Contes de Maupassant

Tous les défauts qu’exige l’esthétique naturaliste, M. de Maupassant les a, mais il a aussi quelques qualités qui sont assez rares dans l’école. Ainsi, j'ose à peine l’en féliciter, mais il y a chez lui quelques traces de sensibilité, de sympathie, d'émotion: dans Le Papa de Simon … dans Une Vie.

As the sorrows of life strike home, the breakdown in Maupassant’s cold reserve is even more complete; we have at last in Sur l’Eau (1888) certain pages that are the essence of human pity. Larroumet summarizes this fact in the Revue bleue (18 mars, 1899) with the telling phrase: “Il a commencé devant ‘les pauvres hommes’ par l'indifférence supérieure à son sujet; il a fini par la pitié fraternelle.”

Still a third fact that it will be well to keep in mind is that Maupassant has no profound philosophy, no theories of life, no

vil INTRODUCTION

explanation of human existence. He is concerned only with the external shapes and hues of the world about him and the ever changing flow and ebb in the varied activities of that strange and helpless animal called man. He sees with profound clearness and mirrors with grim and striking fidelity; but he makes no attempt to interpret. Anatole France has defined his attitude by saying of Maupassant: “C’est un habile artiste qui sait qu’il a tout fait quand il a donné la vie.”

The text, as here arranged, is from the authorized edition of the house of Albin Michel, Paris. In several instances certain lines have been deleted, but in no case may such omissions be said to impair the literary qualities of the story. In the preparation of this volume I am deeply indebted to M. Michel for some very pleasant interviews; to Professor Otto F. Bond, of the University of Chicago, for his generous, helpful advice; to Professor Ernest Haden, of the same University; and likewise to Mile Rachel Schenck.