Preview

Guy De Maupassant's Biography and Short Story, A Civil Servant

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
5008 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Guy De Maupassant's Biography and Short Story, A Civil Servant
BIOGRAPHY during Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), French author of the naturalistic school who is the Franco-Prussian War. Between the years 1872 and 1880 Maupassant was a civil servant, first Guy de Maupassant was probably born at the Château de Miromesniel, Dieppe on August 5, 1850. In 1869 Maupassant started to study law in Paris, but soon, at the age of 20, he volunteered to serve in the army at the ministry of maritime affairs, then at the ministry of education
As a poet Maupassant made his debut with Des Vers (1880). In the same year he published in the anthology Soirées de Medan (1880), edited by E. Zola, his masterpiece, "Boule De Suif" ("Ball of Fat", 1880). During the 1880s Maupassant created some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. In tone, his tales were marked by objectivity, highly controlled style, and sometimes by sheer comedy. Usually they were built around simple episodes from everyday life, which revealed the hidden sides of people. Among Maupassant's best-known books are Une Vie (A Woman's Life, 1883), about the frustrating existence of a Norman wife and Bel-Ami (1885), which depicts an unscrupulous journalist. Pierre Et Jean (1888) was a psychological study of two brothers. Maupassant's most upsetting horror story, Le Horla (1887), was about madness and suicide.
Maupassant had suffered from his 20s from syphilis. The disease later caused increasing mental disorder - also seen in his nightmarish stories, which have much in common with Edgar Allan Poe's supernatural visions. Critics have charted Maupassant's developing illness through his semi-autobiographical stories of abnormal psychology, but the theme of mental disorder is present even in his first collection, La Maison Tellier (1881), published at the height of his health.
On January 2, in 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat and was committed to the celebrated private asylum of Dr. Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris, where

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Old Milon Composition

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Guy De Maupassant, author of “Old Milon”, composes a short story, set during the Franco-Prussian War, in which Milon portrayed as a stupid, old peasant attempts to obtain his vengeance on the raiding Prussian opponents, objectively demonstrating his most distinguishable characteristic -- cleverness. Permitting his ultimate rivals, the Prussian soldier, to inhabit his home as a headquarters, reveals his cunning through masking his hatred for the Prussians, by acting like a thoughtless, amicable civilian. Likewise, Old Milon’s diabolical plan was to permit the combatants to vacation at his barn, while he “quartered them to the best of his ability,” (1) subsequently gaining their trust, so he could not be accused of committing the crime. After obligating his first murder; Milon takes the lifeless corpus’ uniform, allowing him to camouflage himself by flaunting his cunning scheme. Furthermore, he begins by putting on the Prussian solider uniform and shouts, "Hilfe, hilfe!”, and once he wins the other fleeting troopers’ attention; Milon kills them on the spot, having no mercy. When the soldiers stop to help him, they consider it is just another abandoned helpless guy in need, nevertheless they do not recognize their life in jeopardy, because Milion remains so ingenious that he concealed up his stratagem. Lastly, Old Milon confesses to all his crimes, knowing he was going to die either, from old age or since he was condemned to death, his cunning allows him to succeed his key objective; revenge. Furthermore, he deliberately gets himself killed, which was clever on his part because he already completed his retribution on the Prussian militias, for his father and sons' death, saying "Eight for my father, eight for the boys--we are quits."(5) acknowledging that they are even now, and that his payback is complete. Yet at this point, he does not worry whether or not he survives, so he does not bother to shield himself, and just willingly confesses to…

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Until the late 1800’s when psychoanalysis was introduced, there was little to no distinction between classifications of mental illness. The female protagonist in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Bartleby of Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivenor” are both characters that seem to suffer from depression. Gilman’s narrator suffers from a ‘temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency’ that regresses into insanity and irrational behavior as Bartley is unmotivated, passive resistant and reticent. The regressing mental illnesses of the characters are contributed by the oppression from external forces of society in this particular time, the isolation, and the power of the enabling people in their lives. In this sense, they are more similar and of greater importance than in comparing the distinction in mental illness, which was impossible at the time the stories were written.…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In principle, psychopathology is the scientific study of mental disorders and their origin; in addition, this field of study examines the causes, development, and possible treatment for the disorders. Essentially, psychopathology encompasses three aspects that are considered as directly related to the mental disorders. These facets include the biological considerations, social issues, and psychological aspects of any mental condition. In fact, the initial perception of mental illness was associated with religious issues such as possession by demons and evil spirits. However, famous ancient physicians like Hippocrates and Plato would disrepute this perception gradually transforming the view of mental disorders and its causes (Gutting 2008). In this regard, the research into the causes of mental disorders would shift focus from the religious beliefs to a more scientific approach. In respect to modern day research on mental disorders, this essay attempts to investigate the perception and causes of psycho – pathology.…

    • 1618 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I. Thesis: Edgar Allan Poe’s notorious drug and alcohol abuse combined with his dysfunctional and habitually unsupportive family play a large role in the development in the development of Poe’s unique writing styles and topics.…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Madness within the human psyche goes hand and hand when the names Edgar Allen Poe and Charlotte Perkins Gilman are spoken. The stories “The Tell-Tale Heart,” by Edgar Allen Poe and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman are both prime examples of how 19th century authors provoked the ideas of paranoia and mental deterioration within troubled narrators. These disorders can be compared in reference to when each character makes its discovery, the similarities can be drawn from discovering these comparisons in mental state, and then differences between “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” can be broadcasted.…

