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.