Backround of Short Story: Two Friends By Guy de Maupassant

Writer’s background : Guy de Maupassant

Guy de Maupassant wrote short stories like "The Necklace" and "Bel Amim," but he also wrote poetry and novels. He was an author of the naturalistic school.

Guy de Maupassant Birth:

Guy de Maupassant was probably born at the Château de Miromesniel, Dieppe on August 5, 1850. His paternal ancestors were noble, and his maternal grandfather, Paul Le Poittevin, was Gustave Flaubert's godfather. His parents separated when he was 11 years old. Maupassant stayed with his mother, who was a friend of Gustave Flaubert.

Guy de Maupassant Death:

After a suicide attempt in 1891 (he tried to cut his throat), Guy de Maupassant spent the last 18 months of his life in a Paris mental home (the celebrated private asylum of Dr. Espirit Blanche).

Guy de Maupassant Occupations:

From 1870-71, Guy de Maupassant served in the army. He then became a government clerk. He was not very ambitious in this position, choosing to save his energy for his writing.

Guy de Maupassant Madness:

Since he was in his 20's, Guy de Maupassant had suffered from syphilis. In 1890, the disease began to cause increasing mental disorder. Some critics have charted his developing madness through his stories. Maupassant's horror fiction consists of some 39 stories, only a tenth of his total. Stephen King's famous novel "The Shining" has been compared to Maupassant's "The Inn."

Background of short story : Two Friends by Guy de Maupassant

"Two Friends" by Guy de Maupassant is a story about two gentlemen, Morissot and Sauvage, who become acquainted with the horrors of war-torn France beyond the besieged Paris walls. The Franco-Prussian War is raging and provides some important historical context. The war's pretexts were the line of succession in Spain and maintaining the power balance that Europe had enjoyed since the downfall of Napoleon. France was outgunned and outfought from the outset. Maupassant fought in the war himself, in Normandy, and resented the way Parisians were at first immune to the ravages undergone elsewhere. The story is of these divisive experiences and the way that national unity eventually arises. Maupassant is not just a short story writer here but a political thinker with his feet already planted in the coming 20th century.

The story is set sometime after the decisive capture of Napoleon III and most of the French regulars. This is the time of the Third Republic. Your writer infers this is so because one of the men professes later that the Republic, presumably he means the Third Republic formed after the Battle of Sedan, would have found other means to settle the dispute besides war. The actual war ground on for some time after Sedan and the combat the reader sees is probably being fought by French irregulars.

Maupassant opens with a brief description of the famine that results from a German blockade of Parisian supply lines. Even the animals that the residents have been eating are depleted. With all this disruption comes plenty of time for nostalgia and the two fishing pals, Morissot and Sauvage, meet up and begin to feel nostalgic for days near their fishing hole. Their spot is located in the neutral zone between armies that characterized war of this period. It is dangerous and unwise to visit the site and they pine away for the sacrifice of an afternoon's fishing.

With the economy ground to a halt the two take their fill of drink in the shops of the boulevard. Sauvage suggests that they go fishing despite possible Prussian lookouts and Morissot agrees. They contact an acquaintance of Sauvage that can provide them a password to access lands beyond the French lines. They walk through the wastes of Paris seeing "dun-colored soil and bare cherry trees" where once villages stood. They come face to face with the war for the first time. Maupassant stresses the luck and obliviousness of these urban men.