Original Short Stories — Volume 03
Guy de Maupassant was a surgeon with a pen, and these stories prove it. In this volume, he dissects French provincial life with ruthless precision, exposing the vanity, greed, and quiet desperation that haunt ordinary people. The collection moves from the dark forests where a child's body is discovered in "Little Louise Roque" to the windswept cliffs where a painter encounters the strange Englishwoman of "Miss Harriet", each story a small perfect machine of observation and revelation. Maupassant has no interest in heroes or villains; he finds his material in the compromises we make, the lies we tell ourselves, and the moments when civilization's thin veneer cracks. The humor here is often bitter, the endings frequently devastating. What distinguishes these stories is their clarity, Maupassant sees what his characters refuse to acknowledge, and he renders it without sentiment or judgment. This is short fiction at its most concentrated: every sentence does work, every detail earns its place. For readers who appreciate precision, dark irony, and the particular pleasure of watching a master observe humanity at its most unguarded.
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“But I no longer had a taste for anything, a wish for anything, a love for anybody, a desire for anything whatever, any ambition, or any hope.””
— Guy de Maupassant
“I entered literary life as a meteor, and I shall leave it like a thunderbolt."[As quoted in Pol Neveux's introduction, ]””
— Guy de Maupassant
“Some people are Freethinkers from sheer stupidity. My Uncle Sosthenes was one of these. Some people are often religious for the same reason.””
— Guy de Maupassant
“Is it not rather the touch of Love, of Love the Mysterious, who seeks constantly to unite two beings, who tries his strength the instant he has put a man and a woman face to face?””
— Guy de Maupassant
“Death need not be sad, it should be a matter of indifference.””
— Guy de Maupassant
“Then, one by one, they went away, for night was falling on the storm, wrapping in shadows the raging ocean and all the battling elements.””
— Guy de Maupassant
“Several sailors, sheltered behind the curved bottoms of their boats, were watching this battle of the sky and the sea.””
— Guy de Maupassant
“Ah! Those silly songs make us lose our heads; and, believe me, never marry a woman who sings in the country, especially if she sings the song of Musette!””
— Guy de Maupassant
“Monsieur, beware of love! It is lying in ambush everywhere; it is watching for you at every corner; all its snares are laid, all its weapons are sharpened, all its guiles are prepared! Beware of love! Beware of love! It is more dangerous than brandy, bronchitis or pleurisy! It never forgives and makes everybody commit irreparable follies.””
— Guy de Maupassant
