Guy de Maupassant, 1850-1893
Biographical note
Maupassant is considered one of the fathers of the modern short story. His short stories are characterised by their economy of style and the efficient way in which the various threads within them are neatly resolved. He delighted in clever plotting, and served as a model for Somerset Maugham and O. Henry.
Taking his cue from Balzac, Maupassant wrote comfortably in both the high-Realist and fantastic modes; stories and novels such as "L'Héritage" and Bel-Ami aim to recreate Third Republic France in a realistic way, whereas many of the short stories (notably "Le Horla", cited as an inspiration for H. P. Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu", and "Qui sait?") describe apparently supernatural phenomena. 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 this interest is reflected in his fiction.
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Works
- The History of a Heart (Une vie) [1883]
- The history of a scoundrel (Bel-Ami) [1885]
- Mont Oriol / A romance of Auvergne [1887]
- Pierre and Jean (Pierre et Jean) [1887/1888]
- Strong as Death (Fort comme la mort) [1889]
- Notre Coeur / A Coquette's Love [1890]
- Yvette [1884]
- Works of Guy de Maupassant
- Original Short stories
- Short Stories listed Alphabetically:
- Abandoned
- The Accent
- The Accursed Bread (Le Pain Maudit)
- The Adopted Son (Aux champs) [ 1884]
- An Adventure (Une Aventure)
- An Adventure in Paris (Une Aventure Parisienne)
- After (Apres)
- Alexandre
- All Over (Fini)
- Allouma
- Always Lock the Door! (Le verrou)
- The Apparition (Spectre)
- An Artifice (Une Ruse)
- An Artist
- The Assignation (Le Rendez-vous)
- At Sea
- The Avenger (Le Vengeur)
- The Awakening
- Babette
- The Bandmaster’s Sister
- The Baroness
- The Bed
- The Beggar
- Belhomme’s Beast
- Bellflower
- Bertha
- Beside a Dead Man (Beside Schopenhauer’s Corpse)
- The Blind Man
- Boitelle
- Boule de Suif [1880]
- The Cake
- The Carnival of Love
- The Carter’s Wench
- Caught in the Very Act
- Caught
- Châli
- The Child
- The Christening
- Christmas Eve
- Clair de lune [1883]
- Clochette
- The Clown
- A Cock Crowed
- Coco
- The Colonel’s Ideas
- Confessing (L'aveu)
- The Confession
- The Corsican Bandit
- Countess Satan
- A Country Excursion (Une partie de campagne) [1881]
- A Coup d’Etat (An Affair of State)
- Coward
- Crash
- A Cremation
- The Cripple
- A Dead Woman’s Secret
- The Debt
- A Deer Park in the Provinces
- Delila
- Denis
- The Devil
- The Diamond Necklace (La Parure) [1884]
- The Diary of a Madman
- Discovery
- The Dispenser of Holy Water
- Divorce (A fair exchange)
- A Divorce Case
- The Donkey
- The Door
- The Double Pins
- The Dowry
- Dreams
- The Drunkard
- Duchoux
- A Duel
- The Effeminates
- The Englishman of Etretat
- Epiphany
- An Exotic Prince
- False Alarm
- The False Gems
- A Family Affair
- A Family
- Farewell! (Growing Old) (Adieu !) [1884]
- The Farmer’s Wife
- Fascination
- A Fashionable Woman
- The Father
- Father Matthew
- Father Milon (Le Père Milon) [1899, posthume]
- A Father’s Confession
- The First Snowfall
- A Fishing Excursion (Deux Amis) [1883]
- The Fishing Hole (Le Trou)
- Fly (Boatman's Reminiscence) (Mouche) [1890]
- Forgiveness
- Francesca and Carlotta Rondoli (Les Sœurs Rondoli) [1884]
- Friend Joseph
- Friend Patience
- The Gamekeeper
- Ghosts
- A Good Match
- The Grave
- The Hand
- Happiness
- Hautot Senior and Hautot Junior
- He?
