Maupassant and Jewelry

Text/Ma Jiajun

Among the writers known for their short stories in modern times, Maupassant (1850-1893) is well known to Chinese people. Many short story writers have borrowed artistic experience from Maupassant. His short stories "Xiang Lian", "My Uncle Hule", "Two Friends", "Lamb Fat Ball", "Father Miron", and "Miss Fifi" are deeply loved by young people.

Gui de Maupassant came from a noble family in the decline of Normandy, his mother loved literature, and his uncle Puatovin was a novelist and poet. From the age of thirteen, Maupassant began to write; while attending secondary school in Rouen, he was instructed by his teacher (and a poet) Bouyer. In 1870, he enlisted in the army and participated in the war, and then served as a small clerk for ten years, and he was familiar with the life of the army and the life of the small clerk, which had a great influence on his later creations. Maupassant was first taught by the great French writer Flaubert and the great Russian writer Turgenev, but his achievements came more from his personal diligence in writing.

In the ten years from the publication of his debut poems in 1880 and the novel "The Ball of Mutton Fat" to his madness in 1861, Maupassant published more than three hundred short stories, which were co-published into 18 collections (two of which were collected after his death), and wrote six novels: "Her Life" (1883), "Beautiful Friend" (1885), "Hot Springs" (1886), "Peter and John" (1888), "Strong as Death" (1889), "Our Hearts" (1890), as well as some travelogues, miscellaneous notes, reviews, etc.

Maupassant's creation exposes all kinds of bad deeds in capitalist society, criticizes the corruption and despicableness of the nobility, the bourgeoisie, rogue politicians, and shameless literati, praises the patriotic enthusiasm and noble sentiments of the masses of the people, and reflects the misfortunes and disasters of small people. His works have a wide range of subjects and a certain depth of thought. Artistically, Maupassant is creative, his technique is skilled, his depictions are realistic, his tone is flexible and varied, full of interest, satirical and rigorous. In particular, when using short and concise literary forms to summarize social life, the colors are vivid, concise and concise, and various characters are shaped, with outstanding personalities and deep charm.

Jewelry, also known as Heritage, is a masterpiece by Maupassant. It exposes the corruption of social customs. But artistically, it is written implicitly and means timeless. The novel is first promoted and then suppressed: first write about the beauty of the heroine and the love for her husband, and then, in the processing of inheritance, the hypocrisy and corruption of the heroine are vaguely revealed, and the husband knows that the jewelry obtained by his wife is not from the right way, but he is not ashamed but proud, showing the brazenness of the hero. In the structure, the bamboo shoots are peeled layer by layer, and the mystery is gradually revealed. The ending reveals the essence of the husband. In this novel, Maupassant conceived novelly and exquisitely, depicted objective truth, everything is spoken by the image itself, the author never jumps out to argue in front of the reader, and the ideological tendencies and themes are all infiltrated in the image, and the progress of the story and the scenes are naturally revealed. This technique is worth learning.

(Note: The author of this article has authorized this headline)

(Ma Jiajun, a native of Qingyuan, Hebei, born on October 5, 1929, is currently a professor at the College of Literature of Shaanxi Normal University, a member of the Chinese Writers Association, a member of the Chinese Dramatists Association, a member of the Chinese Filmmakers Association, an honorary president (former president) of the Shaanxi Foreign Literature Society, a principle of the Chinese Foreign Literature Society, a principle of the Chinese Russian Literature Research Society, a former president of the Shaanxi Provincial Higher Education Drama Research Society, a former consultant of the Shaanxi Poetry Society, and a former executive director of the Shaanxi Provincial Federation of Social Science Societies. Shaanxi Province to build socialist spiritual civilization advanced individuals, Shaanxi Province to teach and educate advanced teachers, etc., enjoy special allowances from the State Council.

He is the author of 12 kinds of "Nineteenth Century Russian Literature", "The New Stage of Aesthetic History", "Poetry Exploration", "Exploration of World Literature", etc.; 4 kinds of "The Essence of World Literature" and "History of Western Drama" co-authored with his daughter Ma Xiaoyi; 9 kinds of "History of World Literature" (3 volumes) and "Research on Gorky's Creation"; edited 4 kinds of "30 Lectures on European and American Modernist Literature"; co-edited and co-authored "100 Topics of Marxism-Leninism", "Cultural Research Methods", "50 Lectures on Oriental Literature", "Western Literature in the Twentieth Century", etc. and more than 40 kinds.

It has been listed in more than 40 kinds, such as the Dictionary of Chinese Writers, the Dictionary of Chinese Poets, the Dictionary of Chinese Social Science Scholars, the Cambridge Dictionary of International Biographies (27th Edition in English), the Directory of Experts in Russian Studies Abroad (Russian Edition) of the Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Classics of Shaanxi Century of Literature and Art. ）