A Woman's Life

What are the secrets, most carefully concealed, of those with whom we share a life? What are the limits and depths of our ignorance and naiveté? When the final twilight falls and disdains to tarry, what will be left to see us through? Upon what can we pour out the last of our days? These are but a few of the cavernous questions which yawn ahead with a reading of this book. The heroine is likeable to a fault, yet even as we like her--and we do so to the end--we begin to wonder if she's really quite all there. Can she have done nothing to prevent some of the horrors which assail? Is she the innocent victim of those who decide her fate and have made her what she is? Perhaps, strange to say, the most endearing of characters in this novel is the family estate where most of the action occurs. Perched upon a cliff near Yport, in the Pays de Caux of Haute Normandie, it gazes out over the sea in fair weather and foul, loved by its inhabitants, yet much disserviced in the end. Still, it knows tenacity and moderation and its place. If only those it shelters could take a lesson from its lines, from its silent sense of measure, from its order and repose.

Is reading a novel set in the first half of 19th Century France relevant today? Maupassant's novel is set in Normandy, in a manor house with the surrounding countryside. It is a political and social microclimate. Paris is a very long way away, and the larger events of France, as it emerges from the turmoil of the Revolution and the Napoleonic period are not related. The novel is primarily a character study of Jeanne, the woman born of the manor, and a coterie of friends and relatives, who disappoint her, and ultimately lead her to ruin. Philandering, political or otherwise, is not a monopoly of the United States, in the early 21st Century. It was the accepted norm of the French countryside, and even the prudent priests looked the other way. Jeanne is truly disillusioned when she realizes that even her own mother was guilty of it. Religious fanaticism? Maupassant draws a telling portrait of a priest who believes he truly is God's personal agent on earth, and manages to manipulate particularly the women in a most vindictive manner. One of the priest's classic lines, as relevant today as when it was written: "In order to be powerful and respected, we must act together. If the church and the mansion go hand in hand, the cottage will fear us and obey." A hierarchical society? As the gap between rich and poor continues to increase in the United States, accompanied by the propaganda that this is the natural course of "free markets," it's important to reflect on a society that still had serious economic disparities even after its Revolution. With the hype and sometimes fraud that accompanies numerous "best sellers" pushed the publishing industry today, particularly "memoirs," for me it proved much more beneficial to enjoy the study of a society and its characters that was written a century and a half ago. Maupassant clearly has insights into "Man's Fate," particularly when it is a woman's.

Henri Rene Albert Guy de Maupassant was born at Chateau de Miromesnil near Dieppe, Normandy, and educated in Rouen and Yvetot, likewise in that Northern French region bordering on the Channel and the North Sea. Introduced to Gustave Flaubert by his mother, an old friend of Flaubert's, the creator of "Madame Bovary" soon became Maupassant's mentor and in turn, introduced him to Emile Zola, Tourgeniev and other proponents of literary realism. And encouraged by Flaubert, the erstwhile volunteer of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 eventually turned to journalism and published his first book, a collection of poetry, in 1880. He soon became known as a masterful short story writer, owing the clarity and concise nature of his prose in no small part to the lessons learned from his fatherly friend. Normandy, the beloved land of his childhood and adolescence, plays a dominant role in much of Maupassant's writing; both as a backdrop and as a means of highlighting emotions and plot developments. In six novels, Maupassant condensed the motifs explored in his numerous short stories, which would ultimately count over 300. "Une Vie" ("A Life") is the first of these novels, published in 1883. It traces the life of Jeanne de Lamare, nee Jeanne des Vauds, only daughter and heiress to the fortune of a Norman aristocrat family, from the moment she leaves her convent school at the age of seventeen, to advanced age and grandmotherhood. Naive by nature and sheltered from the harsh realities of life behind the walls of the convent, young Jeanne's outlook on life upon returning to her parents' chateau on the Norman coast, les Peuples, which she shall eventually inhabit with her husband, is innocently optimistic. Only a few months after her arrival, she falls in love with the viscount de Lamare whom she marries in very short order. But from here on out her life changes rapidly, because once married, her husband drops any pretence at the charm he has displayed while wooing her. Jeanne, wholly unprepared by nature and education to adequately respond to her husband's miserly attitude and multiple forms of abuse, nor finding forceful support in her parents, sees no other way than to passively tolerate his behavior; even when she stumbles into proof after proof of the extent of his transgressions against common decency and against his marital vows. And her son, in his childhood her one remaining pride and joy (and therefore, hopelessly spoiled), once grown to manhood turns out another major disappointment. Jeanne grows disillusioned and bitter, frequently complaining that life has treated her excessively unfairly. "Une Vie" draws, inter alia, on themes developed in seven short stories published in the years 1881 - 1883. The critically acclaimed novel sold 25,000 copies within the first few months after its publication. It has all the features of the writing style for which Maupassant, by then, had already become known: a crisp prose very much to the point being expressed; a

