La Maison Tellier

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

4.4

Word count: 274K words
Chapters: 28

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.La Maison Tellier by Guy de MaupassantAuthor: Maupassant, Guy de, 1850-1893,Language: French, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Mar 1, 2004

Editor's review

La Maison Tellier is one of Maupassant's most representative short stories, and the original French text is available free from Project Gutenberg. Centered on a brothel's temporary closure as its inhabitants travel to the countryside for a first communion ceremony, the story sets worldly life against religious ritual, revealing in its seemingly calm narration a complex weave of irony and tenderness. Maupassant does not judge his characters directly; instead, he lets scenes and dialogue speak for themselves, allowing readers to sense the tensions of class, gender, and morality in the details. This electronic edition suits close reading of the French original and comparison with Maupassant's other stories, in which one may observe his cool, detached style and structural craft. As it is a public-domain electronic text without introduction or notes, first-time readers would do well to acquaint themselves with the general background first or to use it alongside an annotated translation.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Language learners with intermediate French reading ability
Literary readers who enjoy French realist short stories
Students studying Maupassant's narrative techniques and irony
Readers who need original short texts for translation practice

Not a good fit for

Readers who cannot read French and do not wish to use a translation
Beginners who need detailed background notes and an introduction
Readers uncomfortable with subject matter involving brothels

Reading tips

Begin by learning about post-Franco-Prussian War French society, then move into close reading.
Pay attention to shifts in the narrator's tone and mark instances of irony and ellipsis.
After finishing, compare its structure and ending with Maupassant's other short stories.
Use a reliable translation alongside for checking difficult words and period expressions.

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

What is this story mainly about?

The materials provided do not give a detailed plot; they confirm only that it is a French short story by Maupassant available as a public-domain Project Gutenberg e-book. Readers may approach it as one of Maupassant's representative short works, but the specifics should be based on the original text rather than conjecture beyond the brief description.

Does the e-book include notes and an introduction?

According to the materials, this edition is a French public-domain e-book released by Project Gutenberg, with no indication that it includes notes or an introduction. If you encounter historical background or period expressions while reading, it is advisable to look them up yourself or consult an annotated print translation.

Can I read it with only average French?

Maupassant's short stories are relatively clean in language and clear in narration, but they still contain nineteenth-century usage and colloquial expressions. Intermediate French readers can attempt close reading; beginners are advised to read a translation first to grasp the plot, then return to the original for comparative study.

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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.