Henri Ren茅 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 d茅nouement. 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.
3.5 The second half was the much more compelling part, overall this was magnificently written. The word of this book is imperceptibly.
This was okay. Yvette is the daughter of a courtesan who serves men of wealth and status. She seems to be oblivious of how her mother makes money and why they are always in the presence of princes, dukes and barons. Only when she goes away to a holiday at the river, she realizes that the Baron Saval is engaging her mother in such activities and she suddenly feels dirty. She wants to get away from her fate and so tries to inveigle her mother into the idea of living as honest women. However, the Marquise refuses, and explains that they would never be able to survive as working women. That their life of luxury would be so horrifically reduced. Yvette seems to suddenly have no choice. She must kill herself. Through chloroform. So, she goes from pharmacist to pharmacist and collects small vials of it and eventually has a sufficient amount. Before she commits the act, she runs around the town with her mother's guests, making them silly things such as pretending to go to war, riding children's horses, making army noises.
Then comes the best part of the book. Instead of killing herself through chloroform, she accidentally induces a psychedelic trip, and she decides not to kill herself, but keeps on inducing trips instead. Over and over until she passes out. Lol, I loved that part. It was greatly described, the way she was so resolute on dying, and how quickly she changed her mind to just get high. So from this, I gathered: if you want to kill yourself, get high instead and just mellow the fuck out.
This was good. Slow in the beginning, and then awesome to the end.
Yvette Maupassant (1850 鈥� 1893) Il s鈥檃git vraiment d鈥檜ne histoire courte et simple, et une conclusion ouverte 脿 l鈥檌magination du lecteur. Yvette d茅couvre 脿 l鈥櫭e de 18 ans que sa m猫re, la riche et c茅l猫bre Marquise Obardi, n鈥檈st qu鈥檜ne courtisane qui doit sa richesse aux nombreux pr茅tendants tourbillonnant autour de leur maison, comme des papillons. Des aventuriers pour la plupart, bard茅 de d茅corations et faux titres de noblesse. Les femmes 脿 cette 茅poque ne pouvaient esp茅rer d鈥櫭猼re 茅pous茅 par un aristocrate, que si elle faisait partie de la noblesse elle-m锚me. Sinon, une jeune fille 茅tait une valeur d'un un bon prix, tant qu鈥檈lle 茅tait jeune et belle. Bien que peu vraisemblable qu鈥橸vette, 脿 l鈥櫭e de 18 ans, ayant grandi dans ce milieu, n鈥檃vait pas compris de quoi la vie de sa m猫re 茅tait faite, elle avait imagin茅 que tous ces hommes 脿 ses pieds la suivaient pour la demander un jour en mariage. Le r茅veil est dur. De quoi peut 锚tre fait son avenir ?
It's not a very ambitious story but Maupassant's writing style is so beautiful, specially when he's describing the surroundings. This novella focuses on 4 characters and how they try to understand what they mean to each other. There's no character development or shocking revelations but I prefer this story over his 'Pierre et Jean' novel.
It is a really well written book. His description and writing style are great! I like how he developed the story and the characters, and it is thought provoking and interesting for discussion.
Si臋gn臋艂am po ksi膮偶eczk臋 troch臋 nie艣wiadomie i losowo, 偶eby mie膰 co艣 niezobowi膮zuj膮cego do czytania przed snem. Okaza艂a si臋 zbyt pi臋knie napisana 偶eby po艂owicznie tylko absorbowa膰 jej zawarto艣膰 w sennej mgle. Uwielbiam styl pisania Sz.P. autora i z ch臋ci膮 si臋gn臋 po inne jego utwory! Dob贸r s艂贸w, finezja por贸wna艅 i opis贸w, a przy tym wszystkim jakby lekki tego kicz- idealnie trafiaj膮 w m贸j gust! Niezupe艂nie rozumia艂am natomiast relacje mi臋dzy postaciami, przyczyny pewnych wydarze艅 i zawi艂o艣ci zwi膮zane z the wondrous world of francuskie kurtyzany鈥� Wiele spraw by艂o dla mnie niestety niejasnych, pozostawionych przez autora w domy艣le, kt贸rego si臋 nie domy艣li艂am鈥� By膰 mo偶e to kwestia 140 lat r贸偶nicy mi臋dzy mn膮 a ksi膮偶eczk膮, lub po prostu podobnie jak tytu艂owa bohaterka 偶yj臋 w 鈥瀊ezmy艣lnej i radosnej ufno艣ci szcz臋艣liwego dziecka鈥�. Bardzo podoba艂a mi si臋 zw艂aszcza druga po艂owa ksi膮偶ki- zacz臋to wtedy otwarcie m贸wi膰 o faktycznym stanie rzeczy, co pozwoli艂o w ko艅cu bli偶ej pozna膰 bohater贸w i ich po艂o偶enie. Tak czy inaczej jest to kr贸tka, ciekawa i my艣l臋 偶e przyjemna pozycja.
