Pierre and Jean

by Guy de Maupassant

Other authorsLeonard Tancock (Translator), Leonard Tancock (Introduction)

Paperback, 1979

Status

Available

Call number

843.8

Genres

General Fiction

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

Your library

Publication

Penguin Classics (1979), Edition: 10th, Paperback, 176 pages

Description

Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML: Pierre and Jean is a short realist novel by Guy de Maupassant. The relationship of two brothers to each other and to their mother begins to change when a family friend dies and leaves all his money to one brother, bringing his legitimacy into question. The novel is a psycho-realist portrayal of the power of heredity and money within relationships..

User reviews

LibraryThing member arubabookwoman

This novel opens with a family outing. The outing is uneventful, but we learn a lot about the characters. The father is a silly old man, harmless but not to be taken seriously. The mother is serene and kind. Her two adult sons adore her. The sons, Pierre and Jean, also love each other, but are a

bit competitive.

When the family returns home, they learn that a wealthy family friend, Marechal, has died and has left his entire estate to the younger son, Jean. At first, Pierre is jealous in a way that might be expected in these circumstances, but his feelings soon develop into something much more sinister--he begins to suspect that Jean may have been Marechal's son, the result of an illicit affair between their mother and Marechal. "It was no longer jealousy that made him seek an answer, nor the rather unworthy but natural envy he knew was hidden inside him and that he had been fighting for three days, but a terror of an appalling thing. Terror of believing that his brother Jean was the son of this man."

There follows a psychological game of cat and mouse between Pierre and his mother, of which his father and Jean remain blissfully ignorant for the most part. There is very little action, and most of the narration takes place in Pierre's mind. This is a masterful work. De Maupassant is able to convey so much in so view words, and on such a small stage. Highly recommended.

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LibraryThing member gbill

A sibling rivalry between two brothers gets worse when one is named sole heir in a will by a family friend. The novel explores jealousy, 19th century honor, and buried family secrets. There are moments of brilliance, such as the group’s outing to the beach to hunt for shrimp, but I think

Maupassant would have been more successful if he had further tightened up this novel into a short story.

Just this quote, on love lost:
“Ah, remorse! remorse! It must have tortured her long ago in the early days, then faded as everything does. She would certainly have wept for her misdeeds and then she had gradually forgotten. Have not all women, every one of them, this gift of prodigious forgetfulness which enables them scarcely to recognize after a few years the man to whom they have given their lips and their whole body to kiss? The kiss strikes like lightning, love pass over like a storm, then life clears again like the sky and goes back to where it was before. Does anyone remember a cloud?”

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LibraryThing member wendyrey

A story about jealousy between two brothers. The younger is left a fortune by a friend of the family who is his natural father. The elder is tortured by envy and more than a bit self righteous about their mother's betrayal of her husband , his father.
excellent read

LibraryThing member john257hopper

A little gem of a short novel from this author much more renowned for his short stories. It simply concerns the jealousy between two brothers that arises when a friend of their parents dies and leaves all his money to one of the brothers, but is very simply and well told.

LibraryThing member NativeRoses

Pierre et Jean was one of the best reading experiences of my life. They're pretty strictly realistic; you don't get the supernatural bits some of the stories have, and they aren't plot-tricky. DG.

LibraryThing member DRFP

Not quite top tier Maupassant, but still very good. Though a brief 130 pages the middle section of the novel lags slightly as the author slightly drags out whether or not Pierre will say what he feels to be true (a slight disappointment from the usually brief Norman). However Maupassant more than

makes up for that dip in the middle with an extremely touching ending.

Not as good as Bel-Ami or A Life but still a highly recommended novella.

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LibraryThing member axya

an insightful and straightforward psychological, realism novel. the characters are built up effectively, and there's a sufficient and realistic amount of tension. I know it's so unfair but I totally identify w Pierre and simply abhor Jean and the mother. the style, imho, is not the most notable

though.

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LibraryThing member hbergander

The constellation of two half-brothers from two fathers, differently aged, one with a big inheritance, the other with nothing, both falling in love with the same girl, ever fascinated me. Peter and John came to me in the romantic stage of adolescence. I was a bit disappointed, that the girl decides

upon the rich boy, and that the poor fellow without a whimper comes second place. Before he run away to sea he should have given his brother at the very least a good smacking.

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LibraryThing member Kristelh

This story is set in the Normandy coast land and features a look at the family of brothers Pierre and Jean. Pierre is the older brother and is 30 described as dark, doesn't know what he wants and has started one career after another and currently is now a doctor but he has not established a career

yet. He is ill tempered but very fond of his mother. He also is fond of knowledge and intelligence. Jean is 25 year old and fair haired and calm. He is a lawyer and has not launched his career either. Mother is Louise and she is married to Gerome Roland and former jeweler who is a sailor wanta be. Roland is impervious to everything and admires nothing more than leisure. In addition, there is the widow Miss Rosemilly, 23 y/o woman who is described as strong and agile with a wealth of her own. She is also described as a hunter and certainly is better at hunting prawns that Jean.

The older brother has always been jealous of his younger brother but this is exasperated when Jean becomes the sole heir to a family friend's estate. This is a story of jealousy and the harm that can come from family secrets and jealousies.

A couple of quotes that I liked;
"I'm taking lessons, learning how a man prepares himself to be a cuckold." and
"How ugly life is! If for once you find a little sweetness in it you are wicked to enjoy it and pay very heavily for it later.

I really enjoyed the descriptions of the Normandy coastline, the homeland of the autho

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LibraryThing member Castlelass

Set in Le Havre, France, in the 19th century, this is a story of sibling rivalry. Younger brother Jean inherits the estate of a family friend. Elder brother Pierre becomes jealous of Jean’s inheritance. Pierre obsesses over why he did not share in this good fortune. Family secrets unfold. I am

sure this book would have been scandalous in 1888, when it was first published, but in today’s world it seems rather tame. The version I read includes an introduction about literary criticism, which I found fascinating.

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