Guy de Maupassant
(1850-1893)
Born in Fecamp, he witnesses as a child violent arguments between his parents and starts having psychological issues which would haunt him for the rest of his life and give him a disillusioned view of the world. In 1877 he quits his Civil Service job to enter the ‘Group de Medan’ created by Zola and commit entirely to writing. He was encouraged by Flaubert who shared his exigency in style and accuracy in description. He is rapidly successful and his sudden wealth allows him to travel and live a cosmopolitan life but he is haunted by the fear of madness suffered by his uncle, father and brother due to a hereditary brain disease. To escape his nightmares he tries to commit suicide in 1893 and finally dies in 1893.
Other novels
-
-La Maison Tellier( 1881)
-
-Une Vie (1883)
-
-Belle Ami (1885)
-
-Fort Comme La Mort (1889)
-
-...
[Back cover translation] Une Vie tells the disenchantment, up to the limit of madness, of a women locked in an unhappy marriage to a squire too sensual (who bear close resemblance to the author), but who, at the end of all the challenges which made her life, will eventually find hope...
This novel is of a great psychological rigour, where the ruthlessness of the storyline is balanced by the beauty of the Normandy countryside. It is one of the most accomplished novels by Guy de Maupassant: it bears the mastery of the style, the description accuracy and the economy of words which made one of the best writers of the XIXth century and one of the most popular even nowadays, due the his evocative, incisive and modern style.
Une Vie was first published in 1883
Une Vie
Guy de Maupassant
