Sicily (Italica Historical Travel Guides)
Guy de Maupassant (1850-93) wrote  Boule de Suif,  his first short-story masterpiece, in 1880 and read it aloud before publication to a literary group that included Émile Zola, J. K. Huysmans, Henry Céard and a few others. When he finished, the group spontaneously rose to their feet in tribute. This unforgettable story about a French prostitute traveling with an assorted group of bourgeois in the midst of the Franco-Prussian War marks the maturation of a rare literary genius, whose subsequent, intense production over the next ten years was justly accorded national and international acclaim, affirming the admiration of Zola s coterie. The short stories and novels that Maupassant produced before his untimely death at the age of forty-three have earned him a secure niche in French and world literature. The present volume reveals his talent in another genre, which he occasionally took up, the travel memoir.