The Franco-Prussian war seen through the literature of Guy de Maupassant

Guy de Maupassant, who is often considered as the most important short-story writer of the European continent, lived in the 19th century and served in the Franco-Prussian war.

His work can be categorized in an early and a late period, the former being arguably one which produced stories that show a pronounced zeal for life, and the latter being characterized by notably darker themes. Worth noting is that the latter period includes all of his work that is linked to the literature related to madness, or horror, and was a direct influence to later writers of that genre, like Arthur Machen and H.P.Lovecraft. Among his more established admirers was his contemporary german philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who had expressed the view that Maupassant was arguably a great psychologist.

Maupassant wrote a number of stories centered on the Franco-Prussian war. Almost all have french protagonists, one at least has a german protagonist (The adventure of Walter Schnaffs), and there are many german antagonists to be found. The german soldiers, and more often their higher ranking officers, are being portrayed as being mostly brutal against the french people who they now occupy. In one story a german member of the prussian army challenges a french man to a duel, after repeatedly trying to humiliate him. In another a french woman takes her revenge on the german officers who used her for sexual ends, by claiming to have spread sexually transmited diseases. She is of the view that she should be ranked as a better fighter for France than many of her countrymen, since in this way she caused the demise of more germans.

Other stories have the war as their background, but focus on different issues, such as the small story titled "Two little soldiers".

I respect the work of De Maupassant highly. He is one of my favorite writers. In my view he managed to capture a potent image of what brutal war is about. It could be argued that his own testament, as a veteran of that war, along with his ability to weave a striking narrative, makes his reflection on images from that war of importance which could even trancend the realm of letters. While De Maupassant was not a historian, he was nonetheless a man of intelligence and acute perception. His works related to the war do not seem to be centered on any direct will to portray a caricature of the germans; they are arguably mostly focused on causing emotions and thought, as any interesting work of literature, no matter its relation to specific historic events, should have as an end.
And while it would be uncharacteristic to seek to study the historic event of that war mostly through the literary recollections of it, i think it can be said that the latter can be of use as a complimentary reading, moreso when they are produced by such well-established writers, by people of that period, and, finally, members of one of the armies which took part in the war itself.

He served in French Navy though, which saw very little action during the war.

Originally Posted by hellheaven1987

He served in French Navy though, which saw very little action during the war.

I don't think that necessarily makes him unqualified for writing these novels as a person who, if not directly witnessing the war, was certainly observant of its aftermath.

The bit about spreading sexually transmitted diseases seems rather risque for 19th-century standards of literature, but this is a Frenchman we're talking about. Short of getting real justice for such a crime, I suppose that's the only way a raped woman can find solace: that her abusers will soon be dead or suffering too.

Originally Posted by Roma_Victrix

I don't think that necessarily makes him unqualified for writing these novels as a person who, if not directly witnessing the war, was certainly observant of its aftermath.

I was not implying he was unqualified, but rather point out similar type of "patriotic" stories were rampaged in France after the war, most were created for propaganda purpose despite France was the one who started that war.

^Is that certain? Afaik he volunteered to be in the new army formed after the collapse of the regular army and the charade at Metz. I haven't read that he was in the navy (which indeed played next to no role after the original dismissal of the plan to invade from the Baltic).

The navy formed infantry divisions with its personal during the war. They fought and notably at Bazeilles iirc. I don't know if maupassant was a part of those troops though.

Ok i will correct myself. At bazeilles it was the infantrie de marine, not the sailors. But they formed infantry divisions too.

^His stories are hardly that, though. Indeed there were some writers who made a short-lived career by writing about the war and expressing the will for France to get back the lost areas and so on, but Maupassant is not just any writer. His work is worth looking into, in my view