The Best Short Stories (Classics Library)

Guy de Maupassant was a master of the short story. This collection displays his lively diversity, with tales that vary in theme and tone, ranging from tragedy and satire to comedy and farce. In a lucidly direct style, he provides unflinching realism and skeptical irony. He depicts the deceptions, hypocrisies and vanities at different levels of society. Prostitution is frankly described, while the harshness of war is deftly exposed. His tales have been televised and have influenced films, operas and rock music. Unillusioned but humane, Maupassant remains our contemporary. Short Stories include: Boule de Suif Two Friends Madame Tellier’s Establishment Mademoiselle Fifi Clair de Lune Miss Harriet The Necklace Mademoiselle Pearl The Piece of String Madame Husson’s ‘Rosier’ That Pig of a Morin Useless Beauty The Olive Orchard A Sale Love Two Little Soldiers Happiness

About the Author

Guy de Maupassant was probably born at the Chateau de Miromesniel, Dieppe, on 05 August. 1850. His paternal ancestors were of noble blood, and his maternal grandfather, Paul Le Poittevin, was the godfather of Gustave Flaubert. In 1869 he began to study law in Paris, but at the age of twenty, he volunteered to serve in the army during the Franco-Prussian War. From 1872 to 1880 Maupassant was a civil servant, first at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, then at the Ministry of Education. He did not like work and spent a lot of his time in pursuit of women. His first work of poetry, Des Vers, appeared in 1880, and it was in the same year that his masterpiece, Boule de Suif, was published. During the 1880s Maupassant wrote some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books and a volume of verse. He contracted syphilis in his early twenties and the disease caused increasing mental disorder, which is reflected in the nightmarish quality of much of his work. It is for his short stories that he is best known, and many are published by Wordsworth Editions as The Best Short Stories. On 02 January, 1892 he attempted to commit suicide by cutting his throat. He was committed to a private asylum in Paris, where he died the following year on the 6 July.

Reviews

News