In an accidental opportunity, I read the “Collection of Maupassant’s Short Stories”.
I am no stranger to Maupassant. I learned his “My Uncle Euler” in middle school and his “Necklace” in high school. But now reading again will have a completely different experience.
First of all, briefly introduce Maupassant. Maupassant is an outstanding French critical realist writer in the second half of the 19th century, and is known as the world’s three great masters of short stories together with Chekhov and O. Henry. His primary contribution in the history of literature is to raise the artistic level of short stories to an unprecedented level.
The first part of the book is “Grease Ball”, which describes the different attitudes and performances of a patriotic prostitute, grease ball, and a hypocritical and selfish gentleman and woman in front of the enemy.
It is not difficult to see the patriotic spirit of the writer by putting the ball of sheep fat in the first chapter. It let me know whether a person’s soul is noble or not has nothing to do with his status.
Maupassant’s novel is ingenious in conception, reasonable in layout, and its plot development is both unexpected and reasonable. For example, “The Necklace” describes a small citizen who has destroyed his youth for ten years due to social value orientation and personal reasons – vanity. At the beginning of the story, the author asks, a charming girl married a clerk, and the girl originally wanted to meet a rich and decent man. What would the girl do with the life opposite to the fantasy? A surprise invitation made the couple, especially the heroine, disordered. She bought a dress and borrowed jewellery from her friend, and had a beautiful night after the dance.
The more beautiful she is, the more anxious the readers are, thinking about what unexpected things will happen. Sure enough, the necklace was lost, and our hanging heart was put down. When she has worked hard for ten years to pay off her debts, we seem to be relieved. However, at this time, my friend threw a heavy bomb: the necklace is fake!
This heavy blow blinded Mathilde and stunned readers. However, after the dizziness, you will find that you have missed the important points. The text is not without foreshadowing. The three foreshadows all point in one direction: the necklace is fake. I can’t help but marvel and applaud! Because of his ingenious idea!
In the story, Maupassant criticized Mathilde’s vanity, and then praised the sincerity, simplicity and diligence of the lower class (Mathilde did not refuse to admit and escape after losing the necklace she received from Forestier, but paid off the debt ten years after she bought a necklace with a loan), attacking and exposing the society at that time.
There are many other things that are worth thinking about and understanding in Maupassant’s novels.
Let’s talk about the words of Maupassant. The language of Maupassant’s novels is simple and concise, exquisite and full of personality. A few words can reveal the inner world of the characters. He can always grasp the deepest soul of the characters, write their most representative little things, and describe their faces and psychology vividly and freely. He almost broke away from exaggeration and decoration, and naturally expressed the real world, presenting the readers with a true and unmodified face.
He shows the universal truth of the world by taking a point to an area and seeing the big from the small. Go straight into your soul, let you have to face the good and evil of human nature! His works have extraordinary charm. From these daily stories and human psychological behaviors he narrates, we can understand human nature and see the profound thoughts and rich philosophies behind the words.
Some people say that reading Maupassant’s short stories is to see a picture reflecting the real situation of French life, and to see a textbook about the relationship between people around us. It is precisely so that in Maupassant’s novels, cruel and realistic things are always performed again and again.
When reviewing his works, there is always a feeling of lasting renewal. Perhaps this is the charm of all excellent literary works.
