An Assessment on Guy de Maupassant’s Storıes: the Example of «Pıerre and Jean» and «Mademoıselle Fıfı»

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Abstract

Event storytelling, which developed by dealing with the events that happened or
could be experienced within the framework of space and time, started to give modern examples in
the second half of the 19th century with the works of Guy de Maupassant. Despite his novels and
other works, Maupassant, who is especially known for his stories, met Emile Zola, Daudet and
Huysman through Flaubert and contributed to the short story tradition of French literature. The
author, who conveys the motifs of the environment he was born and grew up in, has influenced
many writers in Turkish literature, especially Ömer Seyfettin. The combination of place and
character, which forms the basis of event storytelling, comes to the fore in the author's stories. In
addition, this approach of Maupassant, who directed his stories with a pessimistic worldview under
the influence of the German philosopher Schopenhauer, was effective in the analysis of the hero and
was directly reflected in the works of the environment where he was born and grew up.
The aim of this study is to analyze Guy de Maupassant's works named «Pierre and Jean» and
«Mademoiselle Fifi» comparatively within the framework of the story style called event storytelling
in world literature. In the study, these two works, which contain the patterns of Maupassant's
characteristic storytelling, were evaluated by document analysis, one of the data analysis methods in
qualitative research. As a result of the study, character analysis, nature-space relationship and realist
style elements, which are examples of Maupassant's storytelling, were found in the works
discussed.