SHORT STORIES of the TRAGEDY AND COMEDY OF LIFE

This was Maupassant's first piece of short fiction and was followed by short stories such as Deux Amis (1882) and Mademoiselle Fifi (1882). He also wrote six short novels. A number of his stories often denote the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught, emerge changed - many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s.

Contents

Mademoiselle Fifi -- An affair of state -- The artist -- The horla -- Miss Harriet -- The hole -- Love -- The inn -- A family -- Bellflower -- Who knows? -- The devil -- Epiphany -- Simon's papa -- Waiter, a "bock" -- The sequel to a divorce -- The mad woman -- In various roles -- The false gems -- Countess Satan -- The colonel's ideas -- Two little soldiers -- Ghosts -- Was it a dream? -- The diary of a madman -- An unfortunate likeness -- A country excursion.