Excerpt from Selected Stories, Vol. 1

Henri Rene Albert Guy de Maupassant was born in France, August 5, 1850, at the Chateau de Miromesnil, Department of the Lower Seine. He was educated chiefly at the Rouen Lycee, and later was employed about fifteen years in the Admiralty Office in Paris. He became a friend and disciple of Gustave Flaubert, with whom he was connected by marriage. That great stylist encouraged his brilliant pupil to write, and the youth was a frequent visitor and keen observer at the -famous gatherings held in Flaubert"s little house at Croisset, meeting such master spirits as Daudet, Zola, Heredia, the Freres De Goncourt, and George Sand. De Maupassant called Flaubert his literary godfather, and when his first real success came, with the publication of that vivid little sketch "Boule de Suif" ("Ball-of-Suet"), his severe but kindly mentor wrote to him: "You have produced a masterpiece, young man. Decidedly, if you keep on in this way, you will become a great writer."

The young romancer took an active part in the Franco-Prussian War, and his experiences during that period suggested to him some of the most powerful of his stories.

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