I picked up a copy of Maupassant's short stories, Boule De Suif and Selected Stories (and don't feel bad, three years of college French and I still had to run "suif" through BabelFish), at a small used bookstore near my hometown. I actually purchased about 12 books and it cost me less than 20 bucks. It reminded me of the old days of stealing books at Banres and Noble. With that said, there was a disturbing page in Maupassant's book:
Pretty sure Bette threw a bag full of puppies into a stream as a child and later murdered her parents. Kind of creepy. Or ... Some guy was a little obsessed with Bette. Either way, I think it confirms all work and no play, makes Bette a dull girl.
The first four or five stories I read in this collection led me to believe Maupassant might have been the first animal right's activist. One story, about a puppy two maids can't take care of and throw into a well (like Bette), and another, about a man who incubates chicken eggs under his fat armpits, could probably both be read with an angle to make you believe they were written to protect animals or to realize animals are on the same level as humans. Of course, I would probably argue the former was about the inability of any of us to take care of everyone and especially the inability to help someone is doesn't want to help themselves. As for the latter, however, I'm still not sure what the hell Maupassant was trying to tell me.
Overall, the first ten stories were not stories I'd likely read again. Intelligent, well-written, thoughtful, yes, but nothing that had me begging for more. The racier stories, the ones about out-of-wedlock children and loose maids, knowing they were written before the turn of the twentieth century, certainly highlighted his honesty and his "laissez-faire" attitude toward censorship (which is a great thing). But, again, the themes felt straight-forward and heavy-handed. Peasants got it rough. The upper-class is sinister.
But then I read Boule De Suif, for which the collection was named. And then I understood why the guy is mentioned in the same breath with so many greats. The story, about a group well-to-do French elitists (and a few stragglers) fleeing from the surging Prussian army, encompasses everything that a great short story should: strong characters, a simple plot with complex themes and an ending that makes you stand up and applaud.
Elisabeth Rousset, known as 'Butterball' in the story, is a fille de joie—a lady of the night (isn't my French just astounding?). In the carriage the women abhor her and the men, though lustful, are also snooty toward Butterball. In what turns out to be a 14-hour journey, she is kind enough to share her basket of food with the entire company. What unfolds when they reach a city for rest, it being occupied, much to their dismay, by Prussian soldiers, cements this as one of the better short stories I've ever read. And the ending, somehow encompassing everything that Maupassant had been trying to say, not only in Boule De Suif but in all his stories, had me wanting to go back and reread the entire thing again.
I've often believed that the best stories are those that make us question our own morals (still not sure I have any of those, but, never mind that). This story will do that. If you never read an entire collection by Maupassant, that'd be fine, but do yourself a favor and read the one story that made him famous, Boule De Suif.
Editor's note: the picture in the heading is of small shrine in Misumi, Shimane-ken, the small town where I lived in Japan. I used to go there and read. Oddly enough, that's where I first enjoyed Proust. But that doesn't have anything to do with the price of butter.
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