Product Description

A collection of the author's most characteristic stories portrays life in 19th-century France.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #307545 in Books
• Published on: 1971-01-28
• Original language: French
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Customer Reviews

A wicked glint in the eye of a collection of stories
Maupassant is the Prussian War's Roald Dahl. His stories shine with mischief and flawed but totally absorbing human beings. Like Dahl there is a touch of the macabre and twistedness to his writings which, like Dr Hoffmann's Cautionary Tales, can haunt the reader. If you like some darkness and humour then you'll love this book.
Maupassant is definatly a "people" writer- the humanity he observes leaps off the page. Where other author's would have trouble fleshing out characters Maupassant instantly creates believable and interesting 3D characters. The concentration of "real" working class or lower middle class characters in the stories make a welcome change from the aristos populating much of English literatures classic books. There's plenty of fun and frolics in Maupassant's writing along with the darkness and sordidness- a complete contrast to what we learn at school in history lessons of the poor and depressed citizens of Europe in the nineteeth century.
A dark glittering gem of a book. Excellent.

Unequalled World Class Short Stories
Never having taken a world literature class, I discovered Guy De Maupassant many years ago on my own ... to my utter delight! I love his insights into human behavior, his writing technique of emphasizing some human conditon, dilemma, or foible, his ability to contrast the behavior of the wealthy respectable class against the more common people, his humor, and his creative writing style. The reader learns about the lives of people during the 19th century, their cares, concerns, their vices and passions ... and their secrets, the subjects are as varied as life itself!

This volume of 30 short stories is an extremely fine selection of his works. I was familiar with three of the stories, "The Jewels", "The Piece of String" and the most well known titled "Boule De Suif" (translated as "Ball of Fat"). In this famous story, the prostitute of the region of Rouen is traveling with upper class companions in a coach as each traveler assesses the other one, making judgements as human beings often do. Eventually the upper class passengers are hungry, as they eye Boule De Suif opening her basket filled with fried chicken and other delicious foods. Boule De Souif takes compassion on her fellow passengers by offering them some of her food, to their embarrassment and pleasure, assuaging their hunger pangs. We learn a little about the character and background of the passengers, as the author builds his plot ... The passengers became more chummy, a most unusual situation that would not occur in normal everyday life between such different classes. The coach stopped for a rest at an inn. Prussians occupied the town and were staying at the same inn. As circumstances developed, the Prussian officer wanted to speak with Boule De Suif (Madame Elisabeth Rousset) ... she refused, recognizing at once the reason for his summons. The passengers on the coach sensed the tension and attempted pursuading Ms Rousset to join the officer ... they feared bad consequences for themselves if she did not cooperate, despite their disgust toward that sort of activity. They prevalied, Ms Rousset succumbed. The story ended on a sad note ... after "the event", the snobby behavior of the passengers toward Ms Rousset was evident as they reached their destination. They forgot her kindess in sharing her food, her resistance to the advances of the officer (she had pride in resisting the enemy) ... the passengers looked to their own selfish concerns and had no compassion for the sacrifice made by "Boule De Suif" on their behalf. This story exemplifies one of the main reasons the stories of Guy De Maupassant are so popular, in addition to his creative techniques and writing expertise, he contrasts certain extremes of human behavior to make a very strong point which emphasizes the human condition most accurately. These stories will delight a wide-range of readers. Most highly recommended. Erika Borsos (bakonyvilla)

elegant stories of social and sexual satire
Maupassant is an Impressionist in that his quick, pithy sketches of Normandy are fragments of banality which are often both comic and devastating to the characters involved. They therefore pull off an elegant trick of filling prosaic lives with achingly poignant events. Often criticised for a cavalier attitude towards women, his stories are, in fact, swift assays into a game played out between the sexes. Neither side emegerges with much credit, but each is allowed a kind of pathos in their bruised dignity.