Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5, 1850 at
Chateau de Miromesnil in France. He was
a descendent of a very old French
family. As a boy, Maupassant went to
school at Yvetot in Normandy, and then attended Lycee at Rouen. During his childhood and youth in Normandy,
he picked up a great deal of experiences that he later put to use in many of
his writings. When Maupassant was eleven
years old, his parents got separated.
This was probably the most significant events in his life in that his
mother retained custody of him. His
mother was the sister of a close friend of Flaubert, one of the most famous
nineteenth-century writers. She turned
to Flaubert for advice on him. Flaubert
began tutoring him on various subjects, mainly writing. Maupassant's association with Flaubert
brought him into the French literary circles.
Even though Maupassant was often a member of gatherings which included
such famous writers such as Flaubert, Turgenev, Zola, and Daudet, he had little
interest at the time for a career of writing for himself. As an adolescent he was much more interested
in sports than writing, especially rowing.
Maupassants education was interrupted by the
Franco-Prussian War, in which he served as a member of the French army. After the war was finished, he entered the
French civil service. He first served
with the Ministry of Navy and later with the Ministry of Public Institution. During the between 1873 and 1880 he also
served as a literary apprentice under Flaubert.
At this time, Maupassant realized his weakness as a poet and
concentrated on developing his skills as a writer of prose fiction. Maupassant wrote a collection of short
stories that were published with a writers such as Bola, and Huysmans. Maupassant work outshone all the others by
far. This is Maupassant became
recognized as a writer. He became one of
the most famous and well paid French authors of his time. In the years 1984 through 1985 he produced a
great number of high caliber fiction. Most
of these stories dealt with his experiences as a child in Normandy.
During 1886-1887 Maupassant began to show signs
of mental illness, probably the results of venereal disease. A sea voyage to improve his health enabled
him to make some gains toward recovery.
He was overtaken by paralysis and severe hallucinations due to
syphilis. He died in Paris on July 6,
1893.
No comments:
Post a Comment