182. My Uncle Jules. Maupassant Story Reintroduced By P S Remesh Chandran

182

My Uncle Jules. Maupassant Story Reintroduced

P. S. Remesh Chandran
 
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Article Title Image 01 By Leroy Skalstad. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Maupassant was a French writer, a keen observer of human nature. The average middle class and the poor families were where he found his characters from. In his stories he described how they suffered, mostly due to ignorance, negligence, ostentation and vanity. His stories opened a new style of story telling and there were soon many writers to follow his path. He is considered the founder of the modern short story and one of the greatest writers of the nineteenth century. 

There were terrible scenes in the house on account of lost buttons and torn trousers.

 
01. Guy de Maupassant In 1888 Foto By Félix Nadar.

The Davranch family consisted of the boy Joseph Davranch, his parents and his two sisters. They were not rich and so suffered to make both ends meet. They accepted no invitations to dinner, for they would have to be returned. They had simple meals, with provisions bought at reduced prices. The sisters made their own gowns. There were terrible scenes in the house on account of lost buttons and torn trousers. The author's words remind us of the terrible poverty among the masses which preceded and caused a blood-thirsty revolution in France, raised the ideal of socialism for the first time in the world, and forever changed the social set up of our world.

How else could poor families send daughters away in marriage?

The only luxury in the family was their trip to church every Sunday. Then they put on their very best dresses and marched on ceremoniously like in procession. The sisters walked in front arm-in-arm and the rest followed behind. This they did to exhibit the sisters. Of course there must have been admirers who watched this Sunday procession without fail and possibly future suitors for the girls among them there too. How else could very poor families send daughters away in marriage?

Dreams centred on an uncle who is making riches abroad.

In the story the boy Joseph Davranch describes the folly that was his Uncle Jules. Joseph's uncle Jules in his very early age spent his money foolishly and soon became a pauper. He was shipped off to the New World that was America- in those days America was everyone’s dream- and letters came telling he was doing well there, making much money and would return rich soon. These letters caused much sensation in the family, were read and reread many times and were shown to all in the neighborhood. 

Hope- that is what sustains the poor.

When we learn an abandoned family member is now making riches abroad and may come home someday, there is a natural tendency among people to forget the treacheries and betrayals he did to them and begin praising him for his eternal love for them. The once-disowned one would become their most endeared one and their favourite among family members. So the Davranch family's negative attitude towards Jules changed and he began to be considered as a saviour of the family. The sisters would be married away and a new house bought in the village, when he comes. Hope- that is what sustains the poor.

The sailor selling oysters to passengers on a steamer, in the Channel.

Time passed on and nothing happened for ten years. Then a clerk married the younger sister and the family decided to make a steamer trip to the English island of Jersey two hours away from their village. In the steamer the parents bought oysters from a ragged seller, and to their horror recognized that the old ragged sailor selling oysters to passengers was their loser Jules. They got bewildered, upset, trembled, their speech stammered, and in a hushed up voice began to talk of him again as a thief and a cheater in the family. Joseph overheard their speech and guessed it was his uncle. The sisters and the son-in-law were not told of the news. It was not sure whether Jules himself had recognized them or not.

Poor relations are always disowned by people.

There is an element of unkindness in human nature which is evident in the character of Joseph's parents. They disown their brother seeing that he has fallen in his financial position. Perhaps they may never again meet anywhere in this world, after this accidental meeting. Perhaps, and most surely, this fellow might have been longing for a family reunion in his fall and yearning for family care and tenderness in his wretchedness. Prosperity, money and riches would have added charm to the relationship, but now the sanguine ties of blood are forgotten. Perhaps crushing poverty may suppress virtues in the poor. 

Children yearn for reviving long-lost relations of the family.

But young Joseph is kind, generous and sympathetic to call the man, ‘His Uncle'. So when he was sent to pay price for the oysters, he paid him a generous tip of half a Franc. But when he went looking for the man for a second time, he was much disappointed and sad to see that his uncle had disappeared into the dirty hold of the steamer. Perhaps Jules might have recognized his brother and his family too, but did not want to trouble them any more. Most certainly he might have been watching his nephew from somewhere hidden, with a broken heart. Maupassant has a habit of palpitating our hearts, constricting our throats and wetting our eyes, through his stories of the poor. So it is impossible here to write anything more on this story. We will wonder why such great stories of the poor evolved from France and England where the immensely rich and the shockingly opulent aristocrats lived- Maupassant, Victor Hugo and Dickens. Then we understand why there was a French Revolution.

Article Title Image 02 By Geralt. Graphics: Adobe SP.

THE LIFE AND WORKS OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT 1850-1893.

The poor man’s story teller was born in a castle.

Maupassant was born in a castle near Dieppe in the Seine district of France on 5 August 1850. His father was Gustave Maupassant and mother Laure Le Poittevin, both from rich families. Maupassant meant ‘mere Maupassant’ and de Maupassant would mean ‘Maupassant of noble birth’. In France, in those times, being born without a title was a disgrace in social circles. So his mother compelled his father to buy the title ‘de’ to be used as family name which he did. He traced an ancestor of his with the same name and moved to obtaining that ennobling title through a decree of the King. So when Guy Maupassant was born, he became Guy de Maupassant. Maupassant had a younger brother, Hervé. 

From boyhood to government service to writing career.

