The Necklace and Other Stories: Maupassant for Modern Times

By Guy de Maupassant

Book Overview

A Parisian civil servant turned prot g of Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant is considered not only one of the greatest short story writers in all of French literature but also a pioneer of psychological realism and modernism who helped define the form. Credited with influencing the likes of Chekhov, Maugham, Babel, and O. Henry, Maupassant had, at the time of his death at the age of forty-two, written six novels and some three hundred short stories. Yet in English, Maupassant has, curiously, remained unappreciated by modern readers due to outdated translations that render his prose in an archaic, literal style. In this bold new translation, Sandra Smith--the celebrated translator of Irene Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise --brings us twenty-eight of Maupassant's essential stories and two novellas in lyrical yet accessible language that brings Maupassant into vibrant English. In addition to her sparkling translation, Smith also imposes a structure that captures the full range of Maupassant's work. Dividing the collection into three sections that reflect his predominant themes--nineteenth-century French society, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, and the supernatural--Smith creates "an arrangement suggesting a culture of relation, of structure, of completion" (Richard Howard). In "Tales of French Life," we see Maupassant explore the broad swath of French society, not just examining the lives of the affluent as was customary for writers in his day. In the title story of the collection, "The Necklace," Maupassant crafts a devastating portrait of misplaced ambition and ruin in the emerging middle class. The stories in "Tales of War" emerge from Maupassant's own experiences in the devastating Franco-Prussian War and create a portrait of that disastrous conflict that few modern readers have ever encountered. This section features Maupassant's most famous novella, "Boule de Suif." The last section, "Tales of the Supernatural," delves into the occult and the bizarre. While certain critics may attribute some of these stories and morbid fascination as the product of the author's fevered mind and possible hallucinations induced by late-stage syphilis, they echo the gothic horror of Poe as well as anticipate the eerie fiction of H. P. Lovecraft. The result takes readers from marriage, family, and the quotidian details of life to the disasters of war and nationalism, then to the gothic and beyond, allowing us to appreciate Maupassant in an idiom that matches our own times. The Necklace and Other Stories enables us to appreciate Maupassant as the progenitor of the modern short story and as a writer vastly ahead of his time.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0871403684
• ISBN13: 9780871403681
• Release Date: August 2015
• Publisher: Liveright
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.6" x 1.2" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

Great classic, greater price...

I remember reading this for a high school class. Loved the story: "The Necklace" and wanted my daughter to read it as well. Good stories with irony and moral dilemmas. If you are looking for a classic, this one has great short stories. Awesome price.

Flaubert's disciple influenced Chekhov's flair for irony.

This ...Dover collection of short stories, written by arguably the best writer ever in the genre, traces the invention of modern short fiction. After Maupassant’s parents divorced, his mother became friends with Gustave Flaubert of the "Madame Bovary" fame. Flaubert committed himself to tutoring the young aristocrat – hence the "de" in his surname – and said of his protégé, "I love him like a son." What an apprenticeship?An artist owes much to his or her environment hence the background just volunteered reveals decisive influences that informed Guy’s craft. In turn, Maupassant’s work would influence those of Chekhov, Joyce, James, Babel and Hemingway! Chekhov’s oeuvre then influenced Katherine Mansfield and so on - an impressive literary family tree indeed!Maupassant, who studied law, was a master of irony and the title story exemplifies that. "The Necklace" and "A Piece of String" (otherwise translated from French as "The String") are much anthologized. Of the more than 360 short stories he wrote, the nine stories in this collection are well plotted and, like most of his followers, the author avoids imposing any moral judgments on his characters – not even on the prostitute in his sensational first story, "Ball-of-Fat" ("Boule de Suif"). ...- enjoy the dreams!

This book is a dreat value

I love the Dover Thrift Edition series. I originally bought Kafka's "The Metamorphasis and other Stories" and was delighted by the selction of a few fine representative works by that author. Again, for a shockingly low price, I decided to revisit a story I read many years ago and bought this volume. "The Necklace" is a great tale of irony in which the old adage "no good deed goes unpunished" is illustrated. It is a tale of honorably living up to one's resposibilities and it ends with quite a twist. This was a great read when I was very young and it still is well into my middle age. I recommend the "Thrift Editions," including this one, to quicky and inexpensively build a library of representative works of great writers.

This Guy isn't angry!

The title story is one of the most popular stories I teach! My college students love the irony used to raise questions about where we place our values. The surprise ending always provokes the most animated discussions. "Angry guy" probably doesn't "get it." Most people do, and I know you will love reading this story and the others in the collection!

ranks among the best story collections from one author

De Maupassant, Saki (H.H. Munro), Hawthorne, Joyce, Henry James, O. Henry (William Sydney Porter)--what a blessing and joy to read a collection of short stories by such writers! The authors may have lived in an earlier time, but their character studies, humor or insights remain true to today. De Maupaussant's stories are often brief, well crafted and absorbing. If you've only been exposed to one or two of his short stories in a literature class, try a whole book.