Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (UKˈmoʊpæsɒ̃, USˈmoʊpəsɒnt,_ˌmoʊpəˈsɒ̃; ɡi d(ə) mopasɑ̃; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destinies and social forces in disillusioned and often pessimistic terms.
Maupassant was a protégé of Gustave Flaubert and his stories are characterized by economy of style and efficient, seemingly effortless dénouements. Many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s, describing the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught up in events beyond their control, are permanently changed by their experiences. He wrote 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. His first published story, "Boule de Suif" ("The Dumpling", 1880), is often considered his most famous work.
Henri-René-Albert-Guy de Maupassant, born on 5 August 1850 at the late 16th-century Château de Miromesnil (near Dieppe in the Seine-Inférieure (now Seine-Maritime) department in France), was the first son of Laure Le Poittevin and Gustave de Maupassant, who both came from prosperous bourgeois families. His mother urged her husband when they married in 1846 to obtain the right to use the particule or form "de Maupassant" instead of "Maupassant" as his family name, in order to indicate noble birth. Gustave discovered a certain Jean-Baptiste Maupassant, conseiller-secrétaire to the King, who had been ennobled in 1752. He then obtained from the Tribunal Civil of Rouen by decree dated 9 July 1846 the right to style himself "de Maupassant" instead of "Maupassant", and this was his surname at the birth of his son Guy in 1850.
When Maupassant was 11 and his brother Hervé was five, his mother, an independent-minded woman, risked social disgrace to obtain a legal separation from her husband, who was violent towards her.
After the separation, Laure Le Poittevin kept her two sons.