The purpose of this thesis is to focus on an often neglected aspect of Maupassant's short stories, namely the nature of the relationship they trigger between the author, the text, and the reader. After examining the reception of Maupassant's works from a historical viewpoint, I concentrate on their appareil démarcatif, or key-points in terms of structure. This leads me to consider the impact of the paratext (titles, subtitles, epigraphs, and dedications), framing devices - a pattern that recalls the oral tale from which the written short story is derived - and closure on Maupassant's wide range of readers. The analysis concentrates mainly on the Contes et Nouvelles because their brevity and their characteristics make them ideal for a detailed study of the appareil démarcatif which governs their structure. The second major articulation of my thesis is to focus on the recurring themes and characters used by the author to make his fictional writings plausible. Because Maupassant did not prove exceptionally original in his use of these thematic devices, this leads me to explore the conventions that rule his fictional universe. Basing my approach on Jonathan Culler's Stucturalist Poetics, I undertake to demonstrate that the vraisemblance at stake in Maupassant's texts proceeds from four levels of conventions, each linked to a particular thematic object. While the notion of 'cultural vraisemblance' concerns characters, who remain highly stereotypical in both an attempt to familiarise the reader with the contextual content and a conscious wish to maintain the concision of the story, that of the 'conventionally natural' depends heavily on metalanguage ; the plot and themes are in turn affected by the genericity of the text. The fourth level, constituted by the ironic content, is set apart as a level which contaminates the other three.

Issued also as thesis, Universit́e de Paris, under title: La lucidité de Guy de Maupassant dans ses dernières oeuvres (1888-1892).

Issued also as thesis, Universit́e de Paris, under title: La lucidité de Guy de Maupassant dans ses dernières oeuvres (1888-1892). / Microfilmed for preservation. DNLM

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1941. / Published also without thesis note. "Bibliography of studies on Maupassant": p. [193]-221.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1941. / Published also without thesis note. "Bibliography of studies on Maupassant": p. [193]-221.

Thesis (doctoral)--Université de Lille III. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 387-426) and index.

Thesis (doctoral)--Université de Lille III. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 387-426) and index.

Diversos estudiosos apontaram a proximidade das realizações de contistas brasileiros com a obra de Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893). Nesta tese, propomos um estudo paralelo da contística de Maupassant com a obra de oito escritores, que produziram a maior parte de seus textos entre 1880 e 1940: Lúcio de Mendonça, Medeiros e Albuquerque, Simões Lopes Neto, Monteiro Lobato, Lima Barreto, Viriato Correia, Gastão Cruls e Ribeiro Couto. Nosso objetivo é avaliar como ocorreu a recepção criativa do escritor francês nesse período, no Brasil, por meio da observação dos que o leram e o citam em suas obras. Na primeira parte, fazemos um estudo do conjunto da obra de Guy de Maupassant, de cada gênero a que o escritor se dedicou, o que nos fornece uma visão aprofundada e de conjunto de sua poética. A partir de uma tipologia de suas narrativas curtas, em que se valoriza sua riqueza e variedade de formas e temas, sugerimos uma abordagem comparativa com os escritores brasileiros, que nos ocupa na segunda parte deste trabalho. Nos capítulos dedicados a cada escritor brasileiro em questão, fazemos uma apresentação de nomes e obras, na maioria das vezes pouco conhecidos do público em geral, pois pouco referidos em manuais de literatura brasileira ou em estudos sobre o conto no Brasil. Com exceção de Simões Lopes Neto, Monteiro Lobato e Lima Barreto, os demais contistas possuem ainda raros estudos a respeito de suas obras, constatação que aqui pretendemos ajudar a corrigir. A seleção dos textos brasileiros estudados reflete o duplo movimento da argumentação da tese comparativa com o conto maupassantiano e o da valorização de narrativas exemplares de contistas brasileiros, hoje injustamente esquecidos. Se esse grupo de escritores obteve, por meio da leitura de Maupassant, uma motivação para a criação de seus contos, por outro lado, colaboraram individualmente para a escrita de obras-primas bastante originais no gênero, no Brasil de seu tempo. O momento aqui recortado revela diversos nomes importantes que, juntos ao de Machado de Assis, contribuíram para a firmação do conto brasileiro. / Several scholars have pointed out the proximity of the work of Brazilian writers with the Guy de Maupassants canon (1850-1893). In this work, we propose a parallel study of Maupassant short stories with the work of eight writers, who produced most of their writings from 1880 and 1940: Lúcio de Mendonca, Medeiros e Albuquerque, Simões Lopes Neto, Monteiro Lobato, Lima Barreto, Viriato Correia, Gastão Cruls and Ribeiro Couto. Our goal is to evaluate how the creative response of the French writer was during this period, in Brazil, through the reading of those who read and cited him in their works. In the first part, the study of Guy de Maupassants complete work and each genre that the writer devoted himself will provide an in-depth understanding of his poetry. In the second part, from a typology of his short stories, in which its richness and variety of shapes and themes are valued, we suggest a comparison with the Brazilian writers. In chapters devoted to each Brazilian writer in question, we do a presentation of names and works, mostly little known to the general public, as referenced in some manuals of Brazilian literature or studies on the short story in Brazil. With the exception of Simões Lopes Neto, Monteiro Lobato and Lima Barreto, there are few studies about the works of the other storytellers, finding that here we intend to help correct. The selection of the Brazilian texts reflects the double movement of the argument of this work comparing with the narrative of maupassantian short stories and the appreciation of outstanding Brazilian storytellers, today unjustly forgotten. If this group of writers were motivated by reading Maupassant on the one hand, on the other hand they collaborated individually for writing highly original masterpieces in the genre of their time in Brazil. The moment studied in this work reveals several important names who, along with Machado de Assis, contributed to establishing the Brazilian short story.

