Guy de Maupassant
短篇小说巨匠——居伊·德·莫泊桑

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) was a popular French writer in the 19th century, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents. Together with the Russian writer Anton Chekhov, the American writer O. Henry, he is known as one of the “three greatest short-story writers”. Maupassant was a protégé of Flaubert and his stories are characterized by economy of style and marvelous, effortless dénouements (dramatic structure). He wrote some three hundred short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. His first published story, “Boule de Suif” (“Ball of Fat”, 1880), is often considered his masterpiece.
居伊·德·莫泊桑 (1850—1893)，19世纪法国知名作家，被誉为现代短篇小说之父和短篇小说巨匠，与契诃夫和欧·亨利并称为“世界三大短篇小说家”。 莫泊桑是福楼拜的弟子，因此他小说的特点是精简的文风和不露痕迹却精妙绝伦的结局。他一生创作300多篇短篇小说、6部中长篇小说、3部旅游札记和1部诗集。他的第一部小说《羊脂球》(1880)常常被视为他的代表作。

Maupassant is considered one of masters of the modern short story. He delighted in clever plotting, and served as a model for Somerset Maugham and O. Henry in this respect. His stories about expensive jewellery (“The Necklace”, “La parure”) are imitated with a twist by Maugham (“Mr Know-All”, “A String of Beads”) and Henry James (“Paste”).
莫泊桑被公认是现代短篇小说大师，他追求设计巧妙的故事情节并以此为乐，为后来的萨默塞特·毛姆和欧·亨利所效仿。比如他在小说《项链》里写到一件珍贵的珠宝，后来毛姆在《无所不知先生》《一串珍珠》里，亨利·詹姆斯在《玻璃钻石》中都有模仿的痕迹。

Taking his cue from Balzac, Maupassant wrote comfortably in both the high-Realist and fantastic modes; stories and novels such as “L'Héritage” and Bel-Ami aim to recreate Third Republic France in a realistic way, whereas many of the short stories (notably “Le Horla” and “Qui sait？”) describe apparently supernatural phenomena.受巴尔扎克影响，莫泊桑在高度现实主义手法与虚幻模式结合创作中游刃有余。小说《遗产》《漂亮朋友》以现实派笔触致力勾勒法兰西第三共和国的社会，而其他短篇小说(著名的有《奥尔拉》和《谁知道？》)很明显描绘的是超自然现象。