The Necklace and Other Short Stories

Nine memorable classics: "Ball of Fat," "The Necklace," "A Piece of String," "Mme. Tellier's Establishment," "Mademoiselle Fifi," "Miss Harriet," "A Way to Wealth," "My Uncle Jules," and "The Horla." The French author Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) was a master of the short story, creating detailed character studies and brief but moving dramas well suited to the genre. The nine stories in this collection provide a vivid portrait gallery of his typical subjects - from simple peasants and prostitutes to soldiers, government clerks, and provincial bourgeois. Brilliantly naturalistic, these short works also reveal Maupassant's ability to observe the innumerable details of everyday life and reproduce them artfully and accurately, often with a caustic sense of humor. His literary talents are amply displayed in this volume, which includes these memorable tales: "Ball-of-Fat," regarded by many as technically one of the finest short stories ever written, "The Necklace," "A Piece of String," "Mme. Tellier's Establishment," "Mademoiselle Fifi," "Miss Harriet," "A Way to Wealth," "My Uncle Jules," and "The Horla."

de Maupassant was born of upper-middle-class parents in Normandy. He lived with his motehr at Etretat, a newly fashionable seaside resort. Having enrolled as a law student in 1869, he was called up after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and served as a quartermaster's clerk in Rouen. Following the war he left the army and eventually secured a post as a minor civil servant.

Nine memorable classics: "Ball of Fat," "The Necklace," "A Piece of String," "Mme. Tellier's Establishment," "Mademoiselle Fifi," "Miss Harriet," "A Way to Wealth," "My Uncle Jules," and "The Horla."

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