His father later became a very rude and violent person and so his mother parted from his father and taking her two children went to live in the seaside village Villa des Verguies at Étretat. She was a very dignified person well-read in classical literature and was the first inspiration for her eldest son. Maupassant’s education was first at the Institution Leroy-Petit and then higher studies at the Lycée Pierre-Corneille, both in Rouen. He was displeased with the first and finally succeeded in getting expelled from this institution for ‘unreligious beliefs’. At the second he was a success and was introduced to his second greatest inspiration, Gustave Flaubert, by his mother. After graduating in 1870 he joined the Franco-Prussian War in Normandy and in 1871 joined the Department of Navy in France. He served in Paris ten years as a clerk in the Departments of Navy and Public Instruction. It was during this time that he took up writing seriously, wrote several novels and short stories and also served as contributing editor to such leading dailies as Le Figaro, Gil Blas, Le Gaulois and l'Écho de Paris. 

It is a rare writer who manages his finances as well as his writing well.

His first volume of short stories came out in 1881. Since then and till 1891- the most productive years of his literary career- not less than two collections of stories came out every year, sometimes four. His first novel A Woman’s Life came out in 1885 and other novels followed. They were all successes- his novels and his short story collections. They had several print runs every year. Altogether Maupassant wrote around 300 short stories, six novels, three travelogues, and one poetry collection. 

Travelling through countries and keeping to himself was his hobby. He even kept a private yacht for these travels. And he came back from these travels always with new books. Most good writers are bad financial managers but Maupassant was not. He managed his finances well and became richer out of his writings. 

The master story teller who enjoyed creating plots.

From the great number of short stories he produced, it seemed, it was very easy and interesting for him to produce stories. In fact he enjoyed producing plots. Maupassant was a master story teller who enjoyed creating plots. And they all became models for future writers imitating him in style, if not in content. That is why he is considered as the inventor of the modern short story. Writers including Somerset Maugham and O. Henry followed in his footsteps. 

Alexander Dumas loved him as a son. Flaubert was his literary guide. Flaubert was actually the one who inspired him to journalism and writing. The French novelist Émile Zola and the Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev became his friends through Flaubert. He saved the famous poet Charles Swinburne from drowning in sea when Maupassant was only eighteen. Living close to sea must have horned in his seafaring skills. 

The man with many names who opposed the construction of the Eiffel Tower.

The man known as Maupassant, Guy de Maupassant, Guy de Valmont, Maufrigneuse and Joseph Prunier were all one and the same- Henri-René-Albert-Guy de Maupassant. The others were names he was called or pseudonyms he used at various times. He died in Paris on 6 July 1893 at the young age of 42. Maupassant had a younger brother, Hervé. 

Maupassant loved Paris and was against constructing the Eiffel Tower in the heart of the city. He considered it an obscenity marring the beautiful landscape, cityscape and skyline of Paris. Along with others he even petitioned authorities to refrain from constructing this ugly monster. But it was constructed anyway and since then no one was able to avoid seeing this mammoth iron structure looked from anywhere. So, naturally, the coffee shop at its base became Maupassant’s haunt only where could he avoid seeing it from. 

Many a people have wept and laughed reading Maupassant stories.

Maupassant’s stories have fine twists towards their end, like his successor O. Henry's had. In The Diamond Necklace, he ridiculed the vanity and ostentation of women and their lust for wearing costly ornaments. The story conveyed the plain message that no one shall borrow ornaments for wearing in a party; or rather do not go to a party. In My Uncle Jules he portrays how young children yearn for their relations; or rather hate parents for distancing them from their poor relatives. Anyway, his stories end in a tear or a slight laughter. Many a people have wept and laughed reading Maupassant stories. 

Works of Guy de Maupassant.

Short-story collections:
 

Les Soirées de Médan (The Evenings of Medan 1880), La Maison Tellier (The Tellier House 1881), Mademoiselle Fifi (1883), Contes de la Bécasse (Tales of the Woodcock 1883), Miss Harriet (1884), Les Sœurs Rondoli (The Rondoli Sisters 1884), Clair de lune (Moonlight 1884), Yvette (1884), Contes du jour et de la nuit (Tales of the Day and the Night 1885), Monsieur Parent (Mr. Parent 1886), La Petite Roque (The Little Roque 1886), Toine (1886), Le Horla (The Horla 1887), Le Rosier de Madame Husson (The Rose of Madame Husson 1888), La Main gauche (The Left Hand 1889), and L'Inutile Beauté (The Useless Beauty 1890). 

Novels:

Une Vie (One Life 1883), Bel-Ami (1885), Mont-Oriol (1887), Pierre et Jean (Peter and John 1888), Fort comme la mort (Strong as Death 1889), Notre Cœur (Our Heart 1890), and L’Angelus (The Angelus 1910). 

Poetry:

Des Vers (Worms 1880)

Travelogues:

Au soleil (In the Sun 1884), Sur l'eau (On the Water 1888), and La Vie errante (The Wandering Life 1890).

Article Title Image 03 By Free-Photos. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Written in: July 1995  

First published on: 11 December 2019

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Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
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Tags:

English Articles, Economical Living, English Essays, Free Student Notes, French Short Stories, French Writers, Guy De Maupassant, My Uncle Jules, Poor Relatives, Poverty,

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

02. Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

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Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.