Guy de Maupassant

Comprehensive Aktualizováno: 2025-12-07

Research Status: Comprehensive Last Updated: 2025-12-07 Diary Coverage: Book 00 (1884 Preface)

Basic Information

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author celebrated as a master of the short story and a representative of the naturalist school. He depicted human lives, destinies and social forces in disillusioned and often pessimistic terms.

Connection to Naturalism and Zola

Maupassant was a member of the "groupe de Médan," young writers influenced by Émile Zola and naturalism. At Gustave Flaubert's home, he met Zola, Ivan Turgenev, and many proponents of the realist and naturalist schools.

Breakthrough in 1880

In 1880, Maupassant was one of six writers led by Zola who each contributed a short story on the Franco-Prussian War to the volume Les Soirées de Médan. Maupassant's story, "Boule de suif" ("Ball of Fat"), was by far the best of the six and possibly the finest story he ever wrote. This established his place in the group and in the public eye as the most promising young writer following Zola.

His Style of Naturalism

While Maupassant endorsed naturalism and the Médan group, his approach differed from Zola's. Physiological processes did not constitute the basis of human actions in his work, though environmental influence is manifested in his prose. His naturalism incorporates Schopenhauerian anthropological pessimism.

The basis of naturalism shared by Zola and Maupassant includes:

Analytic study of a given milieu
Demonstration of deterministic relation between milieu and characters
Application of mechanistic theory of psychology
Rejection of idealism

Literary Output and Legacy

The decade from 1880 to 1891 was Maupassant's most fertile period. He wrote:

300 short stories
6 novels
3 travel books
1 volume of verse

Literary theorist Kornelije Kvas wrote that "along with Chekhov, Maupassant is the greatest master of the short story in world literature."

Significance for Marie Bashkirtseff

The 1884 Correspondence

In March 1884, just two months before writing her diary preface, Marie Bashkirtseff initiated a brief but intense epistolary relationship with Maupassant under remarkable circumstances:

Marie's Approach:

Adopted the pseudonym "Miss Hastings" to conceal her identity
With barely six months to live (she died October 1884), she approached the famous author
Told him she wished to become "the confidante of your beautiful mind"
Her letters were full of wit and aroused Maupassant's interest

The Relationship:

Initiated a mutually flirtatious correspondence
Maupassant desired a face-to-face meeting
Marie ultimately found him "cruel and manipulating" in his responses
She broke off the correspondence and rejected his continuing efforts to meet her
The letters were first published in 1891, seven years after her death

Citation in the Preface

In her May 1884 preface (written just weeks after corresponding with Maupassant), Marie invokes his name alongside Zola and Goncourt: "C'est très intéressant comme document humain. Demandez à M. Zola, et même à M. de Goncourt et même à Maupassant."

The inclusion of "et même à Maupassant" (and even to Maupassant) is particularly striking because: 1. She had just corresponded with him personally under a pseudonym 2. He was younger and less established than Zola or Goncourt 3. The "et même" construction suggests she's including all the major naturalist voices 4. It may have been a private acknowledgment of their epistolary connection

The Irony: There's poignant irony in Marie citing Maupassant after finding him personally disappointing. She separates personal disappointment from literary respect, showing sophisticated critical judgment even while dying. This ability to maintain intellectual distance demonstrates the maturity evident throughout her diary.

Contemporary Context

When Marie wrote her preface in May 1884, Maupassant was 33 years old and one of the most celebrated writers in France. His emphasis on psychological realism and unflinching portrayal of human nature aligned perfectly with Marie's own approach to her diary writing.

Marie would die later that year (October 1884), just months after writing this preface. Maupassant himself would die tragically young in 1893 at age 42, succumbing to syphilis-related mental illness.

%%2025-12-07T14:35:00 RSR: Created comprehensive glossary entry for Guy de Maupassant based on Marie's direct citation in Book 00 preface. Research sources: Encyclopedia Britannica, Wikipedia, Encyclopedia.com.%% %%2025-12-07T15:00:00 RSR: Enhanced with details of March 1884 correspondence under pseudonym "Miss Hastings" - critical context for understanding the preface citation written weeks later%%