A Life

Name: A Life
ISBN: 9787547058602

Guy de Maupassant / Li YuminVolumes Publishing Company · ChinaNov 2022

4.4

Word count: 133K words
Chapters: 16
ISBN: 9787547058602

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Summary

A Life is Maupassant's classic first novel and the only one of his full-length works adapted for the screen. Completed under the guidance of his mentor Flaubert and revised and polished through several drafts, it is a story of female spiritual awakening about marriage, growth and disillusionment.

In A Life, Maupassant portrays the life of Jeanne, a young aristocratic woman full of romantic innocence and fantasy, who suffers one blow after another: her husband's betrayal, the deaths of her parents and the loss of her child. Exhausted in body and mind, Jeanne can finally seek only a little consolation for life's illusions from her maid.

A Life depicts how, in that era, a woman's pure dreams are dashed against a reality awash with desire, and stands as a microcosm of the lives of most unfortunate women. Even today, unhappy women can see themselves in Jeanne and recognize in this book the heavy pressures they may face.

Editor's review

A Life is Maupassant's first novel, a full-length work repeatedly revised under Flaubert's guidance and the only one of his novels to be adapted for the screen. Taking the life of the aristocratic young woman Jeanne as its thread, it follows her from innocent幻想 through her husband's betrayal, her parents' deaths, and her child's departure, until she finds a measure of solace in her maid. With cool, restrained prose, Maupassant renders the collision between a woman's pure dreams and a reality awash in desire with startling force. Jeanne's fate is not merely a microcosm of nineteenth-century French women; today's readers can also see their own shadows in her marriage, growth, and disillusionment. Li Yumin's translation is fluent and reliable, and the 2022 Wanjuan Publishing edition is accessible to general readers. Best read in a quiet, uninterrupted stretch, following Jeanne's life to experience that slow, heavy disappointment; afterward, return to the opening scene of the girl's fantasies—the contrast brings out Maupassant's structural care.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy nineteenth-century French realist novels
Readers interested in women's fate, marriage, and coming-of-age themes
General readers new to Maupassant looking to start with a classic novel
Literature students and teachers seeking close-reading material

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a light, cheerful story with a happy ending
Impatient readers who prefer fast pacing and strong plot
Readers sensitive to themes of marital betrayal and disillusionment who are easily affected emotionally

Reading tips

Read the whole book through first to grasp the turning points in each stage of Jeanne's life, then return to closely reread the opening section of the girl's fantasies.
While reading, pay attention to Maupassant's descriptions of nature and everyday details, and feel the emotional tension beneath his cool touch.
Consider the background of Flaubert's guidance to Maupassant and reflect on the traces of the book's multiple drafts and careful polishing.
After reading, write a short note on which of Jeanne's disillusionments moved you most and how it resonates with contemporary women's circumstances.

About the publisher

Volumes Publishing Company China · Founded in 2003

Volumes Publishing Company is a comprehensive publisher known for its titles on Chinese classics and literature and the arts. Its publishing covers classical literature, essays and miscellaneous writings, folk literature, foreign literature, and exam preparation books. Judging from the 269 titles in the database, the company emphasizes making classic works accessible to a broad readership. Representative books include Letters from Fu Lei to His Son, The Four Great Classical Novels, Teahouse, The Classic of Mountains and Seas, Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk, and Camel Xiangzi, with authors including Fu Lei, Cao Xueqin, Luo Guanzhong, Shi Nai'an, Wu Cheng'an, Lao She, Liu Xiang, and Liu Xin. The company has also developed series brands such as the Volumes Studio Chinese Classics and the Science Fiction Library, giving it a distinctive profile in organizing Chinese classics and promoting literary reading. Public information on its other publishing activities is limited.

版权信息
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七
八
九
十
十一
十二
十三
十四
译者后记：雅娜的一生

FAQ

Is A Life Maupassant's first novel?

A Life is Maupassant's fairly classic first full-length novel, completed under the care of his mentor Flaubert and revised and polished through several drafts. It is also the only one of his novels to be adapted for the screen, holding a special place in his career.

Can I read A Life without having read Maupassant before?

Yes. This is a novel whose narrative thread follows Jeanne's life and does not depend on other works for background. Li Yumin's translation is smooth and easy to read, so general readers can go straight in. If you want to get familiar with Maupassant's style first, you could read a few of his short stories and then come back to the novel.

Is this book suitable to read as feminist literature?

The materials summarize the book as a work about women's spiritual awakening through marriage, growth, and disillusionment, depicting the collision of a woman's pure dreams with reality. It can serve as a literary text for understanding women's circumstances, but it is first of all a nineteenth-century French realist novel; read it with its historical context in mind and do not simply equate it with contemporary feminist theory.

Do I need to know French history to read this book?

No preparation is necessary. The novel follows Jeanne's personal fate as its main line, and the story can be understood on its own. If you want a deeper reading, pay attention to the aristocratic way of life and the situation of women in marriage at the time; this background helps explain the inevitability of Jeanne's disillusionment.

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About the author

Guy de Maupassant Author · French · 1850–1893

Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) was a French naturalist novelist, hailed as a master of the short story. Born into a declining aristocratic family in Normandy, he studied under Flaubert and rose to fame with Boule de Suif in 1880. His representative works include The Necklace, My Uncle Jules, Bel Ami, and A Life. Over his career he wrote roughly three hundred short stories and six novels. Drawing on everyday French social life, his writing is cool and objective, using concise narrative to reveal the complexity of human nature and the harshness of reality, and he remains widely read in the categories of foreign literature and classic works.

Li Yumin Author · Chinese · 1938

Li Yumin (born 1938) is a renowned Chinese translator of French literature. A graduate of Peking University's French program, he later became a professor at Capital Normal University. In 1964, he went to France as one of the first publicly sponsored students of New China. He has devoted himself to translating French literature for decades, producing more than 200 translated works totaling over 30 million characters, about half of them first translations in China. His representative works include Notre-Dame de Paris, Les Misérables, The Three Musketeers, The Plague, The Stranger, and The Little Prince, spanning foreign literature, world classics, and Western philosophy. He has received the Fu Lei Translation and Publishing Award. His translations are known for accuracy, fluency, and readability, offering Chinese readers an important window into classic French literature and thought.