2. A SELECTION OF MAUPASSANT STORIES

Seven more of the master’s best stories, most with a rather racy, distinctively Gallic touch and all with a distinctively direct, straightforward and rather elegant Maupassantian touch.
They have all been translated specially for this site. TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. THE WINDOW The narrator recounts his long, intensive courtship of the well-known, wealthy, attractive, intelligent, really quite ideal Mme de Jadelle, and how a fateful false step unfortunately upset his careful plans regarding (...)

More of the master’s best stories, all with a distinctive and distinctively Gallic touch, vous comprenez?
All of these stories have been translated specially for this site. TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. ON A SPRING EVENING (1881) Jeanne and Jacques have grown up together, have fallen in love and are engaged to be married, much to the satisfaction of their families. Even Jeanne’s spinster aunt is happy for them, but on a lovely spring evening their tenderness is the drop of water that makes the (...)

A doctor recounts his most memorable Christmas experience – the resolution of a dramatic case of possession – to a group of listeners.
A vivid, intense account of a Christmas miracle from a distinctly detached point of view.
Translated specially for this site. An e-book of this striking tale, with the original French text in an annex, is available for downloading below.
The original text can also be seen here. A CHRISTMAS TALE
Doctor Bonenfant searched in his memory and repeated (...)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. THE THIEF (1882) Three friends are having a party and dress up in the ancient uniforms that the host collects, each with an appropriate weapon. So when they hear a suspicious noise in the attic and realise that a prowler’s up there, they launch a military expedition to surround and capture the culprit. Which they do, and they decide to conduct his trial that, given their state of inebriation, pronounces a death sentence. (1,750 words)
2. THE IMPOLITE SEX (1882) (...)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. FEAR (1882) A group on a passenger boat is discussing the topic and one of them intervenes to give two examples of what fear really is other than simply the somewhat-instinctive reaction to a dangerous situation. Both examples have an eerie and almost-but-not-quite supernatural aspect. (2,300 words)
2. THAT COSTLY RIDE (1883) An impoverished young couple of noble extraction in Paris decide to treat their children to a picnic lunch in the countryside, hiring a (...)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. A FAMILY AFFAIR (1881) We follow Monsieur Caravan in his daily routine and trying to cope with the constant state of warfare between his spouse and his elderly mother who lives with them and their two ragamuffin children. But today there’s a dramatic decline in the mother’s health and the issues of heritage and testaments start to assume major proportions. (10,210 words)
2. THE BLIND MAN (1882) The narrator, in the process of enjoying the atmosphere of a new (...)

Guy de Maupassant wrote six stories taking place in Corsica, "l’Île de Beauté" that he knew well and was particularly attracted to.
These short but powerful tales, written in his straightforward, realistic and elegant style at the height of his literary career, are a remarkable testimonial to that very particular corner of France. TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. A CORSICAN STORY (1881) On reading about the murder of two gendarmes in Corsica the narrator remembers a walking tour he had made (...)

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1. Suicides (1880) A letter is found beside a 57-year-old man who has just shot himself in a depressed state of mind, as dramatically explained in his letter. (1,800 words)

2. Lasting Love (1882) A group of hunters and their wives are debating the question of long-lasting (or otherwise) love after a copious dinner, and a retired Parisian doctor recounts the most intense and long-lasting affair he had ever encountered, involving a respectable pharmacist and a (...)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. THE BURNING LOG (1882) The narrator is having tea with a close friend when a log burning in the fireplace rolls onto the carpet. That reminds him of a similar but more dramatic incident when he’d been dining with very close and newly-married friends, a story that the lady insists he tells her and us. (1,850 words)
2. THE BED (1882) The narrator discovers a letter hidden in an old priest’s gown that he had just bought at a public auction. It’s a letter from a sick (...)

More excellent tales by master Maupassant, all of which have been translated into English specially for this site. TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. COCONUT, COCONUT, FRESH COCONUT! (1878) Pierre’s uncle left him 500 francs and also 100 francs to be given to the first street coconut-vendor he comes across. In a manuscript the uncle explains that one of them had played a role at a number of the key moments in his life. (1,300 words)
2. FLOTSAM (1881) The narrator comments on his attraction to (...)