Boule de Suif and Other Stories

The stories in the Penguin collection that I have are fairly mixed (some, like "Boule de suif" and "The Olive Grove" are extended and relatively weighty; some, like "The Minuet" and "Two Friends" are short but beautifully formed; others, like "The Dowry" and "A Vendetta" are brief pieces with a

single line which comes to an abrupt halt), but but they're all very enjoyable. Several of the stories are set during the Franco-Prussian war, but only a couple involve anything close to actual fighting. Maupassant is generally concerned with apparently normal lower and middle class individuals going about their ordinary lives (and occasionally selling their wives, cutting off their brother's arm, or murdering people). His style is appealingly direct (he's more interested in what people actually do than the inner workings of their brains), and I like his attitude towards things in general.

Couple of points of possible interest: "Madame Husson's May King" is the source for Benjamin Britten's opera "Albert Herring"; and "Boule de suif" was surely, directly or indirectly, an inspiration for John Ford's film "Stagecoach".

Show Less

1 more

LibraryThing member EricCostello

I don't know if it was the fault of the translation or the original stories themselves, but very little of this gripped me. Possibly because "Boule de Suif" had so enraged me when I read it that I had little taste for the rest of the stories. Not recommended.

Fewer