The best of Maupassant

Widely hailed as a naturalist author, Maupassant based the subjects of his stories on the life he saw and lived the Norman peasantry, Franco-Prussian War, bourgeoisie and fashionable Paris, among others. This anthology comprises stories that verily portray his accurate observation and flawless writing technique that is marked often by wry humor. Nearly every story is built around ordinary episodes from routine lives in which he never fails to expose the unknown and hidden sides of his characters. His stories depict a sweeping range from he tragic to the comic aspects of life. Frustration, immorality, disillusionment and even madness in men as well as women were just some of the issues he kept returning to without sermonizing. In classic simplicity and clarity, Maupassant is a modern example of the traditional French psychological realism. Countless writers, including Somerset Maugham and O. Henry, are believed to have fashioned their literature on Maupassant's brilliant pen.