登陆注册
5251700000003

第3章 GUY DE MAUPASSANT(3)

Among the theories of the anatomist of "Madame Bovary," there are two which appear without ceasing in his Correspondence, under one form or another, and these are the ones which are most strongly evident in the art of De Maupassant. We now see the consequences which were inevitable by reason of them, endowed as Maupassant was with a double power of feeling life bitterly, and at the same time with so much of animal force. The first theory bears upon the choice of personages and the story of the romance, the second upon the character of the style. The son of a physician, and brought up in the rigors of scientific method, Flaubert believed this method to be efficacious in art as in science. For instance, in the writing of a romance, he seemed to be as scientific as in the development of a history of customs, in which the essential is absolute exactness and local color. He therefore naturally wished to make the most scrupulous and detailed observation of the environment.

Thus is explained the immense labor in preparation which his stories cost him--the story of "Madame Bovary," of "The Sentimental Education," and "Bouvard and Pecuchet," documents containing as much minutiae as his historical stories. Beyond everything he tried to select details that were eminently significant. Consequently he was of the opinion that the romance writer should discard all that lessened this significance, that is, extraordinary events and singular heroes. The exceptional personage, it seemed to him, should be suppressed, as should also high dramatic incident, since, produced by causes less general, these have a range more restricted. The truly scientific romance writer, proposing to paint a certain class, will attain his end more effectively if he incarnate personages of the middle order, and, consequently, paint traits common to that class. And not only middle-class traits, but middle-class adventures.

From this point of view, examine the three great romances of the Master from Rouen, and you will see that he has not lost sight of this first and greatest principle of his art, any more than he has of the second, which was that these documents should be drawn up in prose of absolutely perfect technique. We know with what passionate care he worked at his phrases, and how indefatigably he changed them over and over again. Thus he satisfied that instinct of beauty which was born of his romantic soul, while he gratified the demand of truth which inhered from his scientific training by his minute and scrupulous exactness.

The theory of the mean of truth on one side, as the foundation of the subject,--"the humble truth," as he termed it at the beginning of "Une Vie,"--and of the agonizing of beauty on the other side, in composition, determines the whole use that Maupassant made of his literary gifts. It helped to make more intense and more systematic that dainty yet dangerous pessimism which in him was innate. The mid- dle-class personage, in wearisome society like ours, is always a caricature, and the happenings are nearly always vulgar. When one studies a great number of them, one finishes by looking at humanity from the angle of disgust and despair. The philosophy of the romances and novels of De Maupassant is so continuously and profoundly surprising that one becomes overwhelmed by it. It reaches limitation; it seems to deny that man is susceptible to grandeur, or that motives of a superior order can uplift and ennoble the soul, but it does so with a sorrow that is profound. All that portion of the sentimental and moral world which in itself is the highest remains closed to it.

同类推荐
  • 题袁溪张逸人所居

    题袁溪张逸人所居

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 静春堂集

    静春堂集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说普法义经

    佛说普法义经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 浮生六记

    浮生六记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Glossary

    Glossary

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 天文地理奥秘

    天文地理奥秘

    本书是专门开拓青少年科学视野,提髙科学素养的图书。本书以最新的科孥进展为基础,用科学的思维方法去探究、解说神奇的自然现象。让青少年沉醉于神奇、瑰丽的大千世界之中,感受料学技术的强大威力,从而启迪智慧,丰富想象,激发创造,培养青少年热爱科学、献身科学的决心,以及热爱人类、保护环境的爱心。
  • 影响孩子一生的42个探险故事

    影响孩子一生的42个探险故事

    本书向大家展示了一系列惊心动魄的探险故事,同时也向读者打开了一扇扇新的探索大门。
  • 天作之合,总裁疼妻入骨

    天作之合,总裁疼妻入骨

    酒是个好东西,可酒有时候特别的坏。比如,一觉醒来失身了,比如,睡的人还是未婚夫的叔叔。婚礼上,她依旧是沈太太,只是这个沈太太却已经不是她想要的那个沈太太。沈钰悲痛欲绝的问她:顾云兮这就你拒绝我的理由吗?顾云兮你宁愿嫁给他都不愿意和我在一起吗?沈默笑着将不知所措的小妻子搂入怀中:年轻人要懂礼貌,你婶婶的名字,只能我叫。
  • 谁赶走了优秀员工

    谁赶走了优秀员工

    系统地阐述了如何防止企业优秀员工流失的途径及方法,从多个方面详细介绍了环境留人、待遇留人、工作留人、制度留人、情感留人等方面的知识。深入剖析了企业人力资源管理的误区,提供了有针对性的解决方案;帮助广大企业管理者了解留住人才的各种途径及具体操作技巧,以便最大限度地激发员工的积极性,打造一支稳定、团结、向上的职业化的高效团队,为企业的快速健康发展提供人才支持与智力保障。
  • 芙蓉晓妆乱君心

    芙蓉晓妆乱君心

    她是将军府的庶出之女,自幼戏逐于山野林间,与拥有无上荣华却兀自寂寥的太子妃姐姐相比,她只求愿得一人心,白首不相离。奈何命运弄人,温柔体贴的皇子,韬略出众的异邦首领,名满天下的富商,独为她倾倒,芙蓉晓妆,雅若诗画,玉珠散落,飞花溅泪,离奇的身世和经历诡谲莫测,而在历经百般折磨之后,她才发现,潜伏在自己身边最大的阴谋,原来竟是……
  • 美白养颜食谱

    美白养颜食谱

    食物是女性最好的美容保健师,吃对了食物,由内而外全面调养,凝脂般的白嫩肌肤指日可待。
  • 一世诺

    一世诺

    那一年,大火映红了洛阳城的半边天。她跌跌撞撞地走出城去。从此,亲不是亲,仇不是仇。归来时一身青衣满目冷,九载磨砺,早已不知霜寒风苦。她躲得过刀枪剑戟,躲得过人心如毒。却到底,没能躲过人群里那远远的一眼望。一逃再逃,她终是决意来到他身边。相视一笑,前路再多艰辛,身后再多阻碍,皆如浮云不遮眼。但使郎心不负,此身此心不移!这一诺,便是一世。
  • 终极妖孽狂少

    终极妖孽狂少

    他是魔,是神,是风,是雨,是雷,是电,是人族老祖宗。
  • 江山谋:锦墨玄书

    江山谋:锦墨玄书

    他,容墨,当今宰相的二公子,沉稳内敛她,苏锦,前朝将军的遗女,复南派的二小姐,矜贵聪慧。一次看似偶然的相遇让他和她从此纠缠一生。一张神秘难懂的千山图有何玄机?一本人人求而不得的玄书又有何惊天力量?总是戴着银色面具出现的男子背后是什么身份?无涯苏玉和翩翩佳公子喻苏是什么关系?这些非同寻常的人物在一起会发生什么样的事情?谁都不知道原来看似无欲无求对什么都是无所谓的人也有着想要倾覆天下的想法,平常的淡淡然只是不屑一顾;虽从小丧失亲父但却有一个待之如亲女的男人疼爱的女孩,多情敏感,对待感情很理智不将就清楚地知道自己需要什么并且敢于追求,她最后又能否得到自己想要的幸福?世间安得双全法,不负江山不负卿……
  • 川菜菜谱

    川菜菜谱

    本书主要讲述了肉菜类、水产类 、豆蛋类、 素菜类 、果品类 、汤羹类 、凉菜类各类才的做法,