    • 366 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The human mind is difficult to understand as every human possesses his/her own individual thought rituals at different levels of complexities. From a psychological approach the point(s) to get across are to reveal the revelation of its author’s mind and personality. In other words, how the literature is linked with the author’s mental and emotional characteristics. Today, psychology has been introduced in most everything. Before the field of Psychology was introduced an American author, Edgar Allan Poe, was deeply aware of the complexities of the human mind and its effects on behavior. His comprehension of the human brain is embedded in short stories such as, “The Black Cat” and “The Cask of Amontillado.” Edgar Allan Poe presents protagonists…

    • 1692 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    He takes the negative approach of things, which I say is based from his childhood. As it says in this quote by Poe, "I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity," it seems that he always had seen the negative of things in life instead of positive. As Poe made for his character to obsess over the eye and the heartbeat, I feel that he used a lot of through his negative approach. There is a possibility that he could have used the obsession that he has on his negative and bad childhood and put it into a story, giving the man something to obsess and go insane over. Though Poe didn't go as insane as the man in the story and killed someone, he's definitely not as sane as he could be. He had a different perspective on life, and it wasn't a wrong kind of perspective but it was just not the normal one that you wouldn't normally hear about. Another quote from Poe, "I do not suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it." This quote really makes me think what it was to see life in his shoes. Another reason why his stories were so different and so interesting because he took what he was feeling and put it in book…

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the first paragraph alone, many important aspects of the narrator's character are revealed. It is revealed to the reader that the narrator was in love and is grieving for the woman he loved. It is also in the first paragraph where the major conflict is revealed. The major conflict, in which the narrator is involved, is his own torment from the memory of his dead wife. This is evident when the narrator says, "When I saw our room again, our bed, our furniture, everything that remains of the life of a human being after death – I was seized by such a violent attack of fresh grief that I felt like opening the window and throwing myself onto the street." Initially, the author intends the reader to feel sorry for the narrator and his loss. The thing that motivates the narrator in the conflict is his resolution to finish grieving before it consumes him. This is evident when he says, "Happy is the man whose heart forgets everything that it has contained."…

    • 620 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “The Tell -Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, was released in 1843. It is one of Poe’s shortest stories and provides a look into paranoia and mental deterioration. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, was released in 1899. This story also provides a look into mental deterioration and had been misinterpreted when it was first published. The Poe and Gilman stories discussed in this essay will help readers comprehend the credibility of the narrators and the different symbolisms used to create informative yet suspenseful content.…

    • 1205 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe Dbq

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe believed that he was cursed due to the fact that three of his closest family members died of Tuberculosis. All throughout Poe’s life, he did not have anyone to guide him or care for him. Many of his loved ones had died. Later in Poe’s life, he started writing horror stories that all had a common theme of fear and death. He was known as “the Father of Horror”. His writings were not as popular during the time that he was alive as they are now. Did Edgar Allan Poe’s awful life inspire his macabre style of writing? Edgar Allan Poe’s life directly affected his writing due to his awful life experiences, the death that occurred in his life, and his macabre writing style.…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dreamed before” (Edgar Allan Poe). Deep sadness, darkness and tragedy are all characteristics that can be used to describe Poe’s writings. Painful tragedies, such as the abandonment of his father, the death of his biological mother, the death of his adoptive mother and the death of his young wife Virginia were very important factors in shaping Poe’s style of writings and his development of the horror genera. Those tragedies came to shape more than just his writings, but his life as well. Poe is popularly referred to as an avid drinker as well as a habitual opium user. The tragedies Poe has faced in his life lead him to self-medicate by the means of alcohol, which in turn became the death of him, but his thought to be an opium user purely derives from his fictional writings.…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe and Insanity

    • 3424 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe was orphaned at an early age, later being adopted by John Allan. In his early adulthood, he developed malignant habits of alcoholism and debt. During his time, activists in the temperance movement blamed alcohol for corruptions such as violence and the destruction of family life. People during this time also had a fascination with the dark side of human nature and mental illnesses, which was present in many of Poe’s works. People thought that mental illnesses were to be related to immoral behavior, and were the result of diseases like syphilis (“Tell Tale”).…

    • 3424 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Tell Tale Heart

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe, whose personal torment so powerfully informed his visionary prose and poetry, is a towering figure in the history of American literature. A Virginia gentleman and the son of itinerant actors, the heir to great fortune and a disinherited outcast, a university man who had failed to graduate, a soldier brought out of the army, a husband with an unapproachable child-bride, a brilliant editor and low salaried hack, a world renowned but impoverish author, a temperate man and uncontrollable alcoholic, a materialist who yearned for a final union with God. His fevered imagination brought him to great heights of creativity and the depths of paranoiac despair. Yet although he produced a relatively small volume of work, he virtually invented the horror and detective genres and his literary legacy endures to this day.…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe, reputed as the father of American short stories, is a poet, writer and literary critic of nineteenth century. His works, most of which explore the dark side of consciousness and subconsciousness of human beings, was well-known for horror and mystery. "The Black Cat" is one of Poe's masterpieces. It depicts love, hatred and fear between men through the narration of the changing relationship between a mentally abnormal man and a black cat. Loneliness, death, torture and abnormal psychology are core elements in "The Black Cat" This thesis aims to conduct a research on how Allan Poe managed to achieve psychological horror in "The Black Cat."…

    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    His disgust with humanity followed a near-fatal illness in 1792 that left him totally deaf. During his recovery, isolated from society, he began to paint demons of his inner fantasy world, the start of a preoccupation with bizarre, grotesque creatures in his mature work.…

    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays