Boule de suif

by Guy de Maupassant

Overview

Full text.

The most famous short story of French writer Guy de Maupassant.

Maupassant's early story "Boule de Suif," ("Ball-of-Tallow") from 1880, remains a hallmark and a natural starting point. It's about a prostitute whose refrain, like Bartleby's, is that she would prefer not to-in this case, a Prussian officer asks repeatedly for the pleasure of her intimate company, and she invariably denies him. Unlike Bartleby, though, Boule de Suif must eventually give in, not by any defect of will but because of peer pressure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781546539346
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	05/06/2017
Pages:	76
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.18(d)

About the Author

Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) was a prolific French writer best remembered as a master of the short story and a father of the genre. He delighted in clever plotting and served as a model for later short story practitioners through favorites such as "The Necklace," "The Horla," "The False Gems," and "Useless Beauty." Maupassant wrote some 300 short stories, as well as six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse.

Editorial Reviews

Review - French Le recueil s'ouvre avec Boule de suif, le chef-d'oeuvre de Maupassant de l'avis meme de Flaubert. L'ensemble de ces nouvelles a pour cadre la Normandie, du pays de Caux au Mont-Saint-Michel. L'art du conteur nous fait penetrer dans l'intimite des moindres details d'une vie rurale aux antipodes de l'univers factice et mondain parisien. Mais cette vie au rythme de la nature est tout aussi cruelle, a l'image de la chasse. Ces recits, tantot cyniques, tantot humoristiques, revelent la tristesse profonde cachee sous les faits , car, au rebours de la morale apprise, la morale collective place toujours l'interet au-dessus de tout. L'edition de Marie-Claire Bancquart met en lumiere les sources d'inspiration de Maupassant et sa maitrise de l'art du recit court.

From the Publisher