Well it's nice to know that teenage girls haven't changed much since the writing of this book. They're dramatic, oblivious and quick to change their minds. I'm being facetious, but so is Guy de Maupassant.
Yvette discovers that her mother is, well, an expensive prostitute. How she was oblivious to this fact when it was there in front of her for years I will never know. Upon this discovery she is appalled and ashamed. She pleads with her mother to change her ways and her mother just tells her that she is ungrateful as her occupation has allowed her to live a pretty lavish life. Unable to cope with this news and not wanting to follow in her mother's footsteps, Yvette decides to kill herself, with chloroform. While she was unsuccessful in killing herself she really enjoyed the high that the chloroform gave her and continued these "suicide attempts" to continue to trip out on chloroform until she passes out.
She ends up falling in love with a gentleman at the end, who doesn't really want to marry her but the chloroform seems to have made her calm down about her mother and likely her future.
Kako mi je Yvette do拧la pod ruku? Vra膰ao sam 艩olohova u gradsku, a na ulazu vrte膰a polica s natpisom 鈥檝rhovi svjetske knji啪evnosti鈥�. Tamo sam uz Joycea ugrabio i ovog Maupassanta nevelikog opsega. Nakon Chestertona koji mi je ipak razmjerno naporan, ovo mi je do拧lo kao 拧etnja parkom. Jednostavna, relativno trivijalna, ali dobrim dijelom solidno obra膽ena tema koja mi je, za razliku od autorova razvikanog Bel-Amija na prvu puno bolje sjela. (O膷ito imam topose u svojim osvrtima, kao 拧to je ova zadnja re膷enica.) Dakle, odli膷an prvi zaplet. A onda... o膷ekivan, krajnje razo膷aravaju膰i 鈥淰eronika decides to die鈥� drugi zaplet. Nadao sam se da 膰e se fabula nekako iskobeljati iz tog fluxa, ali ne. Apsolutno razo膷aravaju膰a zadnja 膷etvrtina te kraj novele. 艩teta, jer osjetio sam neki potencijal. Kao zaklju膷ak: po onome 拧to sam do sad od njega vidio (sje膰am se mizerne, nevjerojatno razvikane kratke pri膷e Na vodi te spomenutog, grozomornog Bel-Amija), ne razumijem po 膷emu je Maupassant zaslu啪io mjesto na vrte膰oj polici s po膷etka. Evo 2 zvijezde da se uvrije膽eni Maupassant ne okre膰e toliko u grobu ovaj put.
Podobno Guy de Maupassant s艂ynie z kreowania interesuj膮cych kobiecych postaci. Mam wra偶enie, 偶e w tej ksi膮偶ce nie do ko艅ca mu to wysz艂o.
Nasza g艂贸wna bohaterka jest bowiem zarazem wygadana, bystra i inteligenta, ale tak偶e naiwna i niespostrzegawcza. Niestety dodaj膮c fakt, 偶e jest ona c贸rk膮 francuskiej kurtyzany, kt贸ra ju偶 od ma艂ego obraca si臋 w tym 艣wiecie i uczestniczy w spotkaniach, balach, obiadkach, to nie chce mi si臋 wierzy膰, 偶e nie poj臋艂a wcze艣niej, czym zajmuje si臋 jej matka. Kiedy dochodzi do niej ca艂a prawda, jej 艣wiat po prostu si臋 wali.
Do czego doprowadzi 艣wiadomo艣膰, 偶e jej przysz艂o艣膰 r贸wnie偶 mo偶e opiera膰 si臋 na podobnych warto艣ciach? Jak zako艅czy si臋 historia c贸rki kurtyzany, kt贸ra nie jest nawet pewna tego, czy jest zakochana w jednym z m臋偶czyzn przychodz膮cych do jej domu?
