Authors

French · 1850–1893

Guy de Maupassant

Guy de Maupassant was the supreme French short story writer, whose approximately 300 tales — including 'Boule de Suif,' 'The Necklace,' 'Le Horla,' and 'A Piece of String' — are models of the form's possibilities. A protégé of Flaubert, he published his first masterpiece 'Boule de Suif' in 1880 and spent the following decade producing stories, novels (Bel-Ami, 1885; Une Vie, 1883), and journalism. Syphilis, contracted early in life, progressively destroyed his mind; he died in a sanatorium at forty-two after attempting suicide.