Pierre et Jean

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

4.3

Word count: 279K 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. Pierre et Jean 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

Pierre et Jean is a novel by Maupassant; Project Gutenberg holds the original French text, catalogued under PQ French literature. Maupassant is best known for his short stories, and what makes this novel distinctive is its extremely restrained treatment of suspicion within a family: inheritance, blood ties and brotherhood create the tension, yet the characters never confront each other openly—the cracks emerge gradually through everyday words and actions. Its value lies not in dramatic plot twists but in watching a realist writer advance the narrative through a limited set of scenes and precise psychological description. For French readers, it is a suitable text for testing upper-intermediate reading skills: the sentences are not especially difficult, but the reader must keep up with the narrative rhythm and the characters' subtle attitudes. Note that the material provided is only bibliographic metadata and does not set out the plot or edition details; readers should not mistake this introduction for a synopsis. Suitable for courses in French literature, intensive French reading, or readers interested in realist fiction.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with some French who want to read a full-length novel in the original
Readers interested in French realist fiction and family themes
Teachers or students in need of French literature reading material
Readers who prefer restrained psychological description to strong plotting

Not a good fit for

Beginners in French who cannot yet read a full-length original text continuously
Readers who only want a Chinese translation and are not comfortable with the French original
Readers expecting frequent twists and dramatic conflict

Reading tips

Read one chapter first to get used to Maupassant's narrative rhythm, then set a daily page target.
Mark places where characters' attitudes shift; this makes relationships easier to sort out on a second look.
If the original is hard going, read a synopsis first, then return to the French text.
After finishing, revisit the dialogue scenes between the two brothers to appreciate the restrained style.

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 book the original French text or an English translation?

The material states Language: French, so Project Gutenberg holds the original French text, not an English or Chinese translation. If your main goal is to follow the story, you will need adequate French reading ability or a translation to compare with.

Isn't Maupassant known for short stories? Is this novel worth reading?

Maupassant is indeed known for his short stories, but this novel also shows his realist method: a limited set of scenes, detailed psychological description, and conflict hidden beneath the everyday. If you are interested in a full-length narrative about family and blood ties, it offers a sample of how he handles the novel form.

How much French do I need to read this book?

The material gives no language difficulty grading. Generally, you should be able to read a full-length French novel continuously—at least follow the gist of the narration and dialogue. If you need to look up many words in every paragraph, the reading experience will suffer noticeably; try one chapter first and judge for yourself.

Why is there no story summary in the introduction?

Because the introduction here mainly explains the background of the Project Gutenberg platform and bibliographic metadata; it does not set out the novel's plot. You cannot infer the story from it, so before reading it is best to find a synopsis elsewhere or simply try the text itself.

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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.