Diversos estudiosos apontaram a proximidade das realizações de contistas brasileiros com a obra de Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893). Nesta tese, propomos um estudo paralelo da contística de Maupassant com a obra de oito escritores, que produziram a maior parte de seus textos entre 1880 e 1940: Lúcio de Mendonça, Medeiros e Albuquerque, Simões Lopes Neto, Monteiro Lobato, Lima Barreto, Viriato Correia, Gastão Cruls e Ribeiro Couto. Nosso objetivo é avaliar como ocorreu a recepção criativa do escritor francês nesse período, no Brasil, por meio da observação dos que o leram e o citam em suas obras. Na primeira parte, fazemos um estudo do conjunto da obra de Guy de Maupassant, de cada gênero a que o escritor se dedicou, o que nos fornece uma visão aprofundada e de conjunto de sua poética. A partir de uma tipologia de suas narrativas curtas, em que se valoriza sua riqueza e variedade de formas e temas, sugerimos uma abordagem comparativa com os escritores brasileiros, que nos ocupa na segunda parte deste trabalho. Nos capítulos dedicados a cada escritor brasileiro em questão, fazemos uma apresentação de nomes e obras, na maioria das vezes pouco conhecidos do público em geral, pois pouco referidos em manuais de literatura brasileira ou em estudos sobre o conto no Brasil. Com exceção de Simões Lopes Neto, Monteiro Lobato e Lima Barreto, os demais contistas possuem ainda raros estudos a respeito de suas obras, constatação que aqui pretendemos ajudar a corrigir. A seleção dos textos brasileiros estudados reflete o duplo movimento da argumentação da tese comparativa com o conto maupassantiano e o da valorização de narrativas exemplares de contistas brasileiros, hoje injustamente esquecidos. Se esse grupo de escritores obteve, por meio da leitura de Maupassant, uma motivação para a criação de seus contos, por outro lado, colaboraram individualmente para a escrita de obras-primas bastante originais no gênero, no Brasil de seu tempo. O momento aqui recortado revela diversos nomes importantes que, juntos ao de Machado de Assis, contribuíram para a firmação do conto brasileiro. / Several scholars have pointed out the proximity of the work of Brazilian writers with the Guy de Maupassants canon (1850-1893). In this work, we propose a parallel study of Maupassant short stories with the work of eight writers, who produced most of their writings from 1880 and 1940: Lúcio de Mendonca, Medeiros e Albuquerque, Simões Lopes Neto, Monteiro Lobato, Lima Barreto, Viriato Correia, Gastão Cruls and Ribeiro Couto. Our goal is to evaluate how the creative response of the French writer was during this period, in Brazil, through the reading of those who read and cited him in their works. In the first part, the study of Guy de Maupassants complete work and each genre that the writer devoted himself will provide an in-depth understanding of his poetry. In the second part, from a typology of his short stories, in which its richness and variety of shapes and themes are valued, we suggest a comparison with the Brazilian writers. In chapters devoted to each Brazilian writer in question, we do a presentation of names and works, mostly little known to the general public, as referenced in some manuals of Brazilian literature or studies on the short story in Brazil. With the exception of Simões Lopes Neto, Monteiro Lobato and Lima Barreto, there are few studies about the works of the other storytellers, finding that here we intend to help correct. The selection of the Brazilian texts reflects the double movement of the argument of this work comparing with the narrative of maupassantian short stories and the appreciation of outstanding Brazilian storytellers, today unjustly forgotten. If this group of writers were motivated by reading Maupassant on the one hand, on the other hand they collaborated individually for writing highly original masterpieces in the genre of their time in Brazil. The moment studied in this work reveals several important names who, along with Machado de Assis, contributed to establishing the Brazilian short story.

One of the more pervasive clichés regarding women in late nineteenth-century French literature is the commonplace that treats social spaces as metaphors for the women who inhabit them. An idea inherited from older traditions that trace their roots back to the Middle Ages, this commonplace often appears as a parallel drawn between women and the social spaces (often a garden or other “natural” setting) ascribed to them. Émile Zola and Guy de Maupassant both make extensive use of this commonplace. While some recent research, Heidi Brevik-Zender’s book Fashioning Spaces: Mode and Modernity in late Nineteenth Century France (2015) for instance, has examined the phenomenon of women and social spaces, thus far the focus has been on Paris and the urban setting. Less work has been done on women and their “natural” spaces. This dissertation examines Émile Zola’s La Faute de l’abbé Mouret (1875), where the garden of the Paradou becomes an explicit metaphor for the body of the novel’s central female character, Albine. In Zola, the garden functions as an “other” space that at first appears to underscore woman’s difference from man. Zola, meanwhile, undermines this insistence on difference. Guy de Maupassant, in his short stories Miss Harriet and “Première neige” and in his first novel, Une Vie (all published for the first time in 1883) represents the notions of separate male and female space as entirely illusory constructs that disguise the male domination that obtains nearly everywhere. While Maupassant’s short fiction shows a pessimistic outlook on correcting this “problem,” his novel, Une Vie, proposes a radical solution, based in non-traditional family structures and female homosociality. I conclude this study by looking more broadly at the pervasiveness of the femino-spatial cliché with reference to examples from contemporary culture.