Guy de Maupassant was born on 5 August 1850 in Tourville-sur-Arques. A French writer, Maupassant is considered one of the masters of the short story and a leading figure of naturalism. A protege of Gustave Flaubert, he made his name with Boule de Suif in 1880 and went on to write about three hundred short stories, as well as novels such as Bel-Ami and Une Vie. His spare, ironic tales depict peasants, soldiers, clerks and prostitutes in the Franco-Prussian War and in Normandy and Paris society. He suffered from syphilis, which led to mental deterioration, and he was committed to an asylum in Paris in 1892.
Before and after
- 3 January 1850Birth of Sofia Kovalevskaya
- 7 March 1850Birth of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk
- 6 June 1850Birth of Karl Ferdinand Braun
- 9 July 1850Death of Zachary Taylor
- 5 August 1850Birth of Guy de Maupassant
- 18 August 1850Death of Honoré de Balzac
- 13 November 1850Birth of Robert Louis Stevenson
- 1851Construction of The Crystal Palace
- 1851Fizeau experiment
More in Art, literature & culture
- 1792Publication of Dream of the Red Chamber
- 5 May 1821Founding of The Guardian
- 7 April 1837Publication of The Little Mermaid
- 21 February 1848Publication of The Communist Manifesto
- 18 September 1851Founding of The New York Times
- 1857Rise of Symbolism
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.