Musotte: "We breathe love as we breathe air; we hold it in ourselves as we hold our thoughts. Nothing more exists for us"

By Guy de Maupassant

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5th, 1850 near Dieppe in France. Maupassant’s early life was badly torn when at age 11 (his younger brother Hervé was then five) his mother, Laure, a headstrong and independent-minded woman, risked social disgrace in order to obtain a legal separation from her husband. After the separation, Laure kept custody of her two boys. With the father now forcibly absent, Laure became the most influential and important figure in the young boy's life. Maupassant’s education was such that he rebelled against religion and other societal norms but a developing friendship with Gustave Flaubert began to turn his mind towards creativity and writing. After graduation he volunteered for the Franco-Prussian war. With its end he moved to Paris to work as a clerk in the Navy Department. Gustave Flaubert now took him under his wing. Acting as a literary guardian to him, he guided the eager Maupassant to debuts in journalism and literature. For Maupassant these were exciting times and the awakening of his creative talents and ambitions. In 1880 he published what is considered his first great work, ‘Boule de Suif’, (translated as as ‘Dumpling’, ‘Butterball’, ‘Ball of Fat’, or ‘Ball of Lard’) which met with a success that was both instant and overwhelming. Flaubert at once acknowledged that it was ‘a masterpiece that will endure.’ Maupassant had used his talents and experiences in the war to create something unique. This decade from 1880 to 1891 was to be the most pivotal of his career. With an audience now made available by the success of ‘Boule de Suif’ Maupassant organised himself to work methodically and relentlessly to produce between two and four volumes of work a year. The melding of his talents and business sense and the continual hunger of sources for his works made him wealthy. In his later years he developed a desire for solitude, an obsession for self-preservation, and a fear of death as well as a paranoia of persecution caused by the syphilis he had contracted in his youth. On January 2nd, 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat. Unsuccessful he was committed to the private asylum of Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris. It was here on July 6th, 1893 that Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant died at the age of only 42.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stage Door
• Release date: Nov 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9781787375222

Guy de Maupassant

Guy de Maupassant was a nineteenth-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, who depicted human lives, destinies, and social forces in disillusioned and often pessimistic terms. He was a protégé of Gustave Flaubert, and his stories are characterized by economy of style and efficient, seemingly effortless dénouements. Born in 1850 at the late–sixteenth century Château de Miromesnil, de Maupassant was the first son of Laure Le Poittevin and Gustave de Maupassant, who both came from prosperous bourgeois families. Until the age of thirteen, de Maupassant lived with his mother at Étretat in Normandy. The Franco-Prussian War broke out soon after his graduation from college in 1870, and he enlisted as a volunteer. In his later years he developed a constant desire for solitude, an obsession for self-preservation, and a fear of death and paranoia of persecution. In 1892, de Maupassant attempted suicide. He was committed to the private asylum of Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris, where he died in 1893.

Book preview

Musotte by Guy de Maupassant

or, A Critical Situation

A COMEDY IN THREE ACTS

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5th, 1850 near Dieppe in France.

Maupassant’s early life was badly torn when at age 11 (his younger brother Hervé was then five) his mother, Laure, a headstrong and independent-minded woman, risked social disgrace in order to obtain a legal separation from her husband.

After the separation, Laure kept custody of her two boys. With the father now forcibly absent, Laure became the most influential and important figure in the young boy's life. 

Maupassant’s education was such that he rebelled against religion and other societal norms but a developing friendship with Gustave Flaubert began to turn his mind towards creativity and writing.

After graduation he volunteered for the Franco-Prussian war. With its end he moved to Paris to work as a clerk in the Navy Department.  Gustave Flaubert now took him under his wing.  Acting as a literary guardian to him, he guided the eager Maupassant to debuts in journalism and literature.  For Maupassant these were exciting times and the awakening of his creative talents and ambitions.

In 1880 he published what is considered his first great work, ‘Boule de Suif’, (translated as as ‘Dumpling’, ‘Butterball’, ‘Ball of Fat’, or ‘Ball of Lard’) which met with a success that was both instant and overwhelming.  Flaubert at once acknowledged that it was ‘a masterpiece that will endure.’ Maupassant had used his talents and experiences in the war to create something unique.

This decade from 1880 to 1891 was to be the most pivotal of his career.  With an audience now made available by the success of ‘Boule de Suif’ Maupassant organised himself to work methodically and relentlessly to produce between two and four volumes of work a year.  The melding of his talents and business sense and the continual hunger of sources for his works made him wealthy.

In his later years he developed a desire for solitude, an obsession for self-preservation, and a fear of death as well as a paranoia of persecution caused by the syphilis he had contracted in his youth.

