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Abbé Picot Adelaide appeared arms asked Aunt Lison baron baroness Barville began beside boat breath Brisevilles café au lait called calm carriage château child comte comtesse Corsica Couillard curé daugh dear door dream exclaimed eyes face farm father Fécamp feet felt Fourvilles gave gazed girl Goderville Guy de Maupassant hands happy heart horses hundred francs husband Jeanne's kissed Lamare Lastique laugh leaning letter little mother looked Ludivine madame maid mamma married Maupassant mind morning murmured never night once passed Paul peasants Pierre et Jean plane tree Poplars Poulet priest replied Rosalie rose Rouen round seemed servant side silent sleep slowly smiling soon stopped suddenly talking tears tell tender things thought tone took trees trembling turned Vauds vicomte voice walked wife window wish woman wood young Yport
Popular passages
Page v - ... that his reputation will mainly rest. The short tale is infinitely relished in France, which can show, in this form, an array of masterpieces ; and no small part of Maupassant's success, I think, comes from his countrymen's pride in seeing him add to a collection which is already a national glory. He has done so, as I say, by putting selection really upon its mettle — by going, in every picture, straight to the strongest ingredients, and to them alone. The turn of his mind has helped him to...
Page vi - Taken all together, they are full of life (of life as the author conceives it, of course — he is far from having taken its measure in all directions), and between the lines of them we seem to read of that partly pleasant and wholly modern invention, a roving existence in which, for art, no impression is wasted. M. de Maupassant travels, explores, navigates, shoots, goes up in balloons, and writes. He treats of the north and of the south, evidently makes "copy...
Page i - GUY DE MAUPASSANT. IT is so embarrassing to speak of the writers of one country to the readers of another that I sometimes wonder at the complacency with which the delicate task is entered upon. These are cases in which the difficult art of criticism becomes doubly difficult, inasmuch as they compel the critic to forfeit what I may call his natural advantages. The first of these natural advantages is that those who read him shall help him by taking a great many things for granted ; shall allow him...
Page v - The complete possession of his instrument has enabled him to attack a great variety of subjects — usually within rigid limits of space. He has accepted the necessity of being brief, and has made brevity very full, through making it an energetic selection. He has published less than half a dozen novels and more than a hundred tales; and it is upon his tales that his reputation will mainly rest. The short tale is infinitely relished in France, which can show in this form an array of masterpieces;...
Page 134 - Jeanne, standing on the mound covered with trees, followed him with her eyes until he was out of sight. Then she went into the house, distracted with grief.
Page vi - Mort," deal with shades of feeling and delicacies of experience to which he had shown himself rather a stranger. They are the work of an older man, and of a man who has achieved the feat of keeping his talent fresh when other elements have turned stale. In default of other convictions it may still, for the artist, be an adequate working faith to turn out something fine. Guy de Maupassant is a striking illustration of this curious truth and of the practical advantage of having a first-rate ability....
Page iii - The only excuse the critic has ."or braving the embarrassments I have mentioned is that he wishes to perform a work of recommendation, and indeed there is no profit in talking, in English, of M. de Maupassant unless it be in the sense of recommending him. One should never go out of one's way to differ, and translation, interpretation, the business of adjusting to another medium, are a going out of one's way. Silence is the best disapproval, and to take people up, with an earnest grip, only to put...