Maupassant is known as the "King of Short Stories", and is known as "the three major short story writers in the world" together with Chekhov and O. Henry. Representative works of short stories: "Ball of Suet", "The Necklace", "My Uncle Jules", "Simon's Father", "Two Friends"?; Representative works of full-length works: "Beautiful Friend" (also translated as "Junyou"), "lifetime".
Flaubert's main works include the novels "Madame Bovary" (1857), "Salembo" (1862), and "Education of Emotion" (1866) Nine years), "The Temptation of Saint Anthony" (1874), "Bovard and Pécuchet" (1880) and the short story collection "Three Stories" (1877) and other works .
Early works "Memoirs of a Madman" and "November" are full of romanticism and melancholy. It had a profound influence on the development of literature from the late 19th century to the 20th century, especially modernist literature. He is known as "the originator of naturalistic literature" and "the founder of modern Western novels". He was a literary figure in France in the 19th century. His writing emphasized "hardship and practice".
Extended information:
1. Introduction to Flaubert
Flaubert’s “objective description” not only has Balzac-style realism, There are also the realist characteristics of naturalistic literature, especially his admiration for the form of artistic works - language, which already contains some post-modern consciousness. New novel writers highly praised Flaubert's innovation of realism and further developed it.
Their pursuit of artistic forms has shown the unique "trend of worshiping nothing" unique to postmodern literature. In this sense, new novel writers have inherited Flaubert's realism and can greatly took a step forward. ?
Zola, the representative writer of naturalism in the 19th century, regarded Flaubert as the "father of naturalism"; while the French "New Novel" school in the 20th century also called him the "originator".
2. Themes of Flaubert’s works
One of the themes of Flaubert’s literary works: romantic feelings.
The most fundamental characteristics of romantic literature are the perceptual understanding of specific things and the free expression of emotions (religious emotions, sad emotions, emotions towards nature, etc.). As a teenager, Flaubert showed great enthusiasm for this kind of literary aesthetic thought. Flaubert liked obscure metaphors, dark tones and sonorous diction, and Chateaubriand's poems made him ecstatic.
3. Characteristics of Maupassant's creation
Maupassant created more than 350 short and medium-sized novels in his lifetime. While exposing the upper-class rulers and the social atmosphere poisoned by them, he also exposed the people who were oppressed. My deepest sympathies to the little people who were harmed by the insult.
The themes of the short stories can be roughly summarized into three aspects: the first is to satirize vanity and money worship, such as "The Necklace" and "My Uncle Jules"; the second is to describe the tragic experience of working people, Praise for his integrity, simplicity and generosity of character, such as "The Return"; the third is to describe the Franco-Prussian War and reflect the patriotic sentiments of the French people, such as "Ball of Suet".
Baidu Encyclopedia - Maupassant
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