the motivation and draw conclusions, rather than offering an internal dialogues. They bring to mind the paintings of Manet, Renoir, Monet and the Impressionists as they describe the joys and sufferings of the decadent and suffocating lives of le beau monde in belle époque France : boating on the Seine, train journeys, the random encounters of travellers, and rural pursuits like hunting and fishing, not to mention the lives and loves of a whole host of people including harlots and their admirers.
Like the artists Maupassant produces quick pithy sketches of life in Normandy, but they deceptively simple if presenting banal fragments of life, that are ruthlessly comic and, at the same time, devastatingly cruel to the characters involved making clear the hypocrisy underpinning everyone's life.
August 18, 2012
These short stories had such sympathetic and honest portrayals of the characters in them. I liked how human nature was depicted very realistically and naturally in this collection.
I really enjoyed the book.
I had a hard time getting into it at first because I don't speak french (or any other foreign language for that matter). Also I've never visited Rouen or any other place in Paris. The only place I ever took a vacation in Europe was Brussels in Belgium (and the farthest away from there that I've been in Europe has been the Heathrow Airport while transferring flights in the U. K.). I wished I could picture the vivid imagery of Rouen or the Siene River in my mind's eye but the details were so sparse as to what that locale is like that I had to rely almost exclusively on my imagination. (A worthy foot-note about location details: The counter-point to this, btw, is Franz Kafka's novel "Amerika", which was well-known because it depicted the way America is so vividly and yet Kafka had never once set foot on the U. S.!)
Nonetheless, the short stories by Maupassant were really well-done. I dug the book. If you like short story collections of literary fiction go check this collection out!
I really enjoyed the book.
I had a hard time getting into it at first because I don't speak french (or any other foreign language for that matter). Also I've never visited Rouen or any other place in Paris. The only place I ever took a vacation in Europe was Brussels in Belgium (and the farthest away from there that I've been in Europe has been the Heathrow Airport while transferring flights in the U. K.). I wished I could picture the vivid imagery of Rouen or the Siene River in my mind's eye but the details were so sparse as to what that locale is like that I had to rely almost exclusively on my imagination. (A worthy foot-note about location details: The counter-point to this, btw, is Franz Kafka's novel "Amerika", which was well-known because it depicted the way America is so vividly and yet Kafka had never once set foot on the U. S.!)
Nonetheless, the short stories by Maupassant were really well-done. I dug the book. If you like short story collections of literary fiction go check this collection out!
September 21, 2010
REALTALK YALL most of these stories fukcin lame as hell, his doofy surprise endings don't even build up to cool 'A ha' moments it's always 'Ahm, errr.... yea'. i don't have book in front of me but one i finished today was almost literally 'He asked her if he could have married her had he asked years ago, She said yes, He sat under a lightpost and cried and cried and cried The End' i guess you could call that weird staggers at the end of the buildup to be That's Just Like Life but listen homey dont play that. if youre building up to some grand twee BS ending then just do it
some of them get a LIL out there like the one where a guy is sitting with a woman on a train and she needs to nurse so he starts suckling her (or does she suckle him, not sure of object/subject 4 this verb) for like 3 pages, other stories had lots of sucking + cucking but nothing as outright weird or creepy & explicit like that, i guess when they selected the short stories they excluded teh ones from when his brain was all mashed from syphillis (sp??). noticeably lacking The Horla monster story which i was looking forward to
in conclusion: Guy De Meowpussant cat version of author
some of them get a LIL out there like the one where a guy is sitting with a woman on a train and she needs to nurse so he starts suckling her (or does she suckle him, not sure of object/subject 4 this verb) for like 3 pages, other stories had lots of sucking + cucking but nothing as outright weird or creepy & explicit like that, i guess when they selected the short stories they excluded teh ones from when his brain was all mashed from syphillis (sp??). noticeably lacking The Horla monster story which i was looking forward to
in conclusion: Guy De Meowpussant cat version of author
October 31, 2022
I read this collection of short stories in college in a class for Modern European Literature. It was an amazing class, the teacher had a PhD from Northwestern and was absolutely brilliant, though exacting. I learned so much from her that semester that I talked my husband into taking her class many years later. Maupassant was the first modern French writer that I took seriously and he changed my perspective on many things. Later, I wanted to take French so I could read him (and Camus, who was the main author we read) in his original language. I never could master French that well. I have decided to read several French authors in 2020, and I wanted to reread these stories to see if it was nostalgia or really a great love I still possessed for Maupassant. It's definitely respect and love. These are masterful stories, written so well, that it breaks my heart to read some of them. Such an important writer. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
February 20, 2008
J'adore c'est stories de shorts dans la livre de Guy. OK, enough Franglais. Old Guy is a treat. Yeah there are the classics -- "The Necklace," "Bel-Ami," "Boule de Suif," et tout cette. But there's also little gems like "Idyll," in which a wet nurse on an otherwise-empty train through the countryside helps to feed a starving young college student. Odd, but enchanting.
