|
Guy de Maupassant
|
I lived from 1850-1893.
I was from France, and am in the European category.
Henry-Rene-Albert-Guy de Maupassant was probably born at the Chateau de Miromesniel, Dieppe. His paternal ancestors were noble, and his maternal grandfather, Paul Le Poittevin, was Gustave Flaubert's godfather. His parents separated when he was 11 years old. Maupassant grew up in his native Normandy. The gift of a photographic memory enabled him to gather a storehouse of information, which later helped him in his stories about the Norman people. He is famous for his story "The Necklace".
Read full description by Peacelink-Old Poetry Team...
In 1869 Maupassant started to study law in Paris, but soon, at age 20, he volunteered to serve in the army during Franco-Prussian War. After his return to Paris, Maupassant joined the literary circle of Gustave Flaubert. who introduced him to some of the leading writers, among them Emile Zola, Ivan Turgenev, and Henry James. From Flaubert, Maupassant learned the exactness and accuracy of observations, and balance and precision of style.
Between the years 1872 and 1880 Maupassant was a civil servant, first at the ministry of maritime affairs, then at the ministry of education. As a poet Maupassant made his debut with Des Vers (1880).
In the same year he published in the anthology Soirees de Medan (1880), edited by E. Zola, his masterpiece, Boule de Suif (Ball of Fat, 1880). The story is set during the Franco-Prussian War.
During the 1880s Maupassant created some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. In tone, his tales were marked by objectivity, highly controlled style, and sometimes sheer comedy. Usually they were built around simple episodes from everyday life, which revealed the hidden sides of people. On several occasions were narrated in the first person or were tales told by a named character.
Among Maupassant's best know books is Une Vie (A Woman's Life, 1883), about the frustrating existence of a Norman wife, Bel Ami (1885), which depicts an unscrupulous journalist. Pierre et Jean (1888) which was a psychological study of two brothers. Maupassant's most upsetting horror story, Le Horla (1887), was about madness and suicide. Maupassant's horror fiction consists of some 39 stories, only a tenth of his total. Recurring theme in these is madness
Maupassant had suffered from his 20s from syphilis. The disease later caused increasing mental disorder - also seen in his nightmarish stories, which have much in common with Edgar Allan Poe's supernatural visions. Critics have charted Maupassant's developing illness through his semi-autobiographical stories of abnormal psychology, but the theme of mental disorder is present in his first collection, La Maison Tellier (1881), published at the height of his health.
On January 2, in 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat and was committed to the celebrated private asylum of Dr. Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris, where he died next year. It is claimed that all his fiction came from his own experience. Although he probably fictionalized true occurrences or tales told to him, Maupassant's style has been imitated by countless writers and his influence can be seen on such masters of the short story as W. Somerset Maugham and O. Henry.
kirjasto.sci.fi
Popular poetry
Le rêve pour les uns serait d'avoir des ailes,
De monter dans l'espace en poussant de grands cris,
84 lines, 1 comment
La terre souriait au ciel bleu. L'herbe verte
De gouttes de rosée était encor couverte.
27 lines, 1 comment
Je connaissais fort peu votre mari, madame ;
Il était gros et laid, je n'en savais pas plus.
68 lines, 2 comments
Les Dieux sont éternels. Il en naît parmi nous
Autant qu'il en naissait dans l'antique Italie,
575 lines
Un grand château bien vieux aux murs très élevés.
Les marches du perron tremblent, et l'herbe pousse,
274 lines
I very little knew your husband, Madam;
He was large and ugly, I did not know more.
68 lines, 5 comments
L'aïeul mourait froid et rigide.
Il avait quatre-vingt-dix ans.
37 lines
Le gai soleil chauffait les plaines réveillées.
Des caresses flottaient sous les calmes feuillées.
117 lines
Sais-tu qui je suis ? Le Rayon de Lune.
Sais-tu d'où je viens ? Regarde là-haut.
61 lines
Quand sur le boulevard je vais flâner un brin,
Combien de fois j'entends, sans mourir de chagrin,
147 lines
Start a forum topic about this poet
|
|
| |
