Guy De Maupassant and “two Friends”

Guy de Maupassant and “Two Friends”

War, Naturalism, and Tragedy. A way of life, a style of literature, and the way it all ends. Guy de Maupassant lived and served in war, wrote about it, and ended it all a sad and tormented man. We can see all this through his literature and in the way he writes his dark and melancholy works.

July 15th, 1870, Emperor Napoleon III, “Led his nation into one of the most disastrous wars in her history” (Naranjo). Napoleon made the fatal mistake of attacking the Prussians, and the Germans, thus started the Franco-Prussian war. At the Age of twenty Maupassant joined the French army and went to fight in the war. During the war Paris, the capital of France, became under siege and many Frenchmen were trapped inside and starving. Napoleon III was captured and was replaced by a small group of men who took over the running of the government, their goals during the war were, “…suit for a favorable peace treaty, enlist aid of foreign powers, and prepare Paris militarily” (Naranjo)”

Now, Maupassant is known as one of the best short story writers in French history. He was born in Normandy, but he learned to write in Paris. He was tutored in writing by the famous poet Gustave Flaubert. Originally he tried to be a poet but that was a failed experiment. He did write some poetry, but it was never big and he didn’t enjoy it. His first major Novel was A Women’s Life (Cyclopedia). In 1884 and 1885 his writing career stared to pick-up and be produced “high caliber fiction” such as, “Miss Haryet”, “The Sisters Rondoli”, and “Toine, and Other Stories” (Cyclopedia). Most of his stories were about everyday life in Normandy, and the Norman people. A lot, though, were about, or influenced by, his time in the Franco-Prussian war. The war did not do well with Maupassant and in 1886 he began to show signs of mental illness, but this was a crucial time in his career as a writer. Many of his most well-known stories were written during and his illness is shown through many of his stories in this time; his stories got darker and could even be compared with the gothic premonitions seen in much of Edgar Allen Poe’s writings. His stories became increasingly violent and ever more dark and depressing, and in 1892 he tried to take his own life by cutting his throat. Then, he was committed to the celebrated private asylum of Dr. Esprit