Translated from the French by Roger Colet
I had been gradually working through this collection over a period of years, but these stories are good. I mean, really good. This time the book stayed picked up right to the end.
Many of these stories are concerned with prostitution, adultery, or just sex in general. I wouldn’t like to give the impression that Maupassant wrote of nothing else…
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Translated by HNP Sloman
Accustomed to the short stories for which Maupassant is rightly acclaimed this instance of him in novel form is startlingly different in approach.
The eponymous woman is Jeanne, daughter of a Baron and privileged, blessed with caring but naive parents.
Jeanne is first seen emerging from a convent, where she has been cloistered for five years to further her father’s fond hopes that she will
‘come back to him at the age of seventeen a virgin, intending to give her himself a baptism of romantic reason; in the fields of the fruitful earth he would open her soul and enlighten her ignorance by the sight of the innocent loves and natural mating of animals in accordance with the gentle laws of life.’
The Conservatory is a delightfully comic tale of an unhappy wife and her long-suffering husband.
“For some years, however, she had been somewhat aggressive towards Monsieur Lerebour, always behaving in a harsh, irritable manner, as if she were tormented by some secret and unspeakable sorrow.”
The wife’s animadversions on her husband are certainly harsh and irritable:
“ ’You take up all the room, you’re getting so fat. And you sweat against my back like melting lard. If you think that’s nice for me, you can think again!’ “
But to the relief of all concerned the story concludes with a comic and earthy resolution of the mystery.
Superbly drawn characters, pleasing equality of the sexes, and a conclusive ending (with not a mysognistic impulse in sight.) One of the most enjoyable short stories I have ever read.
The Jewels is a short, short story of love and the semblance of love. A loving wife with two inconsequential vices (theatre going and paste jewels) dies, leaving her husband destitute. Her husband subsequently unravels the truth of their marriage. If I were giving stars this one would get the lot. Excellent character studies, intrigue, a twist, and the end satisfies.
The story seems to posit that value is independent of truth. Truth is portrayed as a double-edged sword. The cynicism, I felt, is not untouched by overtones of misogyny, but in the final analysis, the manner of making the point is so elegant that any other fault can be forgiven.
“Then she would start examining these imitation jewels with passionate attention, as if she were enjoying some deep and secret pleasure; and she would insist on hanging a necklace around her husband’s neck, laughing uproariously and crying: ‘How funny you look!’ “
Returning to an apparently favourite theme of his, this story of Maupassant’s is concerned with not one prostitute, but a whole establishment. In another parallel with Boule de Suif, this story also features reversals of the reader’s expectations, but the targets are less obvious.
Admittedly, I found the meaning a little unclear, but in my reading of the story I suspected a sly exploration of spirituality, equating with good-natured humour the church and the brothel. I feel that I might be stretching the point a little, but my intuitive feeling was that by attributing ecstasy to the observance of religious ceremony Maupassant earned the irrefutable right to exhalt organised prostitution also.
Whether Maupassant’s perceived views here are defensible or not, the appeal lies in the deal he brokers with the reader. And, one hopes, the other establishment.
A couple of fortuitously juxtaposed circumstances and Guy de Maupassant fell into my hands. Never having read him before, Boule de Suif was a fantastic introduction.
This short story, set during the Franco-Prussian Wars, details the escape from Prussian occupied Rouen of a group of respectable townspeople; and a prostitute, variously referred to as tart, whore or Boule de Suif, (the suet dumpling.)
Maupassant’s writing style struck me as simple and not, I think, as a consequence of the translation. Refreshingly easy to read, there is a sense that his observations are so acute, his story telling so honed, that no flourishes or embellishments are required. Although repetitive use of the phrase “Boule de Suif” successfully and uncomfortably objectifies the woman in question.
The themes of the story were also obvious, but only became completely clear over time. For instance I did, initially, suspect Maupassant of misogyny:
“The ladies in particular found delicate turns of phrase and charming euphemisms to express the coarsest ideas. The conventions of polite conversations were so scrupulously observed that a stranger would have understood nothing of what they were saying. But as the thin veneer of modesty displayed by every woman of the world is only skin deep, they revelled in this unsavoury business, enjoying it tremendously and feeling in their element…”
Negative as the sentiment is, it does allow for real character in women. I suspect that at the time of writing a polite and idealised fiction was more properly maintained with respect to “gentle” womenfolk.
Maupassant’s true target is of course the bourgeoisie. And he does it beautifully. At the beginning of the story Boule de Suif is scorned by the town’s folk, as a result of the physical nature of her profession. Even the reader is drawn into the collusion:
“She was also said to possess many other inestimable qualities.”
Do patriotism, generosity and courage instantly spring to mind? No.
By the end of the story the gentle folk of Rouen are seen to be wholly concerned with their physical circumstances, whilst Boule de Suif is shown to be the only character who has strength of mind and a sense of integrity.
I enjoyed the reversals of the story, but overall it is a sad, painful affair. Hoping for a happier ending, none is expected or given.
