In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. In 1883, he published his novel, Une Vie', which sold more than 25,000 copies. Author of, Literary and music critic. Henri Rene Albert Guy de Maupassant was born in Tourville-sur-Arques, France. [12] Next year, in autumn, he was sent to the Lyce Pierre-Corneille in Rouen[13] where he proved a good scholar, indulging in poetry and taking a prominent part in theatricals. This was the first of his stories that was cantered on the Franco-Prussian War. Flaubert took young Guy as a kind of protege, introducing him to significant writers of the day such as Emile Zola and Ivan Turgenev. Alternate titles: Henry-Ren-Albert-Guy de Maupassant, Writer. In 1890, he authored the short story 'L'Inutile Beaut. A protege of Flaubert, Maupassant's short stories are characterized by their economy of style and their efficient effortless dnouement. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Guy de Maupassant: Biography, Quotes & Facts. Feminists now analyze the patriarchy's origin - a sys His firsthand experience of war was to provide him with the material for some of his finest stories. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Boule de suif epitomizes Maupassants style in its economy and balance. Maupassant was adamant in refusing to undergo treatment, with the result that the disease was to cast a deepening shadow over his mature years and was accentuated by neurasthenia, which had also afflicted his brother. Guy de Maupassant, in full Henry-Ren-Albert-Guy de Maupassant, (born August 5, 1850, Chteau de Miromesnil?, near Dieppe, Francedied July 6, 1893, Paris), French naturalist writer of short stories and novels who is by general agreement the greatest French short-story writer. He was the first son of Laure Le Poittevin and Gustave de Maupassant, both from prosperous bourgeois families. His subjects include war, the Norman peasantry, the bureaucracy, life on the banks of the Seine, the emotional problems of the different classes, and, ominously, hallucination. His second novel, Bel-Ami, which came out in 1885, had thirty-seven printings in four months. Photo by Nadar. It focuses on detachment, objectivity, and social commentary. In 1880, his acclaimed short story, Boule de Suif' was published. This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 13:11. His stories strikingly captured various aspects of day-to-day life in France during that time. He wrote 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. Leo Tolstoy used Maupassant as the subject for one of his essays on art, The Works of Guy de Maupassant. Guy de Maupassant (5 August, 1859 6 July, 1893) was a French writer and a master of short stories. He moved to the lyce at Le Havre and passed his baccalaureate the following year. Gustave Flaubert, a good friend of Maupassants mother noticed Maupassants interest in writing and introduced him to Emile Zola and Henry James. Your email address will not be published. Updates? Made famous by his first short story, he worked methodically and produced two or sometimes four volumes annually. Guy de Maupassant. He refused to undergo treatment, and it eventually affected his mental state. [6] He then obtained from the Tribunal Civil of Rouen by decree dated 9 July 1846 the right to style himself "de Maupassant" instead of "Maupassant", and this was his surname at the birth of his son Guy in 1850.[7]. What is Guy de Maupassant best known for? It was in the latters home that he met many writers, including Emile Zola and Ivan Turgenev. We hope this study guide is particularly useful for teachers and students eager to appreciate the nuances of the story. Author E. Renouar on Wikimedia. Zola described the young Maupassant as a terrific oarsman able to row fifty miles on the Seine in a single day for pleasure. Maupassant was a passionate lover of the sea and of rivers, which accounts for the setting of much of his fiction and the prevalence in it of nautical imagery. He suffered from Syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease that he contracted in his youth. --- Please like and follow ManOfLaBook.com ---. Who is Guy De Maupassant: Guy De Maupassant is a famous Novelist. 5) In junior high school and high-school he was proven to be a good student. His passion of writing is visible from his letter-writing during he serves as soldier. He wrote 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. However, he had never loved working, all his free time Maupassant spent in women pursuit. For classical studies in Institution Leroy-Petit, in Rouen. During the Franco-Prussian war, Maupassant volunteered. Construction of the Eiffel Tower was highly controversial amongst the Parisians. When . Sattar, Atia. Flaubert used to invite Maupassant on lunch on Sundays when staying in Paris. Maupassant was demobilized in July 1871 and resumed his law studies in Paris. His stories are second only to Shakespeare in their inspiration of movie adaptations with films ranging from Stagecoach, Oyuki the Virgin and Masculine Feminine.[21]. His father came to his assistance again and obtained a post for him in the Ministry of Marine, which was intended to support him until he qualified as a lawyer. Novelist #137442. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. Henri Ren Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer. Maupassant is a modern exemplar of traditional French psychological realism; he portrays his characters as unhappy victims of their greed, desire, or vanity but presents even the most sordid details of their lives without sermonizing. In fact, he tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat on January 2, 1892 and was committed to the private asylum of Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris. In 1871, he left Normandy and moved to Paris, where he spent ten years as a clerk in the Navy Department. Facts about Guy de Maupassant 2: His family Guy de Maupassant, (born Aug. 5, 1850, Chteau de Miromesnil?, near Dieppe, Francedied July 6, 1893, Paris), French writer of short stories. Soon after graduation, Maupassant served as a volunteer in the Franco-Prussian War, after which he pursued a career as a civil servant working in the Navy Department and the Ministry of Public Instruction. He was later admitted into a private mental institute, Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris. Corrections? The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. In 1868, when he was eighteen, he saved the life of poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, rescuing the latter from drowning off the coast of Etretat. Even though his writing career spanned barely a decade, Flaubert was prolific, writing some 300 short stories, three plays, six novels, and hundreds of newspaper articles. He devoted much of his spare time to swimming and to boating expeditions on the Seine. However, he often ate lunch in the Eiffel Towers restaurant. Boule de suif (Ball of Fat) is regarded as his best story, while the best known is La Parure (The Necklace). While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Maupassant was phenomenally promiscuous, and before he was 25 years old his health was being eroded by syphilis. He delighted in clever plotting and his style of writing influenced Somerset Maugham and O. Henry. In the next 10 years he published some 300 short stories, six novels, and three travel books. One can see from a story like Mouche (1890; Fly) that the latter were more than merely boating expeditions and that the girls who accompanied Maupassant and his friends were usually prostitutes or prospective prostitutes. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of NEWS18.com does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them. q&a; trivia; popular; trending; random; Guy De Maupassant. Flaubert introduced Maupassant to some of the leading writers of the time. Literary theorist Kornelije Kvas wrote that along "with Chekhov, Maupassant is the greatest master of the short story in world literature. Maupassant was one of a fair number of 19th-century Parisians who disliked the Eiffel Tower. Guy de Maupassant went crazy due to parental mistreatment in spite of "writing about it". It was through Flaubert that de Maupassant became familiar with (and part of) the naturalist school of writers, a style that would permeate nearly all of his stories. All rights reserved. Remembering Maupassant - Guy de Maupassant lived a short but highly productive life and his short stories and novels are still among the most widely read of French literature. At this time he wrote what many consider his greatest novel, Pierre et Jean (1888). This was not out of preference for the food but because it was only there that he could avoid seeing it. The story was written in the form of journal. 8) Maupassants talent and business acumen made him a rich man. Unfortunately, he has to leave his studies due to he becomes a soldier. This short story was made into an opera named, The Greater Good in 2006. Guy de Maupassant and "The Necklace" Background Literary Devices Themes The Deceptiveness of Appearances The reality of Mathilde's situation is that she is neither wealthy nor part of the social class of which she feels she is a deserving member, but Mathilde does everything in her power to make her life appear different from how it is. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). However, he was committed to the private asylum of Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris., where he died on 6 July 1893 from syphilis. During his apprenticeship with Flaubert, Maupassant published one or two stories. This led him to be expelled in his penultimate year. With a natural aversion to society, he loved retirement, solitude, and meditation. We may all come from different walks of life but we have one common passion - learning through travel. Guy de Maupassant wrote in the Naturalism genre of literature. He is buried in Section 26 of the Montparnasse Cemetery, Paris. When Maupassant was in his early 20s, he discovered that he was suffering from syphilis, one of the most frightening and widespread maladies of the age. For the full article, see. William Saroyan wrote a short story about Maupassant in his 1971 book, Letters from 74 rue Taitbout or Don't Go But If You Must Say Hello To Everybody. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is De Maupassant so important! The couple's second son, Herv, was born in 1856. He depicted human lives, destinies and social forces in disillusioned and often pessimistic terms. All rights reserved. The team was led by Zola. While investigating facts about De Maupassant Novels and De Maupassant Short Stories, I found out little known, but curios details like: Guy de Maupassant ate lunch every day at the base of the Eiffel Tower because he hated the tower and that was the only place in Paris where he wouldn't see it. Guy de Maupassant. He served ten years as a clerk in the Navy Department. What is Guy de Maupassant best known for? He hated to work and spent much of his free time in . His best novels are considered to be Une Vie (1883, tr. Book Review: The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa. His writing belonged to the genre of naturalism. The story is particularly known for its surprising ending. In fact, he and 46 other Parisian literary and artistic notables attached their names to a letter of protest against the tower's construction, written to the Minister of Public Works. Maupassants mother, Laure, was the sister of Alfred Le Poittevin, who had been a close friend of Gustave Flaubert, and she herself remained on affectionate terms with the novelist for the rest of his life. The French people initially hated the Eiffel Tower for its size and "ugliness". Henri Ren Albert Guy de Maupassant (Aug 5, 1850 - Jul 6, 1893) was a popular French author who wrote under the pen name Guy de Maupassant.He is considered one of the fathers of the modern short story as well as one of its finest practitioners. Maupassants story, Boule de suif (Ball of Fat), was not only by far the best of the six, it is probably the finest story he ever wrote. Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5, 1850, in the Normandy region of France. It was about the story of a journalist in Paris. He suffered from mental problems and tried to commit suicide by slitting his throat in 1892. Guy de Maupassant Henri Ren Albert Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) is the most celebrated of French short-story writers. When Guy reached the age of thirteen, his mother placed her two sons as day boarders in a private school, the Institution Leroy-Petit, in Rouenthe Institution Robineau of Maupassant's story La Question du Latinfor classical studies. Many of his stories were based on the Franco-Prussian War and the lives of innocent people who were caught in it. Maupassant published some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and his only volume of verse. 1) When he was 11, Maupassant's mother risked social disgrace by getting divorced and keeping her two sons. CNN and the CNN logo are registered marks of Cable News Network, LP LLLP, displayed with permission. The Franco-Prussian War broke out soon after his graduation from college in 1870; he enlisted as a volunteer. He owes most to Flaubert, from whom he learned to use a concise and measured style and to establish a distance towards the object of narration. The following year, his novel, Bel Ami was published. He devoted his spare time to writing novels and short stories. He published 2-4 volumes of each year of short stories. The supernatural in Maupassant, however, is often implicitly a symptom of the protagonists' troubled minds; Maupassant was fascinated by the burgeoning discipline of psychiatry, and attended the public lectures of Jean-Martin Charcot between 1885 and 1886. Indeed, there can be little doubt that the early years in Paris were the start of his phenomenal promiscuity. Maupassant was a civil servant in the period between 1872 and 1880 years. This story is one of his most well-known works. Maupassants short stories and books focus on many themes. NEVEUX "I entered literary life as a meteor, and I shall leave it like a thunderbolt." These words of Maupassant to Jose Maria de Heredia on the occasion of a memorable meeting are, in spite of their morbid solemnity, not an inexact summing up of the brief career during which, for ten years, the writer, by turns undaunted and sorrowful, with the fertility . "Certain Madness: Guy de Maupassant and Hypnotism". Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads, Birth Year: 1850, Birth date: August 5, 1850, Birth City: Dieppe, Birth Country: France. ", Rougle, Charles. He and 46 other Parisian literary and artistic notables attached their names to a letter of protest. Lombardi, Esther. Maupassants mother sent him to make Flauberts acquaintance at Croisset in 1867. when he returned to Paris after the war, she asked Flaubert to keep an eye on him. In 1878, he was transferred to the Ministry of Public Instruction. 10) Among many other Parisians, Maupassant didnt care for the Eifel Tower. He also introduced him to some of the leading writers of the time, such as mile Zola, Ivan Turgenev, Edmond Goncourt, and Henry James. Head, Programme Contracts Department, British Broadcasting Corporation, London, 195969. We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right,.css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}contact us! Although the Maupassants were a free-thinking family, Guy received his first education from the church and at age 13 was sent to a small seminary at Yvetot that took both lay and clerical pupils. Gustave Flaubert took him under his protection and acted as a kind of literary guardian to him, guiding his debut in journalism and literature. His parents separated when he was 11 years old after his mother, Laure Le Poittevin, left his father Gustave de Maupassant. Construction of the Eiffel Tower was highly controversial amongst the Parisians. For classical studies in Institution Leroy-Petit, in Rouen. This, Maupassant's first