Guy de Maupassant

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (IPA: {{IPA|ɡid?mopas̃ɑ}}) (5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a popular 19th-century French writer. He is one of the fathers of the modern short story.

Significance

Maupassant is one of the fathers of the modern short story. Unlike the more psychologically oriented Turgenev and Chekhov, Maupassant delights in clever plotting, and served as a model for Somerset Maugham and O. Henry in this respect. His stories about real or fake jewels ('The Necklace', 'Les bijoux') are imitated with a twist by Maugham ('Mr Know-All', 'A String of Beads') and Henry James ('Paste'). As a stylish writer with a huge popular appeal he may be compared to Georges Simenon.

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