On January 2nd, 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat.  Unsuccessful he was committed to the private asylum of Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris.  It was here on July 6th, 1893 that

Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant died at the age of only 42.

Index of Contents

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

THE SCENE: Paris of to-day.

ACT I

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE IV

SCENE V

SCENE VI

SCENE VII

SCENE VIII

SCENE IX

SCENE X

SCENE XI

ACT II

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE IV

SCENE V

ACT III

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE IV

SCENE V

SCENE VI

SCENE VII

SCENE VIII

GUY DE MAUPASSANT – A SHORT BIOGRAPHY

GUY DE MAUPASSANT – A CONCISE BIBLIOGRAPHY

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

JEAN MARTINEL - Nephew of M. Martinel, a painter; not yet thirty years of age, but already well known and the recipient of various honors.

LÉON DE PETITPRÉ - Brother to Gilberts Martinel, a young lawyer about thirty years of age.

M. MARTINEL - An old gunmaker of Havre, aged fifty-five.

M. DE PETITPRÉ - An old magistrate, officer of the Legion of Honor. Aged sixty.

DR. PELLERIN - A fashionable physician of about thirty-five.

MME. DE RONCHARD - Sister to M. de Petitpré, about fifty-five years of age.

HENRIETTE LÉVÊQUE - Nicknamed Musotte; a little model, formerly Jean Martinel’s mistress. Twenty-two years of age.

MME. FLACHE - A midwife. Formerly a ballet-dancer at the Opera. About thirty-five years of age.

GILBERTE MARTINEL - Daughter of M. and Mme. de Petitpré, married in the morning to Jean Martinel. About twenty years old.

LISE BABIN - A nurse, about twenty-six.

SERVANTS

THE SCENE: Paris of to-day.

The first and third acts take place in M. de Petitpré’s drawing-room.

The second act takes place in Musotte’s bedchamber.

ACT I

SCENE I

A richly yet classically furnished drawing-room in M. de Petitpré’s house. A table, C.; sofas, R.; chairs and armchairs, L. Wide doors, C., opening upon a terrace or gallery. Doors R. and L. of C. Lighted lamps.)

Enter from R. M. de PETITPRÉ, MONSIEUR MARTINEL, MME. DE RONCHARD, LÉON de PETITPRÉ, JEAN and GILBERTE. GILBERTE is in her bridal attire, but without wreath and veil.

MME. DE RONCHARD [after bowing to M. MARTINEL, whose arm she relinquishes, seats herself.]

Gilberte, Gilberte!

GILBERTE [leaves JEAN’S arm]

What is it, Auntie?

MME. DE RONCHARD

The coffee, my dear child.

GILBERTE [goes to the table]

I will give you some, Auntie.

MME. DE RONCHARD

Don’t soil your gown.

LÉON [comes up]

No, no, not to-day shall my sister serve coffee. The day of her marriage! No, indeed, I will take care of that. [To MME. DE RONCHARD.] You know that I am a lawyer, my dear Aunt, and therefore can do everything.

MME. DE RONCHARD

Oh, I know your abilities, Léon, and I appreciate them―

LÉON [smiles, and gives his Aunt a cup of coffee]

You are too good.

MME. DE RONCHARD [taking cup, dryly]

For what they are worth.

LÉON [aside, turns to the table]

There she goes again―another little slap at me! That is never wanting. [offers a cup to MARTINEL.] You will take a small cup, won’t you, M. Martinel, and a nip of old brandy with it? I know your tastes. We will take good care of you.

MARTINEL

Thank you, Léon.

LÉON [to PETITPRÉ]

Will you have a cup, father?

PETITPRÉ

I will, my son.

LÉON [to the newly married couple, seated and talking aside]

And you, you bridal pair there?

[The couple, absorbed in each other, do not answer.

Oh, I suppose we must not bother you.

[He sets cup down on the table.

PETITPRÉ [to MARTINEL]

You don’t smoke, I believe?

MARTINEL

Never, thank you.

MME. DE RONCHARD

You astonish me! My brother and Léon would not miss smoking each day for anything in the world. But what an abomination a cigar is!

PETITPRÉ

A delicious abomination, Clarisse.

LÉON [turns to MME. DE RONCHARD]

Almost all abominations are delicious, Auntie; in fact many of them, to my personal knowledge, are exquisite.

MME. DE RONCHARD

You naughty fellow!

PETITPRÉ [takes LÉON’S arm]

Come and smoke in the billiard-room, since your aunt objects to it here.

LÉON [to PETITPRÉ]

The day when she will love anything except her spaniels―

PETITPRÉ

Hold your tongue and