Short Stories Of The Nineteenth Century - 1266 Words

Short stories of the nineteenth century are synonymous with Guy de Maupassant who is a master of irony, plot twists and satire. He is still considered to be one of the greatest short-story writers of all time and a champion of the realist approach to writing. Maupassant was born in Normandy, near Dieppe, on 5th August, 1850, to well-off parents who, however, didn’t get along well and eventually separated in 1863. The separation of his parents caused Maupassant to receive two very different kinds of upbringings. His debauched father, Gustave de Maupassant, saw no trouble in engaging his son in a similar life of titillation whereas his mother, Laure Le Poitevin, introduced him to English and Italian literary classics. He received his early education from his mother and later at a Lyceum. He began studying law in Paris at the age of nineteen which was cut short by the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, when he enrolled in the army. After his discharge and a period of unrest, Maupassant finally settled down with a stable job in Civil Service in Paris in 1872. The ennui of his work was comforted by outdoor activities that include excursions in the countryside, canoe trips down the Seine, and even by women, often prostitutes. The first stage symptoms of syphilis appeared in 1877 and it would eventually kill him within the next fifteen years. The elements of his upbringing, like the countryside, people and traditions are often characterized in his storytelling. His stories, thoughShow MoreRelated Nineteenth Century Short Stories and the Gothic Genre Essay808 Words   |  4 PagesNineteenth Century Short Stories and the Gothic Genre The three short stories that I have chosen to compare and contrast are: The Signalman by Charles Dickens, An Arrest by Ambrose Bearcy and Napoleon and the Spectre by Charlotte Brontà «. All these stories were completed by the mid to late eighteenth hundreds. The Signalman is set by a railway in Britain, along a lonely stretch of a railway line in a steep cutting. An Arrest is set in America and for the most part in a forest. NapoleonRead MoreThe Unique Style Of Kate Chopin s Writing1603 Words   |  7 Pagesexperiences in St. Louis, New Orleans; she wrote short stories, novels and so on. â€Å"At Fault† was Chopin’s very first novel, a book about a religious widow in love with a divorced man, which was not typical in the nineteenth century. Kate Chopin was a daring writer, she wrote many controversial stories and books about women freedom, sex, and extramarital affairs. For example, Chopin wrote short stories and books like â€Å"The Awakening† â€Å"The storm† etc. These stories were very sexual and unconventional forRead MoreLiterary Analysis Of The Yellow Wallpaper1512 Words   |  7 Pagesthe story, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper†; a short story that addresses the sensitive topic of inequality between men and women during the nineteenth century. The courageous feminist discusses an issue that many were afraid to talk about, the inhuman e treatment of women diagnosed with hysteria. She was the voice for the helpless women who didn’t know how to speak up during this revolting oppression. Gilman created the striking novel by using powerful images to speak up against the injustice. The short storyRead MoreSocial Injustice In The Story Of An Hour1181 Words   |  5 PagesThe Impact of the Social Injustices in â€Å"The Story of an Hour† Paulina Wright Davis, a women’s rights reformer in the nineteenth century, once said â€Å"we believe that a woman’s enforced inferiority in the marriage relation, not only wrongs her out of the best uses of her existence, but also cheats her master of the richest and noblest blessings of the nuptial union† (qtd. in Wayne, â€Å"Women Reformers†). This is what women, like Mrs. Mallard, dealt with during their lifetime. Much of what happened duringRead MoreEssay on Hearts of Darkness: Post Colonialism850 Words   |  4 PagesMost of the story takes place in the Congo which is now known as the Republic of the Congo. Heart of Darkness was essentially a transitional novel between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. During the nineteenth century certain concepts in the story were considered unthinkable such as cannibalism. The cultural relativism (which basically says that right and wrong are culture-specific) was a strong sensibility during the ninetee nth century which is why it was addressed in this story. ModernRead MoreEssay about Kate Chopin Short Stories1663 Words   |  7 Pagessocially conservative nineteenth-century, but in her stories, she wrote about unconventional characters, particularly women, that caused others to question her morality. Similar to the female characters in her stories, Kate Chopin was an independent woman. She would often smoke cigarettes or walk in the streets unaccompanied; these practices were considered unusual for a nineteenth-century woman to do (Katherine Chopin). One critic points out that many of Chopins stories are characteristic ofRead More The Movement for Womens Rights Inside The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman1634 Words   |  7 PagesThe Movement for Womens Rights Inside The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Women have been mistreated, enchained and dominated by men for most part of the human history. Until the second half of the twentieth century, there was great inequality between the social and economic conditions of men and women (Pearson Education). The battle for womens emancipation, however, had started in 1848 by the first womens rights convention, which was led by some remarkable and brave womenRead MoreEdgar Allan Poe s Writing Style1071 Words   |  5 Pages Poe died at the young age of 40 in 1849. Poe was one of the first writers to use short stories as a serious literary style. Most readers are unaware of the vast symbolism in Poe’s writing, but do enjoy the tonality and imagery he creates. Attention to detail and imagination allowed Edgar Allan Poe to influence a new style of writing in the nineteenth-century, and create some of the finest fictional horror stories which gained him recognition, although mostly after his death. Edgar Allan Poe’s writingRead MoreA Critical Analysis Of The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman1051 Words   |  5 Pagesleading author of women’s issues. Charlotte Perkins Gilman s relating to views of women s rights and her demands for economic and social reform of gender inequities are very famous for the foundations of American society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In critics Gilman ignored by people of color in the United States and attitudes towards non-northern European immigrants (Ceplair, non-fiction, 7). â€Å"Gilman developed controversial conception of womanhood†, by Deborah M. De SimoneRead MoreFor centuries man has been considered to be the dominate species. Writings throughout history1100 Words   |  5 Pages For centuries man has been considered to be the dominate species. Writings throughout history adumbrate that women are habitually invariably subordinate. Throughout the nineteenth century, wome n were severely oppressed, repressed, and suppressed by society. Men influenced repression of women’s ideas because it was believed it did not count and held no value; an abundant amount of women unfortunately agreed. An extensive amount of women were uneducated, and subsequently this greatly