The literature of Guy de Maupassant, while widely read, has received little in the form of critical study. It may be that Maupassant’s large readership has made it of little interest to critics, in that much of what is considered popular is often considered unworthy of analysis. It may also be that Maupassant has received little attention from critics and academics because his subject matter was considered immoral for so many decades. Regardless of the reason, his lack of attention is seemingly unmerited, considering the scope and clarity of his writing. However, Maupassant’s own talent may be the reason so many critics have turned their backs on his work. Roger Colet, a rare Maupassant scholar and translator, states in his ‘‘Introduction’’ in Selected Short Stories, ‘‘[Maupassant] is the victim, in a sense, of his own perfect art.’’

Although much of his work was banned or condemned for being immoral, this did not slow his popularity. However, it did slow his publication in the United States. It took many decades before anyone was willing to publish his stories of sex, prostitutes, and madness on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Eventually, it became apparent that, at the bare minimum, Maupassant possessed an amazing ability to create characters of great depth and stories of immense clarity, even if the paradoxical protagonist were an immoral, heroic prostitute.