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Maupassant: biography
Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) – a writer from Normandy, the author of numerous literary works, the creator of unique images in French literature.
By birth, the future writer was a nobleman and a Norman bourgeois at the same time. Guy (Henri Rene Albert Guy de Maupassant) spent his childhood in the Normandy castle Miromenil. He was born in early August 1850 in the family of Gustave and Laura on the territory of the Second French Republic.
Guy with mother
Guy never complained about his health, although his mother’s relatives had neuropsychiatric diseases. His younger brother was placed in a psychiatric hospital, within the walls of which he died. And my mother suffered from neuroses all her life.
Studying sciences, first at the seminary, and then at the Lyceum of Rouen, the boy writes poetry under the guidance of the school librarian and poet Louis Bouillet. In 1870, Maupassant became a participant in the military conflict between France and Prussia, passing the roads of war as a private.
The rapidly deteriorating financial situation of his family prompted him to move to Paris to find a job.
Gustave Flaubert
After ten years of service in the Naval Ministry, Maupassant did not give up his passion for books. Although he loved to study other sciences, for example, astronomy and natural science, in which he actively practiced. Gustave Flaubert, an acquaintance of his mother, became Guy’s assistant and mentor.
Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) French realist prose writer
In 1880, his first work, “Pyshka”, was published with the approval of G. Flaubert, who criticized the early attempts at the pen of Maupassant. In the same year he wrote Poems, which included themes of love, desires and romantic dates.
The talent of the young writer was noticed in the literary circles of that time. He was hired by the Golua newspaper. At that time, the writer had no other way to make a living.
Works of Maupassant
Three years later he wrote the novel “Life”, in 1885 – “Dear friend”. In total, he created about twenty volumes of stories, novels, short stories and poems, sorted into collections.
Maupassant saturates his works with bold images, with a vivid biography. He is ranked among the first writers to write in the genre of short stories. Imitating Émile Zola in the literary genre, Maupassant still makes his contribution without copying his idol.
Zola likes these works, he leaves rave reviews about them. His works are funny, a little satirical, but easy to understand. Some of the critics characterize some of Maupassant’s works as classics of the genre.
Early works (“The Grave”, “Regret”) reveal the theme of the fragility of everything ideal, the impossibility of eternal enjoyment of impeccable beauty.
Among Russian writers, the work of the French writer was met with the support of Ivan Turgenev, who learned about the author from Gustave Flaubert. Leo Tolstoy has a description of Maupassant’s works in his collected works.
Guy made quite a lot of money from his publications. It is known that his income was about sixty thousand francs per year of writing. On his shoulders was his brother’s family, which he had to support and the help of his mother.
Хобби
Rowing was Maupassant’s favorite pastime. A leisurely voyage along the Seine provided an excellent opportunity to ponder the plots of his new works in silence. Here he makes subtle observations of the landscape around him and the behavior of people.
Indeed, in addition to the interesting and vivid characteristics of the heroes, it is no less exciting to read the description of the areas visited by the author.
last years of life
But soon the writer falls seriously ill. First, mental stress affected the state of mind, then a physical illness – the reason for a free lifestyle – syphilitic disease makes itself felt.
Increased anxiety, hypochondria and almost constant depression against the backdrop of successes in literature and on stage hit the writer’s career. Even a cash bonus for staging a comedy does not save you from mental breakdown.
In the winter of 1891, Maupassant, while recovering in a psychiatric clinic, makes an attempt to commit suicide in an attack of another nervous breakdown.
After two years, the activity of the brain is finally disrupted with progressive paralysis. Maupassant passed away in July 1893. He was only forty-two years old. According to the zodiac sign, Guy de Maupassant is Leo.
His novel Pierre and Jean is the author’s message to young writers about what the artistic style of the text of that time should be. Maupassant’s works are available in Russian translation. Reading the works of this author, you get real pleasure from the manner of presentation and content of the books.
Learn more in this video on Guy de Maupassant: Biography and Creativity.
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