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Guy de Maupassant

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. His prolific and deeply admired body of work influenced a great number of writers including William Somerset Maugham, O. Henry, Anton Chekhov, Kate Chopin and Henry James.
He was a popular writer during his lifetime and had the good fortune to see that his stories were widely read. As a young man he fought in the Franco-Prussian War. He drew heavily on that experience and that war provides the setting for many of his stories which often depict the tragedy and suffering of innocent civilians caught in war’s path. He also found inspiration in the not-so-admirable behavior of the bourgeoisie, and made them targets of his biting pessimism and skewering pen.
His most famous work for English readers is probably The Necklace. If you are unfamiliar with his works, also consider A Piece of String, Mademoiselle Fifi, Miss Harriet, My Uncle Jules, Found on a Drowned Man and The Wreck as starting points. If you have the stomach for it, you might try his truly terrifying piece of Gothic Fiction, The Hand.
Boule de Suif is arguably considered Guy de Maupassant’s finest short story. It’s a bit long for the short story form, but it’s length is justified by Maupassant’s mastery and the treatment of his high society targets. The story is a withering criticism of the French society of the late 19th century. Maupassant takes representatives from the different classes and stations of French Society and places them all in the same carriage, which is then accidentally driven behind enemy lines during the Franco-Prussian war. In time, the true character of each participant is revealed as Maupassant passes scathing judgement upon his fellow countrymen.
Guy de Maupassant suffered from mental illness in his later years and attempted suicide on January 2nd, 1892. He was committed to a private asylum in Paris and died the following year.

Short Stories

  • Abandoned
  • A Country Excursion
  • A Coup d’Etat
  • A Coward
  • A Cremation
  • A Dead Woman’s Secret
  • A Duel
  • A Family
  • A Family Affair
  • A Father’s Confession
  • After
  • A Ghost
  • A Humble Drama
  • Alexandre
  • All Over
  • A Meeting
  • A Mother of Monsters
  • An Affair of State
  • An Artifice
  • A New Year’s Gift
  • A Normandy Joke
  • An Uncomfortable Bed
  • A Parricide
  • A Piece of String
  • A Portrait
  • A Queer Night in Paris
  • A Recollection
  • A Sale
  • A Sister’s Confession
  • A Stroll
  • A Tress of Hair
  • At Sea
  • A Vagabond
  • A Vendetta
  • A Wedding Gift
  • A Widow
  • Belhomme’s Beast
  • Bellfower
  • Bertha
  • Beside Schopenhauer’s Corpse
  • Boitelle
  • Boule de Suif
  • Clair de Lune
  • Clochette
  • Coco
  • Confessing
  • Denis
  • Discovery
  • Dreams
  • Farewell
  • Fascination
  • Father Matthew
  • Father Milon
  • Forgiveness
  • Found on a Drowned Man
  • Friend Joseph
  • Friend Patience
  • His Avenger
  • Humiliation
  • Indiscretion
  • In the Spring
  • In the Wood
  • Julie Romain
  • Lasting Love
  • Legend of Mont St. Michel
  • Lieutenant Lare’s Marriage
  • Little Louise Roque
  • Madame Baptiste
  • Madame Hermet
  • Madame Husson’s Rosier
  • Madame Parisse
  • Mademoiselle Cocotte
  • Mademoiselle Fifi
  • Mademoiselle Pearl
  • Magnetism
  • Martine
  • Minuet
  • Miss Harriet
  • Misti
  • Moiron
  • Monsieur Parent
  • Moonlight
  • Mother and Son
  • Mother Sauvage
  • My Twenty-Five Days
  • My Uncle Jules
  • My Uncle Sosthenes
  • My Wife
  • Old Amable
  • Old Judas
  • Old Mongilet
  • On the River
  • Our Letters
  • Pierrot
  • Queen Hortense
  • Regret
  • Rosalie Prudent
  • Rose
  • Saint Anthony
  • Simon’s Papa
  • Suicides
  • Sundays of a Bourgeois
  • That Costly Ride
  • That Pig of a Morin
  • The Accursed Bread
  • The Adopted Son
  • The Apparition
  • The Baroness
  • The Beggar
  • The Blind Man
  • The Child
  • The Christening
  • The Colonel’s Ideas
  • The Corsican Bandit
  • The Cripple
  • The Devil
  • The Diamond Necklace
  • The Diary of a Madman
  • The Dispenser of Holy Water
  • The Donkey
  • The Door
  • The Dowry
  • The Drunkard
  • The Effeminates
  • The Englishman of Etretat
  • The False Gems
  • The Farmer’s Wife
  • The Father
  • The First Snowfall
  • The Fishing Hole
  • The Gamekeeper
  • The Grave
  • The Hairpin
  • The Hand
  • The Horla
  • The Horrible
  • The Impolite Sex
  • The Inn
  • The Kiss
  • The Legion of Honor
  • The Little Cask
  • The Log
  • The Love of Long Ago
  • The Magic Couch
  • The Maison Tellier
  • The Man with the Pale Eyes
  • The Marquis de Fumerol
  • The Mask
  • The Model
  • The Moribund
  • The Mountain Pool
  • The Mustache
  • The Necklace
  • Theodule Sabot’s Confession
  • The Orphan
  • The Parrot
  • The Patron
  • The Penguins’ Rock
  • The Piece of String
  • The Prisoners
  • The Question of Latin
  • The Rabbit
  • The Relic
  • The Rondoli Sisters
  • The Snipe
  • The Son
  • The Spasm
  • The Story of a Farm Girl
  • “The Terror”
  • The Test
  • The Thief
  • The Trip of the Horla
  • The Umbrella
  • The Unknown
  • The Vendetta
  • The Wardrobe
  • The Will
  • The Wolf
  • The Wreck
  • The Wrong House
  • Timbuctoo
  • Toine
  • Tombstones
  • Two Friends
  • Two Little Soldiers
  • Useless Beauty
  • Waiter, a “Bock”
  • Walter Schnaff’s Adventure
  • Yvette Samoris