Guy de Maupassant


 Early Life


Henri Rene Albert Guy de Maupassant
 Born in August 5, 1850 at the Chateau de
Miromenil
 1st of the two sons of Laure Le Poittevin
and Gustave de Maupassant
 At the age of 13 he was sent to a
seminary for classical studies
 He was deliberately got himself expelled
at his first seminary school in Yvetot
 He was then moved to Lycee Pierre-
Corneille in Roune
 Other Careers

 After graduating college in 1870
the Franco-Prussian War broke
out, so he enlisted and served
for a couple of years.
 In 1871, he left Normandy for
Paris where he worked as a
clerk in the Navy Department
 In 1878 he was transferred to
the Ministry of Public
Instruction
 Maupassant the Author

 Authored 300 short stories, 6
novels, 3 travel books, and a
volume of verse
 Boule de Suif (Ball of Fat, 1880)
 In 1881, 1st volume of short stories
called Le Maison Tellier, which
reached its 12th edition in 2 years
 Other notable works were the short
stories “Madame Fifi,” “La Parure”
(The Necklace), and “La Ficelle”
(The piece of string)
 Writing Style

 . Maupassant's style and treatment of subject
resemble those of Flaubert (his mentor) in classic
simplicity, clarity, and objective calm.
 Maupassant is a modern exemplar of traditional
French psychological realism; he portrays his
characters as unhappy victims of their greed, desire,
or vanity but presents even the most sordid details of
their lives without sermonizing
 Writings

Influenced by… Influenced…
 Mostly the works of his  Somerset Maugham
mentor Gustave  O. Henry
Flaubert  Henry James
 And other realist and
naturalist authors
 The End of Maupassant

 his later years he developed a
constant desire for solitude, an
obsession for self-preservation, and a
fear of death and paranoia of
persecution caused by the syphilis he
had contracted in his youth.
 On January 2, 1892, Maupassant tried
to commit suicide by cutting his
throat, and was committed to the
private asylum of Esprit Blanche at
Passy, in Paris, where he died on July
6, 1893.
 Guy De Maupassant penned his own
epitaph: "I have coveted everything
and taken pleasure in nothing."
 Bibliography

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_de_maupassant

 "Guy De Maupassant." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2013): 1.

Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 July 2013.

 "MAUPASSANT, (Henri René Albert) Guy De." (n.d.): Funk & Wagnalls New
World Encyclopedia. Web. 17 July 2013.

 Martin TurnellRené, Dumesnil. "Maupassant, Guy De." Britannica Biographies

(2012): 1. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 17 July 2013.