A Fashionable Woman
The story revolves around a young woman who has been abandoned by her lover and is struggling to maintain her social status. She is determined to keep up appearances and avoid being seen as a fallen woman. The narrative explores themes of vanity, superficiality, and the societal pressures placed on women during this time period.
By Guy de Maupassant · First published 1883 · Genre: Drama, Romance, Social Commentary · 2,694 words
First lines
It can easily be proved that Austria is far richer in talented men in every domain, than North Germany, but while men are systematically drilled there for the vocation which they choose, like the Prussian soldiers are, with us they lack the necessary training, especially technical training, and consequently very few of them get beyond mere diletantism. Leo Wolfram was one of those intellectual diletantes, and the more pleasure one took in his materials and characters, which were usually boldly taken from real life, and in a certain political, and what is still more, in a plastic plot, the more he was obliged to regret that he had never learnt to compose or to mold his characters, or to write; in one word, that he had never become a literary artist, but how greatly he had in himself the materials for a master of narration, his "Dissolving Views," and still more his _Goldkind_,[4] prove.
What this Textopian page supports
A Fashionable Woman is listed on Textopian as a short story by Guy de Maupassant, dated 1883 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: Guy de Maupassant
- Date: 1883 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Drama, Romance, Social Commentary, Psychological Fiction, Tragedy
- Length: 2,694 words
- Structure: 1 section, 23 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for A Fashionable Woman by Guy de Maupassant
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Discussion starters
- What should a reader notice first when entering A Fashionable Woman?
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Similar titles
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- Paz by Honore De Balzac
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Genres
- Drama — The narrative focuses on intense emotional conflicts and complex relationships, typical of dramatic literature.
- Romance — Central to the plot are romantic entanglements and the consequences of love and infidelity.
- Social Commentary — The story critiques societal norms and the behavior of the aristocracy, reflecting on social issues.
- Psychological Fiction — Explores the inner thoughts and motivations of characters, particularly the protagonist's moral dilemmas.
Tags
Realist Fiction · French Literature · 19th Century Novel · Social Commentary · Satire · Comedy of Manners · Upper Class Life · Marriage and Relationships · Love Triangle · Deception and Betrayal · Morality and Ethics · Society's Expectations