Gdyby nie naiwno艣膰 tej pozycji, to ca艂膮 histori臋 mog艂abym uzna膰 za bardzo dobr膮. Autor na tych kilkuset stronach opisa艂 zamkni臋ty 艣wiat francuskich kurtyzan, tak hermetyczne 艣rodowisko rz膮dz膮ce si臋 swoimi prawami. Poza tym j臋zyk tej powie艣ci by艂 naprawd臋 dobry. Mia艂am wra偶enie, 偶e nie ma w tej opowie艣ci 偶adnych zb臋dnych s艂贸w a to si臋 ceni.
Yvette, belle diablesse et h茅ro茂ne au temp茅rament fougueux... Un petit bijoux. Maupassant, je suis ivre de tes mots ! "Yvette avait des ailes maintenant. Elle volait, la nuit, par une belle nuit claire, au-dessus des bois et des fleuves. Elle volait avec d茅lices, ouvrant avec les ailes, battant des ailes, port茅e par le vent comme port茅e par des caresses."
I finished it in one day. I love his books so much. Yvette a girl who does not approve her mother's lifestyle. She prefers to go far away and start all over again. She does not want to follow her mother's footsteps. It is worth reading this short story.
Guy de Maupassant's "Yvette" is one of his longer short stories and is one of my favorite. "Yvette" shows how hard it can be to change our destiny, it can be accomplished but sometimes it is an upward battle. I was hoping the ending was different but it would not be a Maupassant story. He shows the reality of the Parisian of his times.
Story in short- A young lady finds out about her mother's life and how it effects her own life.
When I read the passage below, I was thinking when I was very young and my sentiments was hers "she did not know how she could disappear without the whole earth being blotted out, so much it seemed to her that she was a part of everything, of the fields, of the air, of the sunshine, of life itself." I now look at this as so ridiculous but at a time, I truly could not comprehend that I could die and the world goes on without me. Yet I was no delusional but it just seemed wrong, though I know it was so.
"How pretty I am!鈥� she thought. 鈥淭omorrow I shall be dead, there, upon my bed.鈥� She looked at her bed, and seemed to see herself stretched out, white as the sheets. Dead! In a week she would be nothing but dust, to dust returned! A horrible anguish oppressed her heart. The bright sunlight fell in floods upon the fields, and the soft morning air came in at the window. She sat down thinking of it. Death! It was as if the world was going to disappear from her; but no, Highlight (Yellow) | Location 18529 since nothing would be changed in the world, not even her bedroom. Yes, her room would remain just the same, with the same bed, the same chairs, the same toilette articles, but she would be forever gone, and no one would be sorry, except her mother, perhaps. People would say: 鈥淗ow pretty she was! that little Yvette,鈥� and nothing more. And as she looked at her arm leaning on the arm of her chair, she thought again, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. And again a great shudder of horror ran over her whole Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Location 18532 body, and she did not know how she could disappear without the whole earth being blotted out, so much it seemed to her that she was a part of everything, of the fields, of the air, of the sunshine, of life itself."
鉃栤灃鉃栤灃鉃栤灃鉃栤灃鉃栤灃鉃栤灃鉃栤灃鉃栤灃鉃栤灃鉃栤灃鉃栤灃鉃栤灃鉃栤灃鉃栤灃鉃栤灃鉃栤灃鉃栤灃鉃� Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17597 As they were leaving the Cafe Riche, Jean de Servigny said to Leon Saval: 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 object, let us walk. The weather is too fine to take a cab.鈥� His friend answered: 鈥淚 would like nothing better.鈥� Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17605 The two friends walked with slow steps, cigars in their mouths, in evening dress and overcoats on their arms, with a flower in their buttonholes, and their hats a trifle on one side, as men will carelessly Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17606 wear them sometimes, after they have dined well and the air is mild. They had been linked together since their college days by a close, devoted, and firm affection. Jean de Servigny, small, slender, a trifle bald, rather frail, with elegance of mien, curled mustache, bright eyes, and fine lips, was a man who seemed born and bred upon the boulevard. He was tireless in spite of his languid air, strong in spite of his pallor, one of those slight Parisians to whom gymnastic exercise, fencing, cold shower and hot baths Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17610 give a nervous, artificial strength. He was known by his marriage as well as by his wit, his fortune, his connections, and by that sociability, amiability, and fashionable gallantry peculiar to certain men. A true Parisian, furthermore, light, sceptical, changeable, captivating, energetic, and irresolute, capable of everything and of nothing; selfish by principle and generous on occasion, he lived moderately upon his income, and amused himself with hygiene. Indifferent and passionate, he gave himself rein and Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17614 drew back constantly, impelled by conflicting instincts, yielding to all, and then obeying, in the end, his own shrewd man-about-town judgment, whose weather-vane logic consisted in following the wind and drawing profit from circumstances without taking the trouble to originate them. His companion, Leon Saval, rich also, was one of those superb and colossal figures who make women turn around in the streets to look at them. He gave the idea of a statue turned into a man, a type of a race,