November 27, 2021
De Maupassant valt me al bij al goed mee.
Niet omwille van de erotische schalkse verhaaltjes waar hij meestal voor geroemd wordt, die komen bij mij vaak lichtelijk onnozel en gedateerd over.
Maar Guy heeft een gezonde afkeer voor hypocrisie en een hart voor het kwetsbare, voor liefdes- en levenskracht. Daarmee raakt hij de lezer van vandaag.
Niet omwille van de erotische schalkse verhaaltjes waar hij meestal voor geroemd wordt, die komen bij mij vaak lichtelijk onnozel en gedateerd over.
Maar Guy heeft een gezonde afkeer voor hypocrisie en een hart voor het kwetsbare, voor liefdes- en levenskracht. Daarmee raakt hij de lezer van vandaag.
May 10, 2021
Under "The Necklace" the Wikipedia claims that Guy de Maupassant's most famous story* has an ironic ending that "was a hallmark of de Maupassant's style." The translator of this collection not only spits on that notion, he spits on "The Necklace" in general and does not include it in his book.
I like that. Take a stance, people.
And, if this selection of stories is representative, I have to agree. There are very few ironic endings, and none of the caliber of "The Necklace". Mr. Maupassant (and Dewey Decimal collects his works under "M" and not "d", as do I) doesn't seem to be going for the ironic gut-punch, preferring to let his characters play out their stories in a natural, if somewhat poignantly self-defeating way.
Like the poor little Boule de Suif, who finds the sacrifice others cajole her into make her the object of their scorn. Or the Mouche, whose rather egalitarian approach to sex leads to first an obvious condition, then to a much less obvious one.
In some cases, the denouement of the story is a single-line which reflects an attitude that might seem somewhat surprising from the outset of the narrative, but which ends up making sense as you've understood the characters more. And sometimes the stories just seem to stop.
Some of the stories remind me rather of Edgar Allan Poe, in the sense that one doesn't get a story arc so much as just the denouement. You are learning how the current situation came to pass, but all the action is over.
Where it excels is in describing the very human nature of its characters, who are not at all as good as one might hope but who sometimes find their goodness in unexpected places. This world of sham governments, false priests, shallow people, and millenarian doom feels very, very familiar.
The longest stories are "Boule" and "Horla," around 60 and 30 pages respectively, but the remainder of the stories are quite short, so if you don't like one, you only have a few pages till the next one. (But if you don't like one, you probably won't like them all.) I found it compelling reading.
*"Bel Ami" is probably GDM's most famous story having been filmed dozens of times, including a porn version, which I doubt he would've approved of without actually being surprised about. His most famous short story might be "The Horla" but "The Necklace" is probably a close second. A special shout-out to "The Hand" which has never officially been filmed, but which is the first horror story about a (maybe) murderous disembodied hand.
I like that. Take a stance, people.
And, if this selection of stories is representative, I have to agree. There are very few ironic endings, and none of the caliber of "The Necklace". Mr. Maupassant (and Dewey Decimal collects his works under "M" and not "d", as do I) doesn't seem to be going for the ironic gut-punch, preferring to let his characters play out their stories in a natural, if somewhat poignantly self-defeating way.
Like the poor little Boule de Suif, who finds the sacrifice others cajole her into make her the object of their scorn. Or the Mouche, whose rather egalitarian approach to sex leads to first an obvious condition, then to a much less obvious one.
In some cases, the denouement of the story is a single-line which reflects an attitude that might seem somewhat surprising from the outset of the narrative, but which ends up making sense as you've understood the characters more. And sometimes the stories just seem to stop.
Some of the stories remind me rather of Edgar Allan Poe, in the sense that one doesn't get a story arc so much as just the denouement. You are learning how the current situation came to pass, but all the action is over.
Where it excels is in describing the very human nature of its characters, who are not at all as good as one might hope but who sometimes find their goodness in unexpected places. This world of sham governments, false priests, shallow people, and millenarian doom feels very, very familiar.