- The Hermaphrodite
- The Hermit
- His Avenger
- The Hole
- An Honest Ideal
- The Horla, or Modern Ghosts (Le Horla) [1887]
- The Horrible
- How He Got the Legion of Honor
- A Humble Drama
- The Ill-Omened Groom
- The Impolite Sex
- Indiscretion
- In His Sweetheart’s Livery
- In the sunlight (Au soleil) [1884]
- In Vagabondia (La Vie errante) [1890]
- Inheritance (L’Héritage) [1884]
- The Inn
- In the Spring
- In the Wood
- The Jennet
- Jeroboam
- Joseph
- Julie Romain
- Julot’s Opinion
- Kind Girls
- The Kiss
- La Morillonne
- The Lancer’s Wife
- Lasting Love
- The Last Step
- Legend of Mont St. Michel (La Légende du Mont-Saint-Michel) [1882]
- The Legion of Honor
- Letter Found on a Drowned Man
- Letter from a Madman (Lettre d'un fou) [1885]
- Lieutenant Lare’s Marriage
- Lilie Lala
- The Little Cask
- Little Louise Roqué
- A Lively Friend
- The Log
- Love
- The Love of Long Ago
- Madame Baptiste
- Madame Hermet
- Madame Husson’s “Rosier” (Le Rosier de Madame Husson) [1888]
- Madame Parisse
- Madame Tellier’s Establishment (La Maison Tellier) [1881]
- Mademoiselle Cocotte
- Mademoiselle Fifi [1882]
- Mademoiselle
- Mademoiselle Pearl
- Mad
- The Mad Woman (La Folle) [1882]
- Madness (Un fou ?) [1884]
- The Magic Couch
- Magnetism
- (La Main gauche) [1889]
- Mamma Stirling
- The Man with the Blue Eyes
- The Man with the Dogs
- Margot’s Tapers
- The Marquis De Fumerol
- The Marquis
- Marroca
- Martine
- The Mask (Le Masque)
- A Meeting
- A Mesalliance
- Minuet
- Miss Harriet [1884]
- Misti
- The Model (Femme d'artiste)
- Moiron
- Monsieur Parent [1885]
- Moonlight
- The Moribund
- Mother and Daughter
- Mother and Son
- Mother and Son!!!
- A Mother of Monsters
- Mother Sauvage
- The Mountain Pool
- The Mountebanks
- The Mustache
- My Landlady
- My Twenty-Five Days
- My Uncle Jules
- My Uncle Sosthenes
- My Wife
- The New Sensation
- A New Year’s Gift
- A Night in Whitechapel
- No Quarter
- A Normandy Joke
- The Odalisque of Senichou
- Old Amable
- Old Judas
- The Old Maid
- Old Mongilet
- One Evening
- On the River (Sur l’eau) [1888]
- The Orderly
- The Orphan
- Our Letters
- A Parricide
- The Parrot
- A Passion
- The Patron
- Paul’s Mistress
- The Peddler (Le Colporteur) [1900]
- The Penguins’ Rock
- A Philosopher
- The Piece of String (La Ficelle) [1883]
- Pierre et Jean
- Pierrot
- The Port (Le Port) [1889]
- A Portrait
- The Prisoners
- Profitable Business
- Queen Hortense
- A Queer Night in Paris
- The Question of Latin
- The Rabbit
- The Read One and the Other
- A Recollection
- Regret
- The Relic
- The Relics
- Relics of the Past
- Rosalie Prudent
- Rose
- A Rupture
- Rust
- Saint Anthony
- A Sale
- Saved
- The Sequel to a Divorce
- The Signal
- Simon’s Papa
- A Sister’s Confession
- The Snipe (Contes de la bécasse) [1883]
- The Son
- The Spasm
- Stable Perfume
- The Story of a Farm-Girl (Histoire d’une fille de ferme) [1889]
- A Stroll
- The Substitute
- Suicides
- Sundays of a Bourgeois (Les Dimanches d’un bourgeois de Paris) [1900]
- Sympathy
- The Test
- That Costly Ride
- That Pig of a Morin (Ce cochon de Morin) [1882]
- Theodule Sabot’s Confession
- “The Terror”
- The Thief
- Timbuctoo
- Toine
- Tombstones
- A Tress of Hair (La Chevelure)
- The Trip of Le Horla
- True Story (Histoire vraie)
- The Twenty-Five Francs of the Mother-Superior
- Two Friends
- Two Little Soldiers
- Ugly
- The Umbrella
- An Uncomfortable Bed
- Under the Yoke
- Une Vie
- An Unfortunate Likeness
- The Unknown
- The Upstart
- A Useful House
- Useless Beauty (L’Inutile Beauté) [1890]
- A Vagabond
- A Vendetta (Une Vendetta) [1883]
- The Venus of Braniza
- The Viaticum
- Violated
- Virtue in the Ballet
- Waiter, a “Bock”
- Walter Schnaffs’ Adventure
- The Wardrobe
- A Warning Note
- Was It a Dream?
- A Wedding Gift
- What Was Really the Matter with Andrew
- The White Lady
- Who Knows?
- Why?
- A Widow
- Wife and Mistress
- A Wife’s Confession
- The Will
- The Wolf
- Woman’s Wiles
- The Wooden Shoes
- Words of Love
- The Wreck
- The Wrong House
- Yvette Samoris
