He wrote 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse.
Many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s, describing the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught up in events beyond their control, are permanently changed by their experiences. Maupassant was a protégé of Gustave Flaubert and his stories are characterized by economy of style and efficient, seemingly effortless dénouements. Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant ( UK: / ˈ m oʊ p æ s ɒ̃/, US: / ˈ m oʊ p ə s ɒ n t, ˌ m oʊ p ə ˈ s ɒ̃/ French: 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destinies and social forces in disillusioned and often pessimistic terms.