Jean de Servigny has brought Leon Saval to visit Marquise Obardi. The Marquise has many lover and has fallen in love with Saval. Servigny cannot figure out Yvette, he sometimes thinks she is truly innocent and other times she is fooling him, trying to trap him. The Marquise invites both men over to her country home and Servigny has been following Yvette around. He proclaims his love and she tells him to ask mama about marrying her. He tells her he will never marry her but he loves her. Yvette doesn't know her mother is a kept woman and has no idea about sex, so when she tells her mother that Servigny says he wants to marry her, her mother tells her impossible and an upset Yvette looks to find what her mother and Saval do together. After she finds out she tells her mother that they should go to live a quiet life in the country. The Marquise tells her daughter it is impossible. Yvette wishes death instead of being kept trying to kill herself and doesn't tell anyone. She buys chloroform from many different places and after a merry day, which she truly feels far from happy around her mother's lovers, she starts to drug herself. The mother loves her daughter but cannot change and doesn't know what to do with her daughter's future, she had never told her daughter about her illicit affairs. When Yvette does not answer, her mother starts to worry and finally Servigny finds a way to her room and he sees Yvette unconscious. He also sees Yvette's note which he takes so her mother will not see it. He finally sees the truth that a Yvette is innocent but still marriage is not possible. While Yvette is drugged she becomes calm and wants to live, so the last dose she refuses and Servigny shows his concern. She is ready for love and when she awakens and sees Servigny, she tells him about wanting love and to be good to her. She will be his lover and he declares his love for her. He will not marry her but he really does care for her now. I was happy about the ending because I did not want Yvette to die but yet I was disappointed that Servigny not marrying her!
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17617 like those sculptured forms which are sent to the Salons. Too handsome, too tall, too big, too strong, he sinned a little from the excess of everything, the excess of his qualities. He had on hand countless affairs of passion. As they reached the Vaudeville theater, he asked: 鈥淗ave you warned that lady that you are going to take me to her house to see her?鈥� Servigny began to laugh: 鈥淔orewarn the Marquise Obardi! Do you warn an omnibus driver that you Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17621 shall enter his stage at the corner of the boulevard?鈥� Saval, a little perplexed, inquired: 鈥淲hat sort of person is this lady?鈥� His friend replied: 鈥淎n upstart, a charming hussy, who came from no one knows where, who made her appearance one day, nobody knows how, among the adventuresses of Paris, knowing perfectly well how to take care of herself. Besides, what difference does it make to us? They say that her real name, her maiden name 鈥� for she still has every claim to the title of maiden except that Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17625 of innocence 鈥� is Octavia Bardin, from which she constructs the name Obardi by prefixing the first letter of her first name and dropping the last letter of the last name.鈥� 鈥淢oreover, she is a lovable woman, and you, from your physique, are inevitably bound to become her lover. Hercules is not introduced into Messalina鈥檚 home without making some disturbance. Nevertheless I make bold to add that if there is free entrance to this house, just as there is in bazaars, you are not exactly compelled to Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17629 buy what is for sale. Love and cards are on the programme, but nobody compels you to take up with either. And the exit is as free as the entrance.鈥� 鈥淪he settled down in the Etoile district, a suspicious neighborhood, three years ago, and opened her drawing-room to that froth of the continents which comes to Paris to practice its various formidable and criminal talents.鈥� 鈥淚 don鈥檛 remember just how I went to her house. I went as we all go, because there is card playing, because Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17633 the women are compliant, and the men dishonest. I love that social mob of buccaneers with decorations of all sorts of orders, all titled, and all entirely unknown at their embassies, except to the spies. They are always dragging in the subject of honor, quoting the list of their ancestors on the slightest provocation, and telling the story of their life at every opportunity, braggarts, liars, sharpers, dangerous as their cards, false as their names, brave because they have to be, like the assassins who can not pluck their victims except by exposing their own lives. In a word, it is the aristocracy of the bagnio.