Dates

• Existence: August 5, 1850 - July 6, 1893

Biography

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer. He is one of the fathers of the modern short story. A protege of Flaubert, Maupassant's short stories are characterized by their economy of style and their efficient effortless dénouement. He also wrote six short novels. A number of his stories often denote the futility of war and the innocent civilians who get crushed in it - many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s. His short stories have often been the inspiration behind opera libretti, for instance: Eric Crozier’s libretto for Benjamin Brittin’s Albert Herring was adapted from Maupassant’s short story Le rosier de Madame Husson.