Henri Rene Albert Guy de Maupassant was born at Chateau de Miromesnil near Dieppe, Normandy, and educated in Rouen and Yvetot, likewise in that Northern French region bordering on the Channel and the North Sea. Introduced to Gustave Flaubert by his mother, an old friend of Flaubert's, the creator of "Madame Bovary" soon became Maupassant's mentor and in turn, introduced him to Emile Zola, Tourgeniev and other proponents of literary realism. And encouraged by Flaubert, the erstwhile volunteer of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 eventually turned to journalism and published his first book, a collection of poetry, in 1880. He soon became known as a masterful short story writer, owing the clarity and concise nature of his prose in no small part to the lessons learned from his fatherly friend. Normandy, the beloved land of his childhood and adolescence, plays a dominant role in much of Maupassant's writing; both as a backdrop and as a means of highlighting emotions and plot developments. In six novels, Maupassant condensed the motifs explored in his numerous short stories, which would ultimately count over 300. "Une Vie" ("A Life") is the first of these novels, published in 1883. It traces the life of Jeanne de Lamare, nee Jeanne des Vauds, only daughter and heiress to the fortune of a Norman aristocrat family, from the moment she leaves her convent school at the age of seventeen, to advanced age and grandmotherhood. Naive by nature and sheltered from the harsh realities of life behind the walls of the convent, young Jeanne's outlook on life upon returning to her parents' chateau on the Norman coast, les Peuples, which she shall eventually inhabit with her husband, is innocently optimistic. Only a few months after her arrival, she falls in love with the viscount de Lamare whom she marries in very short order. But from here on out her life changes rapidly, because once married, her husband drops any pretence at the charm he has displayed while wooing her. Jeanne, wholly unprepared by nature and education to adequately respond to her husband's miserly attitude and multiple forms of abuse, nor finding forceful support in her parents, sees no other way than to passively tolerate his behavior; even when she stumbles into proof after proof of the extent of his transgressions against common decency and against his marital vows. And her son, in his childhood her one remaining pride and joy (and therefore, hopelessly spoiled), once grown to manhood turns out another major disappointment. Jeanne grows disillusioned and bitter, frequently complaining that life has treated her excessively unfairly. "Une Vie" draws, inter alia, on themes developed in seven short stories published in the years 1881 - 1883. The critically acclaimed novel sold 25,000 copies within the first few months after its publication. It has all the features of the writing style for which Maupassant, by then, had already become known: a crisp prose very much to the point being

The first time I read this novel, I thought that the naturalism was bored, because there was no elan vital like Stendhal's novels. Twenty years later, I have now re-estimated it. It has no fantasy and little romance, but some important reality.This is a story of a woman living as a falling aristocratic landowner in some French country. It may be supposed that if readers don't have the exotics against the past French country, they cannot find any significance of this novel. It is, however, not the case. While talking a woman or looking at her gestures, suddenly I have remembered some plots of this novel to find their resemblance. At the same time I have begun to wonder if she is strongly responsible and doesn't believe in love and give up almost all trivial pleasures.The boredom of the naturalism at my adolescence has gradually turned out its applause, as I have experienced much. This novel doesn't make readers happy, but widens their ability to understand women, in particular, rural and naive girls.Although the importance of this novel is hard to see, it should be evaluated fairly.