鈥� 鈥淚 like them. They are interesting to fathom and to know, amusing to listen to, often witty, never commonplace as the ordinary French guests. Their women are always pretty, with a little flavor of foreign knavery, with the mystery of their past existence, half of which, perhaps, spent in a House of Correction. They generally have fine eyes and glorious hair, the true physique of the profession, an intoxicating Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17640 grace, a seductiveness which drives men to folly, an unwholesome, irresistible charm! They conquer like the highwaymen of old. They are rapacious creatures; true birds of prey. I like them, too.鈥� 鈥淭he Marquise Obardi is one of the type of these elegant good-for-nothings. Ripe and pretty, with a feline charm, you can see that she is vicious to the marrow. Everybody has a good time at her house, with cards, dancing, and suppers; in fact there is everything which goes to Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17644 make up the pleasures of fashionable society life.鈥� 鈥淗ave you ever been or are you now her lover?鈥� Leon Saval asked. 鈥淚 have not been her lover, I am not now, and I never shall be. I only go to the house to see her daughter.鈥� 鈥淎h! She has a daughter, then?鈥� 鈥淎 daughter! A marvel, my dear man. She is the principal attraction of the den to-day. Tall, magnificent, just ripe, eighteen years old, as fair as her mother is dark, always merry, always ready for an entertainment, always laughing, and ready to dance Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17648 like mad. Who will be the lucky man, to capture her, or who has already done so? Nobody can tell that. She has ten of us in her train, all hoping.鈥� 鈥淪uch a daughter in the hands of a woman like the Marquise is a fortune. And they play the game together, the two charmers. No one knows just what they are planning. Perhaps they are waiting for a better bargain than I should prove. But I tell you that I shall close the bargain if I ever get a chance.鈥� Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17652 鈥淭hat girl Yvette absolutely baffles me, moreover. She is a mystery. If she is not the most complete monster of astuteness and perversity that I have ever seen, she certainly is the most marvelous phenomenon of innocence that can be imagined. She lives in that atmosphere of infamy with a calm and triumphing ease which is either wonderfully profligate or entirely artless. Strange scion of an adventuress, cast upon the muck-heap of that set, like a magnificent plant nurtured upon corruption, or rather like the daughter of some noble race, of some great artist, or of some grand lord, of some prince or dethroned king, tossed some evening into her mother鈥檚 arms, nobody can make out what she is nor what she thinks. But you are going to see her.鈥� Saval began to laugh and said: 鈥淵ou are in love with her.鈥� 鈥淣o. I am on the list, which is not precisely the same thing. I will introduce you to my most serious rivals. But the chances are in my favor. I am in the lead, and some little distinction is shown to me.鈥� Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17660 鈥淵ou are in love,鈥� Saval repeated. 鈥淣o. She disquiets me, seduces and disturbs me, attracts and frightens me away. I mistrust her as I would a trap, and I long for her as I long for a sherbet when I am thirsty. I yield to her charm, and I only approach her with the apprehension that I would feel concerning a man who was known to be a skillful thief. To her presence I have an irrational impulse toward belief in her possible purity and a very reasonable mistrust of her not less probable trickery. I feel myself Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17664 in contact with an abnormal being, beyond the pale of natural laws, an exquisite or detestable creature 鈥� I don鈥檛 know which.鈥� For the third time Saval said: 鈥淚 tell you that you are in love. You speak of her with the magniloquence of a poet and the feeling of a troubadour. Come, search your heart, and confess.鈥� Servigny walked a few steps without answering. Then he replied: 鈥淭hat is possible, after all. In any case, she fills my mind almost continually. Yes, perhaps I am in love. I Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17668 dream about her too much. I think of her when I am asleep and when I awake 鈥� that is surely a grave indication. Her face follows me, accompanies me ceaselessly, ever before me, around me, with me. Is this love, this physical infatuation? Her features are so stamped upon my vision that I see her the moment I shut my eyes. My heart beats quickly every time I look at her, I don鈥檛 deny it.鈥� 鈥淪o I am in love with her, but in a queer fashion. I have the strongest desire for her, and yet the idea Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17672 of making her my wife would seem to me a folly, a piece of stupidity, a monstrous thing: And I have a little fear of her, as well, the fear which a bird feels over which a hawk is hovering.