Pyshka. Life. Dear friend.

The collection includes the short story "Pyshka" (1880) translated by Alexei Nikolaevich Maslov (literary pseudonym A. Bezhetsky) (1852-1922) and the novels "Life" (1883) translated by Alexandra Nikolaevna Chebotarevskaya (1870-1925) and "Sweet Friend" (1885) translated by Anastasia Nikolaevna Chebotarevskaya (1877-1921). The book is illustrated with drawings by French artists Pierre-Georges Jeanniot (1848-1934), Jules Marie Auguste Leroux (1871-1954), and Ferdinand Buck (1859-1952). Henri-René-Albert-Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), better known as Guy de Maupassant, once said: "I entered literature like a meteor and will disappear like lightning." Indeed, the first work of the writer, the short story "Puffin", appeared in print when the author was already over thirty, and hardly anyone, even the closest people, expected from an official of the Maritime Ministry of such a powerful and confident debut, the work of Maupassant immediately enthusiastically talked in the highest circles of the literary elite of the time. And all the next thirteen years of his writing activity (alas, only thirteen) Maupassant continued to amaze the reading public - not only the power of his works, but also amazing efficiency: in 1885 alone, he wrote one and a half thousand printed pages of prose fiction, not counting essays and feuilletons! And his untimely sunset was just as sudden and bright ... Maupassant entered the history of literature as the largest French novelist, a master of the story with an unexpected ending, a very prolific writer, whose works were actively discussed around the world, the author of at least twenty collections of short prose and six novels. His talent was admired by Friedrich Nietzsche, Ivan Turgenev and Leo Tolstoy, and O. Henry, Somerset Maugham and Ivan Bunin learned the art of short prose from him. This collection opens the debut novel of the writer "Pyshka" (1880), narrating the events of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, in which Maupassant participated as a simple private. The novella was published in the collection "Medan Evenings" among the works of other veteran authors, but immediately attracted worldwide attention and put Maupassant among the first writers of France. Gustave Flaubert, a close friend and mentor of the writer, called it a masterpiece. His first novel "Life" (1883) Maupassant created for six years, carefully working on each chapter. The novel caused a stir among readers, Leo Tolstoy considered "Life" "excellent novel, not only incomparably the best novel Maupassant, but hardly the best French novel after" Les Misérables " Hugo. Concludes the collection of the second and perhaps the most famous novel Maupassant - "Dear Friend" (1885), painting before the reader a vivid picture of social and political life in Paris 1880-ies. It is he, withstood for four months thirty-seven copies, brought Maupassant world fame. The collection is illustrated with drawings by French artists Pierre Georges Jeanniot (1848-1934), Jules Marie Auguste Leroux (1871-1954) and Ferdinand Baca (1859-1952).