The longest stories are "Boule" and "Horla," around 60 and 30 pages respectively, but the remainder of the stories are quite short, so if you don't like one, you only have a few pages till the next one. (But if you don't like one, you probably won't like them all.) I found it compelling reading.
*"Bel Ami" is probably GDM's most famous story having been filmed dozens of times, including a porn version, which I doubt he would've approved of without actually being surprised about. His most famous short story might be "The Horla" but "The Necklace" is probably a close second. A special shout-out to "The Hand" which has never officially been filmed, but which is the first horror story about a (maybe) murderous disembodied hand.
January 13, 2025
I am glad to have begun this year with Maupassant, father of short story. He is a French writer of the late 1800s. his style is satirical and quite original. More times than one, his stories are set up during the Franco-Prussian war. Predictably, he writes a lot about war and its vagaries, yet his focus is inwards, as to how war affects the psyche. An example of this is his quote:
"The Prussians! They had never seen any of them, but for months they had felt their presence all round Paris, destroying France, looting, murdering, starving, invisible but irresistible. And a sort of superstitious terror was added to the hatred they felt for their unknown conquerors.
They both were frightened by the silence and emptiness all around them."
I could see, at the beginning of every story, more clearly than ever why he was called the father of short story. The way he condenses descriptions while introducing his characters within a few lines is remarkable. And the descriptions were not superficial but details you would know about a person after spending a lifetime with them. One such example while describing a husband in the story, I quote here:
"he was one of those men who were bound to become either saints or anarchists, the slaves of their ideologies; their beliefs are cast iron and their convictions impervious to argument."
Quite funny most of the time, Maupassant is, at the bottom of his heart, a romantic, living up to the view the world has about the French.
I'd recommend him to anyone who is up for a light hearted read interspersed with some sentimental notes. He isn't like the usual classical literature writers who come with a world of their own. He feels relatable from the first line, and is akin to a clever friend who is also funny and kind.
"The Prussians! They had never seen any of them, but for months they had felt their presence all round Paris, destroying France, looting, murdering, starving, invisible but irresistible. And a sort of superstitious terror was added to the hatred they felt for their unknown conquerors.
They both were frightened by the silence and emptiness all around them."
I could see, at the beginning of every story, more clearly than ever why he was called the father of short story. The way he condenses descriptions while introducing his characters within a few lines is remarkable. And the descriptions were not superficial but details you would know about a person after spending a lifetime with them. One such example while describing a husband in the story, I quote here:
"he was one of those men who were bound to become either saints or anarchists, the slaves of their ideologies; their beliefs are cast iron and their convictions impervious to argument."
Quite funny most of the time, Maupassant is, at the bottom of his heart, a romantic, living up to the view the world has about the French.
I'd recommend him to anyone who is up for a light hearted read interspersed with some sentimental notes. He isn't like the usual classical literature writers who come with a world of their own. He feels relatable from the first line, and is akin to a clever friend who is also funny and kind.
July 20, 2017
A fantastic set of short stories. Maupassant transports you to a specific time and place with exquisite descriptive prose and then subtlety introduces the underlying theme. Mind you once the theme is introduced, your emotions are then drastically evoked.
Favourites 'Boule De Suif', 'Miss Harriet', The Olive Grove', 'An Encounter', 'The Horla (which was the reason for reading this selection)
Favourites 'Boule De Suif', 'Miss Harriet', The Olive Grove', 'An Encounter', 'The Horla (which was the reason for reading this selection)
November 14, 2020
I loved this book. This is a collection of short stories by a much admired french author. His writing is wonderful, elegant and so descriptive. You get engrossed in the stories, seeing it all, feeling it all, and if you consider some of these stories are only four or five pages long, it is amazing. Great read!
October 14, 2019
30 short stories about cuckoldry and the franco-prussian war
September 1, 2021
Unfairly pegged as a purveyor of trick-ending tales. To quote VS Pritchett:
‘The year of an artificial story is its end [...] Do you feel that their lives were, in fact, not lives, but an idea? That is the artificial story.’
Only a handful of the stories (The Jewels, say) are abut ideas. Most are about lives. His first masterpiece Boule De Suif impresses by how much the characters’ lives dominate the story, not the crises.
Maupassant is more a son to Flaubert than a godfather to O. Henry. He shares his master’s relish over food, drink and casual hypocrisy.
‘The year of an artificial story is its end [...] Do you feel that their lives were, in fact, not lives, but an idea? That is the artificial story.’