鈥� 鈥淎nd again I am jealous of her, jealous of all of which I am ignorant in her incomprehensible heart. I am always wondering: 鈥業s she a charming youngster or a wretched jade?鈥� She says things that would make an army shudder; but so does a parrot. She is at times so indiscreet and yet modest that I am forced to believe Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17675 in her spotless purity, and again so incredibly artless that I must suspect that she has never been chaste. She allures me, excites me, like a woman of a certain category, and at the same time acts like an impeccable virgin. She seems to love me and yet makes fun of me; she deports herself in public as if she were my mistress and treats me in private as if I were her brother or footman.鈥� 鈥淭here are times when I fancy that she has as many lovers as her mother. And at other times I imagine that she suspects absolutely nothing of that sort of life, you understand. Furthermore, she is a great novel reader. I am at present, while awaiting something better, her book purveyor. She calls me her 鈥榣ibrarian.鈥� Every week the New Book Store sends her, on my orders, everything new that has appeared, and I believe that she reads everything at random. It must make a strange sort of mixture in her head.鈥� 鈥淭hat kind of literary hasty-pudding accounts perhaps for some of the girl鈥檚 peculiar ways. When Highlight (Yellow) | Location 17683 a young woman looks at existence through the medium of fifteen thousand novels, she must see it in a strange light, and construct queer ideas about matters and things in general. As for me, I am waiting. It is certain at any rate that I never have had for any other woman the devotion which I have had for her. And still it is quite certain that I shall never marry her. So if she has had numbers, I shall swell the number. And if she has not, I shall take the first ticket, just as I would do for a street car.鈥�
Dear Yvette, she is a spoiled, coquettish teen enjoying the adoring society of the somewhat rakish men who fill her mother's parties. She soon has her eyes set on one gentleman in particular, and when her mother invites him and his friend on a trip, Yvette is happy and expecting a proposal. However, it is clear to everyone, but Yvette, that her mother is a high-paid courtesan; those rakish men being her clients, the trip to an area where those with infamous reputations visit, and Yvette's admirers are simply thinking "like mother, like daughter." So, out on a stroll, Yvette's gentleman tries to proposition her, but she thinks this more of a vague marriage proposal. Her mother tries to gently convince her this is not the case. Yvette convinces her gentleman to take her to a tavern to dance, even though she has been told to stay clear of this place. It's where she learns of her mother's profession and after spying on her, Yvette has confirmation. She confronts her mother, pleading to end her shameful work. However, the mother responds with: "I like what I do and it gives us a good life, so be quiet." Yvette then decides she is going to commit suicide, with chloroform. However, all it does is make her high, so she keeps taking hits, until one day it goes wrong.
Re-read after two and a half years. Boy, my opinion on this book changed so much. I think that, at that time, I was too young to properly understand this story and enjoy it. Now I finished it in one day and enjoyed every single detail of it.
I could understand Yvette now as I know more about that period than I knew back in 2014, but I also understood what Maupassant was trying to do with her entire stroy. Or at least I hope I do.
If you're into realism and naturalism, I recommend this novel. It's short and fast read and leaves a bittersweet feeling when it's over.
Maybe I was not in the appropriate mood for reading it, but Yvette truly annoyed me. The main character Yvette, realizing that she will have the same faith as her mother - a courtesan- decides to take her life.In the end she falls in the hands of Jean de Servigny who fell in love with her.
Kort en makkelijk verhaaltje, dat me deed denken aan de korte verhaaltjes die je op de middelbare school bij Franse les moest lezen. Simpel, makkelijk en goed leesbaar. Interessent verhaal, met weinig diepgang. Ik had constant het gevoel iets te 'missen' qua omschrijving van details.
On se d茅lecte de la na茂vet茅 et des grands sentiments d'Yvette dans la nouvelle 茅ponyme. Les autres nouvelles du recueil sont moins int茅ressantes, dommage.
Guy de Maupassant masterfully portrays human nature, often exposing hypocrisy, vanity, and social constraints. His prose is concise yet vivid, filled with precise details that bring characters and settings to life. Maupassant frequently explores themes of fate, illusion, and the harsh realities of life, making his stories both compelling and thought-provoking.
Prachtig. Ik had nog NL vertaling door Adriaan Morri毛n, Salamander van Querido gebonden 1957 uit de boekenkast van mijn ouders Bernard en Mitzi. Op deze schrijver geattendeerd door lezen van Vasili Grossman: hij en zijn literaire vriend ... waren weg van De Maupassant