Guy de Maupassant (August 5, 1850 – July 6, 1893) was a French writer considered one of the fathers of the short story.  He wrote over 300 stories as well as six novels, three travel books and a book of poems.  A protégé of Flaubert, he was a naturalist, depicting human life and social forces with an economy of style, clever plots, and surprise denouements. He was born into a prosperous family in Normandy. His mother separated from his father when he was eleven and he lived with his mother in the seaside town of Etretat. The Franco-Prussian War broke out soon after he finished college. He enlisted in 1871 and moved to Paris, where he served as a clerk in the Navy for ten years.  He had been introduced to Flaubert while in junior high, and in Paris Flaubert took him under his wing and guided his literary efforts. Boule de Suif was a huge success upon publication in 1880. He followed with “Deux Amis”, “Mother Savage” and “Mademoiselle Fifi”. He was methodical and prolific, producing two to four collections a year during the 1880’s, and had a practical business acumen that made him a wealthy man.  He avoided the limelight, preferring to travel, often cruising on his yacht, the Bel-Ami.  He later became reclusive and obsessed with self-preservation and a fear of death, likely due to syphilis, which he had contracted in his youth. He was committed to an asylum after a suicide attempt in 1892 and died the following year.