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A Queer Night in Paris
Short story
- GenresShort Stories
Unknown Binding
About the author
Guy de Maupassant
7,566 books3,070 followersHenri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer. He is one of the fathers of the modern short story. A protege of Flaubert, Maupassant's short stories are characterized by their economy of style and their efficient effortless dénouement. He also wrote six short novels. A number of his stories often denote the futility of war and the innocent civilians who get crushed in it - many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s.
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June 10, 2022
Guy de Maupassant's "A Queer Night in Paris" is a short story about the disillusionment of Paris and art.
Short story in short- M. Saval, a notary makes many visits Paris to absorb the culture but this time is quite different.
I read this from a Delphi collection of his works.
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10791
“Oh! yes, a genuine artist,” laying particular stress on the word “genuine.” Every time that a new work was interpreted at a big Parisian theatre M. Saval paid a visit to the capital.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10793
Now, last year, according to his custom, he went to hear Henri VIII. He then took the express which arrives in Paris at 4:30 P.M., intending to return by the 12:35 A.M. train, so as not to have to sleep at a hotel. He had put on evening dress, a black coat and white tie, which he concealed under his overcoat with the collar turned up. As soon as he set foot on the Rue d’Amsterdam, he felt himself in quite jovial mood. He said to himself:
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10796
“Decidedly, the air of Paris does not resemble any other air. It has in it something indescribably stimulating, exciting, intoxicating, which fills you with a strange longing to dance about and to do many other things. As soon as I arrive here, it seems to me, all of a sudden, that I have taken a bottle of champagne. What a life one can lead in this city in the midst of artists! Happy are the elect, the great men who make themselves a reputation in such a city! What an existence is theirs!”
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert ❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
A notary from the country comes to Paris to see the latest play so he can impress his friends at home, who see him as an artist of sorts. He decides to go to a cafe to see if he might absorb and learn from the artists themselves. He finds a painter who invites him to his party but the notary soon finds out later that he is used and made fun of, waking with am extreme hangover and without clothes. He is able to finally go home but painters have a bitter taste for him.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10800
And he made plans; he would have liked to know some of these celebrated men, to talk about them in Vernon, and to spend an evening with them from time to time in Paris. But suddenly an idea struck him. He had heard allusions to little cafes in the outer boulevards at which well-known painters, men of letters, and even musicians gathered, and he proceeded to go up to Montmartre at a slow pace. He had two hours before him. He wanted to look about him. He
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10804
passed in front of taverns frequented by belated bohemians, gazing at the different faces, seeking to discover the artists.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10809
A tall young man soon came in and took a seat beside him. The landlady called him M. “Romantin.” The notary quivered. Was this the Romantin who had taken a medal at the last Salon? The young man made a sign to the waiter.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10811
“You will bring up my dinner at once, and then carry to my new studio, 15 Boulevard de Clichy, thirty bottles of beer, and the ham I ordered this morning. We are going to have a housewarming.” M. Saval immediately ordered dinner. Then, he took off his overcoat, so that his dress suit and his white tie could be seen. His neighbor did not seem to notice him. He had taken up a newspaper, and was reading it. M. Saval glanced sideways at him, burning with the desire to speak to him.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10822
M. Saval could not restrain himself any longer, and in a hesitating voice said: “I beg your pardon for intruding on you, monsieur, but I heard your name mentioned, and I would be
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10824
very glad to know if you really are M. Romantin, whose work in the last Salon I have so much admired?” The painter answered: “I am the very person, monsieur.” The notary then paid the artist a very well-turned compliment, showing that he was a man of culture. The painter, gratified, thanked him politely in reply.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10830
“It would be an extraordinary piece of good fortune for a stranger to meet at one time so many celebrities assembled in the studio of an artist of your rank.” Romantin, vanquished, replied: “If it would be agreeable to you, come.” M. Saval accepted the invitation with enthusiasm, reflecting:
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10833
“I shall have time enough to see Henri VIII.” Both of them had finished their meal. The notary insisted on paying the two bills, wishing to repay his neighbor’s civilities. He also paid for the drinks of the young fellows in red velvet; then he left the establishment with the painter. They stopped in front of a very long, low house, the first story having the appearance of an interminable conservatory. Six studios stood in a row with their fronts facing the boulevards.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10837
Romantin was the first to enter, and, ascending the stairs, he opened a door, and lighted a match and then a candle. They found themselves in an immense apartment, the furniture of which consisted of three chairs, two easels, and a few sketches standing on the ground along the walls. M. Saval remained standing at the door somewhat astonished. The painter remarked: “Here you are! we’ve got to the spot; but everything has yet to be done.”
