From the supplice of tantalo to the wild gluttony

Evocations of the short stories by Guy de Maupassant

Abstract

In Guy de Maupassant’s short stories, descriptions of lunch, dinner, suppers, and picnics unleash fundamental episodes in narratives. They propose, frequently, elements for reflections on the characters, their desires and fears. They also evoke their intentions and their maneuvers to manipulate the other. In addition to the realistic effect intended by the author, as indeed many writers of the second half of the nineteenth century. Everything that happens “at the table”, in the stories of the Norman storyteller, deserves an attentive questioning of the reader. In this article, it is a question of reflecting on the calculation, the duplicity, the constant simulation that guides the customs and the attitudes of peasants, bourgeois and aristocrats from the episodes involving meals. We will covers of different themes, but we will emphasize the texts dedicated to the Franco-Prussian War, from 1870 to 1871.
Keywords: Guy de Maupassant. Meals. Short stories. Descriptions. Franco-Prussian War.