Character Catalog

Short story published in Les Soirées de Médan, considered a masterpiece of the genre. It denounces bourgeois hypocrisy during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

Short story collection whose title piece recounts the countryside outing of a brothel's staff. The text blends humor and tenderness with consummate storytelling craft.

Maupassant's first novel, tracing the disillusions of a young Norman woman. A naturalist novel influenced by Flaubert, it was a great success.

One of Maupassant's most celebrated short story collections, depicting Norman rural life with realism and irony.

Novel following the social rise of an opportunist in the world of Parisian journalism. It is one of the most widely read novels in French literature.

Fantastical short story written as a personal diary, in which the narrator is haunted by an invisible presence. An emblematic text reflecting Maupassant's own anxieties about madness.

Psychological novel accompanied by a major theoretical preface on the realist novel. The story explores jealousy between two brothers in a family from Le Havre.

Novel exploring the themes of aging and a painter's impossible love for the daughter of his former mistress. A more intimate and melancholic work.

Your story Boule de Suif is a masterpiece! I stand by the word: a masterpiece of composition, comedy, and observation.

The realist, if he is an artist, will seek not to show us the banal photograph of life, but to give us a vision of it that is more complete, more striking, more convincing than reality itself.

We must content ourselves with looking, understanding, and telling all with the genius of sincerity and art.

I am working like a galley slave. I write short stories, chronicles, and I am advancing my novel. Literary life in Paris is a daily battle.

Maupassant spent part of his childhood and many stays in this Norman seaside resort. The cliffs and the sea left a deep mark on his literary imagination.

Gustave Flaubert's residence, which Maupassant visited every Sunday for his literary apprenticeship. It was in this place that he honed his art of the short story.

Maupassant lived in several Parisian apartments, notably on rue Montchanin (now rue Jacques-Bingen). Paris serves as the setting for many of his novels and short stories about the bourgeoisie.

Maupassant's favourite boating spots, these riverside taverns and banks of the Seine inspired his short stories about popular life and Sunday pleasures.

Maupassant was committed here in January 1892 following his suicide attempt. He spent the last eighteen months of his life there and died on July 6, 1893.

Maupassant's burial place. His grave is regularly adorned with flowers and visited by admirers of his work.

Maupassant's everyday writing instrument. He wrote every morning at his desk, producing his short stories and columns with a methodical regularity inherited from Flaubert.

Maupassant was an avid rower on the Seine. His boats were the setting for his Sunday leisure and inspired many of his short stories.

Maupassant suffered from eye problems related to his illness. He frequently wore a pince-nez, a typical accessory among men of letters of his era.

As a journalist at Gil Blas and Le Gaulois, Maupassant jotted down observations and story ideas in his notebooks, the raw material of his work.

A symbol of his literary success, this yacht named after his novel allowed him to sail the Mediterranean. He would sometimes write on board during his cruises.

Maupassant practiced fencing regularly to keep fit. It was a sport favored by Parisian gentlemen of the late 19th century.