Guy de Maupassant

Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)

French Short-Story Writer and Novelist

Guy de Maupassant was an extemely prolific short-story writer, famous for ‘Boule de suif’ (‘Ball of Fat’) and ‘The Necklace’ (‘La Parure’.) His best novels include Pierre and Jean and Bel-Ami. He was greatly influenced by Gustave Flaubert.

 

He was born on August 5, 1850 in a Norman chateau of Miromesnil, northern France. His parents separated when he was 11 years old, which might have led him to fear marriage and to an extent, concern about loneliness and persecution.

He was educated at Rouen, expelled from school and went to study law in Paris. In 1870 the Franco-Prussian War began between France and Germany. De Maupassant’s studies were interrupted, and aged 20, he became a soldier. After the war he joined the civil service and under the influence of his mother’s friend, Gustave Flaubert, started to write short stories. He became associates with advocates of Naturalism like Émile Zola.

Read more — Guy de Maupassant

Works by Guy de Maupassant:

• Ball of Fat 1880
• The House of Madame Tellier 1881
• Mademoiselle Fifi 1882
• A Woman’s Life (Une Vie), novel 1883
• The Necklace, short story, 1884
• Miss Harriet 1884
• Bel-Ami, novel 1885
• Pierre and Jean, novel 1888

Henry James

Henry James (1843-1916)

American-born English Author, Novelist, Short Story Writer, Playwright, Critic

Henry James was a American-born English classic author of novels, short-stories, plays and literary criticisms. Some of his greatest novels include: The Wings of the Dove, The Ambassadors and The Golden Bowl. Famous stories he wrote: Portrait of a Lady and The Bostonians. Among the authors he considered his great influence include Nathaniel Hawthorne, Gustave Flaubert, Honoré de Balzac, Guy de Maupassant and Ivan Turgenev.

Read more… [Henry James, Life and Works]

Major Works by Henry James:

Books by Henry James:

• Watch and Ward, 1871
• Roderick Hudson, 1875
• The American, 1877
• The Europeans, 1878
• Daisy Miller, 1879
• Washington Square, 1880
• The Portrait of a Lady, 1881
• The Bostonians, 1886
• The Princess Casamassima, 1886
• The Tragic Muse, 1890
• The Sacred Fount, 1901
• The Wings of the Dove, 1902
• The Ambassadors, 1903
• The Golden Bowl, 1904

The Spoils of Poynton, 1897 – Short novel

Author Celebrants – Dec 16

Authors born of December 16:

Jane Austen (1775) – English novelist famous for:

• Pride and Prejudice
• Emma
• Sense and Sensibility
• Mansfield Park

Sir Noel Coward (1899) – English playwright, actor and composer

V.S. Ptrichett (1900) – British autobiographer, essayist, author and critic