Only a handful of the stories (The Jewels, say) are abut ideas. Most are about lives. His first masterpiece Boule De Suif impresses by how much the characters’ lives dominate the story, not the crises.
Maupassant is more a son to Flaubert than a godfather to O. Henry. He shares his master’s relish over food, drink and casual hypocrisy.
December 24, 2014
Assorted entries ranging from the pages of wherever fiction was published in 19th Century Paris . . . the range is like imagining Zorro being played by Phil Hartman in a filler SNL sketch, to Zorro being played by Daniel Day-Lewis (stay with me, here) . . . sometimes Guy de M's sentiments are broad, sometimes they're razor-thin and flash as though from nowhere before striking home . . . but they reflect a perfect sense of timing and professional competence, and strike with a fierce conviction against the injust, or rather, on behalf of those moral people he finds despite all odds in all walks of life -- or, sometimes, exuberant, they simply slice a design in the air itself that cuts nobody, calling attention to some beautiful or hilarious or tragic or bizarre event and imprinting it with his invisible signature. (Wait, you say: Maupassant's too ironic for Daniel Day-Lewis . . . but could even DDL play Zorro without irony?)
These are of their time and place but the humor still holds up. Much better than his novels, and excellent subway reading.
These are of their time and place but the humor still holds up. Much better than his novels, and excellent subway reading.
July 5, 2021
مجموعة قصصية عبقرية تنتمي لأدب الرعب النفسي وانطباعي الشخصي أنها ربما كانت تحمل خلاصة فكر و عناء وفلسفة الكاتب الفرنسي ورائد القصة القصيرة موباسان في الحياة.
بالأخص حين ذُكِر في نهاية الكتاب أنه قد قضى أواخر عمره في مصح الأمراض العقلية ولم يخرج منه سوى مشيعا إلى مثواه الأخير.
١٦ قصة من المتعة الخالصة يختلف محتواها وإن اجتمعت كلها على ما يمتلكه العقل - واعيه وباطنه - من قوى خارقة مؤلمة قد تودي بصاحبها إما إلى الموت هلعًا أو الحياة على قيد الجنون.
الوهم، الوحدة، الخوف، الشعور بالذنب، رفض الزمن وعلامات الشيخوخة، الفقد، الخيانة، الانتقام، الحب و الموت،
تبدو كلّ منها مجرد فكرة، رآها موباسان هكذا واتفقت معه تمام الاتفاق :
"كان يبدو رجلًا هدّته فكرته وفتكت به، أجل إنها فكرة،شأنها شأن دودة تقضم فاكهة.
إنها جنونه، كانت فكرته قابعة في ذاك الرأس، راسخة وملحّة ومفترسة، كانت تأكل الجسم شيئًا فشيئًا.
هي تلك الفكرة اللامرئية وغير الملموسة وغير القابلة للإمساك بها واللامادية،التي كانت تأكل اللحم وتشرب الدم وتطفئ الحياة."
استمتعت بها جدا وبرشحها لمحبي هذا النوع من الأدب.
بالأخص حين ذُكِر في نهاية الكتاب أنه قد قضى أواخر عمره في مصح الأمراض العقلية ولم يخرج منه سوى مشيعا إلى مثواه الأخير.
١٦ قصة من المتعة الخالصة يختلف محتواها وإن اجتمعت كلها على ما يمتلكه العقل - واعيه وباطنه - من قوى خارقة مؤلمة قد تودي بصاحبها إما إلى الموت هلعًا أو الحياة على قيد الجنون.
الوهم، الوحدة، الخوف، الشعور بالذنب، رفض الزمن وعلامات الشيخوخة، الفقد، الخيانة، الانتقام، الحب و الموت،
تبدو كلّ منها مجرد فكرة، رآها موباسان هكذا واتفقت معه تمام الاتفاق :
"كان يبدو رجلًا هدّته فكرته وفتكت به، أجل إنها فكرة،شأنها شأن دودة تقضم فاكهة.
إنها جنونه، كانت فكرته قابعة في ذاك الرأس، راسخة وملحّة ومفترسة، كانت تأكل الجسم شيئًا فشيئًا.
هي تلك الفكرة اللامرئية وغير الملموسة وغير القابلة للإمساك بها واللامادية،التي كانت تأكل اللحم وتشرب الدم وتطفئ الحياة."
استمتعت بها جدا وبرشحها لمحبي هذا النوع من الأدب.
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