piece of short fiction set during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, was followed by short stories such as "Deux Amis", "Mother Savage", and "Mademoiselle Fifi". Fort comme la mort Guy de Maupassant 1975 Car l'amour est fort comme la Mort, la passion inflexible comme le Schol. Unfortunately, he has to leave his studies due to he becomes a soldier. Some of the best-known authors for whom Maupassant was an inspiration include W. Somerset Maugham, O. Henry, and Henry James. His realistic portrayal of life made his books and short stories accessible to those belonging to any social class. That is why he died ininsane asylum. Guy de Maupassant was a French author. We have talked facts about Gay de Maupassant. [18] On 2 January 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat; he was committed to the private asylum of Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris, where he died (6 July 1893) from syphilis. Claude Brasseur stars as the titular character. His parents separated when he was 11 years old and his mother took custody of Guy and his younger brother, and it was her influence that led her sons to . Maupassant would go on to develop a fear of death and paranoia of persecution caused by the syphilis he had contracted in his youth. At the Villa des Verguies, between the sea and the luxuriant countryside, he grew very fond of fishing and of outdoor activities. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/guy-de-maupassant-biography-740701. Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) Guy de Maupassant is known as a major practitioner of Naturalism and Realism and an exceptionally fine short story writer. He resumed his law studies in Paris. The letter was against the towers construction. 7) In 1871 Maupassant enlisted as a volunteer in the Franco-Prussian War. Maupassant is considered the father of the modern short story. Flaubert characterized it as a masterpiece that will endure. It was followed by short stories such as Deux Amis, Mother Savage, and Mademoiselle Fifi. Please note that this site uses cookies to personalise content and adverts, to provide social media features, and to analyse web traffic. Top 10 Things to do Around the Eiffel Tower, 10 Things to Do in Paris on Christmas Day (2022), 10 Things to Do in Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. document.getElementById( "ak_js" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); 10 Interesting Facts about Guy de Maupassant, 10 Interesting Facts about George H. W.Bush, 10 Interesting Facts about Georgia OKeeffe, 10 Interesting Facts about High Blood Pressure, 10 Interesting Facts about Haiti Earthquake. Guy de Maupassant. Maupassant was one of a fair number of 19th-century Parisians who disliked the Eiffel Tower. He also wrote six short novels. Besides,all European literature influenced his works. Famous french writer Guy de Maupassant, often lunched there and gave the reason as - its the only place in Paris where I dont have to see it!. Maupassant also wrote under several pseudonyms, including "Joseph Prunier", "Guy de Valmont", and "Maufrigneuse" (which he used from 1881 to 1885). Some of his well-known works include, Boule de Suif', 'Pierre et Jean', 'Bel Ami', La Parure , 'Deux Amis', 'Mother Savage', and 'Mademoiselle Fifi'. CNN name, logo and all associated elements and 2023 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. Indeed, "Une Vie" (Maupassant) is very similar in terms of structure and narrative style to "Madame Bovary" (Flaubert), both centering around a woman who is unhappy and unsatisfied with her life. Esther Lombardi, M.A., is a journalist who has covered books and literature for over twenty years. When he was thirteen, he went to learn classical studies at the Yvetot seminary for a brief period. The brilliance of his technique is combined with an ethical nihilism. .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}Who Is Dilbert Cartoonist Scott Adams? Guy de Valmont and Joseph Prunier are his pen name. Unfortunately, their parents divorced when he was 11 years old and his brother was 5 years old. 2) Laure Le Poittevin, Maupassants mother, became the most influential figure in his life. https://www.britannica.com/summary/Guy-de-Maupassant. Explore the life of Guy de Maupassant, the influences on his . 1) When he was 11, Maupassants mother risked social disgrace by getting divorced and keeping her two sons. He would lecture Maupassant on prose style and correct his youthful literary exercises. He attempted suicide in 1892 and was committed to an asylum, where he died at age 42. In it, a prostitute traveling by coach is companionably treated by her fellow French passengers, who are anxious to share her provisions of food, but then a German officer stops the coach and refuses to let it proceed until he has possessed her; the other passengers induce her to satisfy him, and then ostracize her for the rest of the journey. http://www.professorguerrero.com/2012/07/necklace-by-guy-de-maupassant-essay-2.html, http://enria.org/society/life-tips-in-the-interpretation-of-guy-de-maupassant. 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French writer Guy de Maupassant (August 5, 1850July 6, 1893) wrote short stories such as "The Necklace" and "Bel-Ami" as well as poetry, novels, and newspaper articles. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.