The Necklace and Other Short Stories

By Guy de Maupassant

Book Overview

The French author Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) was a master of the short story, creating detailed character studies and brief but moving dramas well suited to the genre.
The nine stories in this collection provide a vivid portrait gallery of his typical subjects -- from simple peasants and prostitutes to soldiers, government clerks, and provincial bourgeois. Brilliantly naturalistic, these short works also reveal Maupassant's ability to observe the innumerable details of everyday life and reproduce them artfully and accurately, often with a caustic sense of humor.
His literary talents are amply displayed in this volume, which includes these memorable tales: "Ball-of-Fat," regarded by many as technically one of the finest short stories ever written, "The Necklace," "A Piece of String," "Mme. Tellier's Establishment," "Mademoiselle Fifi," "Miss Harriet," "A Way to Wealth," "My Uncle Jules," and "The Horla."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486270645
• ISBN13: 9780486270647
• Release Date: February 1992
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.3" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 11 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 6 and higher

Customer Reviews

Great classic, greater price...

I remember reading this for a high school class. Loved the story: "The Necklace" and wanted my daughter to read it as well. Good stories with irony and moral dilemmas. If you are looking for a classic, this one has great short stories. Awesome price.

Flaubert's disciple influenced Chekhov's flair for irony.

This ...Dover collection of short stories, written by arguably the best writer ever in the genre, traces the invention of modern short fiction. After Maupassant’s parents divorced, his mother became friends with Gustave Flaubert of the "Madame Bovary" fame. Flaubert committed himself to tutoring the young aristocrat – hence the "de" in his surname – and said of his protégé, "I love him like a son." What an apprenticeship?An artist owes much to his or her environment hence the background just volunteered reveals decisive influences that informed Guy’s craft. In turn, Maupassant’s work would influence those of Chekhov, Joyce, James, Babel and Hemingway! Chekhov’s oeuvre then influenced Katherine Mansfield and so on - an impressive literary family tree indeed!Maupassant, who studied law, was a master of irony and the title story exemplifies that. "The Necklace" and "A Piece of String" (otherwise translated from French as "The String") are much anthologized. Of the more than 360 short stories he wrote, the nine stories in this collection are well plotted and, like most of his followers, the author avoids imposing any moral judgments on his characters – not even on the prostitute in his sensational first story, "Ball-of-Fat" ("Boule de Suif"). ...- enjoy the dreams!

This book is a dreat value

I love the Dover Thrift Edition series. I originally bought Kafka's "The Metamorphasis and other Stories" and was delighted by the selction of a few fine representative works by that author. Again, for a shockingly low price, I decided to revisit a story I read many years ago and bought this volume. "The Necklace" is a great tale of irony in which the old adage "no good deed goes unpunished" is illustrated. It is a tale of honorably living up to one's resposibilities and it ends with quite a twist. This was a great read when I was very young and it still is well into my middle age. I recommend the "Thrift Editions," including this one, to quicky and inexpensively build a library of representative works of great writers.

This Guy isn't angry!

The title story is one of the most popular stories I teach! My college students love the irony used to raise questions about where we place our values. The surprise ending always provokes the most animated discussions. "Angry guy" probably doesn't "get it." Most people do, and I know you will love reading this story and the others in the collection!

ranks among the best story collections from one author

De Maupassant, Saki (H.H. Munro), Hawthorne, Joyce, Henry James, O. Henry (William Sydney Porter)--what a blessing and joy to read a collection of short stories by such writers! The authors may have lived in an earlier time, but their character studies, humor or insights remain true to today. De Maupaussant's stories are often brief, well crafted and absorbing. If you've only been exposed to one or two of his short stories in a literature class, try a whole book.