I promise you guys, I didn't think I'd be reading "Guy De Maupassant" literature again. I initially tried to sieve through authors and pick one I'd like, but I recently decided to review the titles and see which sounds best. Hence, I am reading 'Guy' twice, lol. He is one of the best short stories writers I have come across and I have known this before, but I keep reading more of his stories and it just keeps rekindling that fact. An amazing author.
- Author - Guy De Maupassant
- Title - The Log
- Originally Published - 26 January 1882
- Genre - Fiction, Short Stories
PLOT
This is a really interesting piece of literature. The author narrates the story from the point of view of the protagonist. In the opening scene, he is with an aged woman,; a friend. The both of them were staring into the fire when the protagonist talked about why he doesn't want to get married. This stirred up from a log in the fire, and so he narrates the story to the woman. He had a friend, one to which he was very close. They were so close that one would think they were twins from the same mother. Eventually, this friend of his got married and this seemed to affect the relationship he has with his friend. One night, his friend tells him to keep the company of his wife while he goes away, and then the wife of his friend starts to make advances on him. Then his friend walks in...
CHARACTER(S)
- Monsieur Paul - the protagonist of the story, and his friend
- Julien
And other unnamed characters.
SETTING
The location is unnamed. Only a room is mentioned.
PURPOSE
Interestingly, I can't quite pick out a sort of moral lesson from this,. It is just a nice story.
Guy is such a maestro. I have been reading a number of short stories authored by him and every single time I have been impressed with the content therein. Let's first talk about the impressive use of language. The diction in literature is something I appreciate. I have read a number of works where it is a herculean task to comprehend the message that is being passed. Guy has consistently delighted me with his simple use of diction. This is a very nice story to read. I chuckled. Also, I have been in a similar situation, kind of. A friend of mine with whom I am very close moved off to somewhere else and it felt somewhat crushing, but I got over it eventually. There is a good amount of relateability and it makes for a fun read. I will totally recommend this for anyone to read. I will also rate it a solid 4 out of 5. Great piece.