Claire de Lune

Maupassant, Guy de, 1850-1893Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 150K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Claire de Lune by Guy de Maupassant. Author: Maupassant, Guy de, 1850-1893. Language: French, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Feb 1, 2004

Editor's review

"Claire de Lune" ("Moonlight") is a short story by Maupassant, published here as a public-domain French e-text from Project Gutenberg. Maupassant excelled at the short story, building atmosphere, portraying psychological depth, and leaving a lingering twist within a limited space. This work is well suited to experiencing the narrative rhythm and texture of the French short story: scene description and inner life are often tightly interwoven, and the plot advances not through grand exposition but through detail and emotional progression. Since the original is in French, readers need some French reading ability, or should use a bilingual or annotated edition for support. It is best suited as close-reading material for short fiction, supplementary reading for French learners, and an introductory sample of Maupassant's short-story style, rather than for readers seeking long, complex plots.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Learners with some French foundation who want to closely read original short stories
Literature students studying Maupassant's art of the short story
Readers who enjoy the atmosphere and psychological description of short fiction
Translators needing public-domain French texts for translation practice

Not a good fit for

Readers with no French at all who need a Chinese translation
Readers who prefer long, complex plots or serialized stories
Readers hoping for a systematic account of the author's life

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the plot and atmosphere, then read closely paragraph by paragraph, marking sentences of description and psychological turning points.
French learners can prepare bilingual materials and focus on comparing how scene description and narrative perspective are handled.
After reading, try summarizing the theme and the effect of the ending in two or three sentences to check whether you have grasped the story's use of implication.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this story in the original French? What language level is needed?

The book is listed as being in French and is a public-domain e-text. Readers with intermediate or higher French reading ability will find it easier to enter; beginners are advised to use bilingual or annotated materials, first understanding the plot and then reading the language closely.

Is this work by Maupassant suitable as an introduction to literature?

It can serve as an introductory sample of the short story, provided one can read the original French or find a reliable translation. Maupassant's stories are short and tightly focused, well suited to experiencing the twist and atmosphere of short fiction; however, a single story cannot represent his entire style, so reading other stories for comparison is recommended.

Does the electronic edition include an introduction or notes?

According to the information, this is a public-domain e-book released by Project Gutenberg, with no introduction or scholarly notes mentioned. Readers who need background information may consult Maupassant studies or literary histories separately to avoid reading the work in isolation.

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About the author

Maupassant, Guy de, 1850-1893 Author

Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893) was a renowned French novelist. This library holds 69 of his works, including short-story collections, novels, and complete editions. His representative works include Une vie, Boule de Suif, Bel Ami, and multi-volume complete collections of his short stories and writings. Public information is limited, so his biographical details are not elaborated here; nevertheless, the works in this library show that he excelled at short stories while also writing well-structured novels. His short stories often capture turning points in ordinary lives and human weaknesses through calm, restrained narration, while his novels focus on social class, desire, and fate. His language is concise, his observation precise, and his endings forceful, and his influence on later short-story writing is profound.