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10841
Then, examining the high, bare apartment, its ceiling disappearing in the darkness, he said: “We might make a great deal out of this studio.” He walked round it, surveying it with the utmost attention, then went on: “I know someone who might easily give a helping hand. Women are incomparable for hanging drapery. But I sent her to the country for to-day in order to get her off my hands this evening. It is not that she bores me, but she is too much lacking in
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10845
the ways of good society. It would be embarrassing to my guests.” He reflected for a few seconds, and then added: “She is a good girl, but not easy to deal with. If she knew that I was holding a reception, she would tear out my eyes.” M. Saval had not even moved; he did not understand. The artist came over to him. “Since I have invited you, you will assist ma about something.” The notary said emphatically:
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10850
“Make any use of me you please. I am at your disposal.” Romantin took off his jacket. “Well, citizen, to work!’ We are first going to clean up.” He went to the back of the easel, on which there was a canvas representing a cat, and seized a very worn-out broom. “I say! Just brush up while I look after the lighting.” M. Saval took the broom, inspected it, and then began to sweep the floor very awkwardly, raising a whirlwind of dust.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10855
Romantin, disgusted, stopped him: “Deuce take it! you don’t know how to sweep the floor! Look at me!” And he began to roll before him a heap of grayish sweepings, as if he had done nothing else all his life. Then, he gave bark the broom to the notary, who imitated him. In five minutes, such a cloud of dust filled the studio that Rormantin asked: “Where are you? I can’t see you any longer.” M. Saval, who was coughing, came near to him. The painter said:
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10860
“How would you set about making a chandelier?” The other, surprised, asked: “What chandelier?” “Why, a chandelier to light the room — a chandelier with wax-candles.” The notary did not understand. He answered: “I don’t know.” The painter began to jump about, cracking his fingers. “Well, monseigneur, I have found out a way.” Then he went on more calmly:
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10865
“Have you got five francs about you?” M. Saval replied: “Why, yes.” The artist said: “Well! you’ll go out and buy for me five francs’ worth of wax-candles while I go and see the cooper.” And he pushed the notary in his evening coat into the street.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10876
The door was opened brusquely. A woman appeared, her eyes flashing, and remained standing on the threshold. Romantin gazed at her with a look of terror. She waited some seconds, crossing her arms over her breast, and
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10878
then in a shrill, vibrating, exasperated voice said: “Ha! you dirty scoundrel, is this the way you leave me?” Romantin made no reply. She went on: “Ha! you scoundrel! You did a nice thing in parking me off to the country. You’ll soon see the way I’ll settle your jollification. Yes, I’m going to receive your friends.” She grew warmer. “I’m going to slap their faces with the bottles and the wax-candles — — “
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10883
Romantin said in a soft tone: “Mathilde — — “ But she did not pay any attention to him; she went on: “Wait a little, my fine fellow! wait a little!” Romantin went over to her, and tried to take her by the hands. “Mathilde — — “ But she was now fairly under way; and on she went, emptying the vials of her wrath with strong words and reproaches. They flowed out of her mouth like, a stream sweeping a heap of filth along with it. The
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10888
words pouring forth seemed struggling for exit. She stuttered, stammered, yelled, suddenly recovering her voice to cast forth an insult or a curse. He seized her hands without her having noticed it. She did not seem to see anything, so taken up was she in scolding and relieving her feelings. And suddenly she began to weep. The tears flowed from her eyes, but this did not stop her complaints. But her words were uttered in a screaming falsetto voice with tears in it and interrupted by
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10891
sobs. She commenced afresh twice or three times, till she stopped as if something were choking her, and at last she ceased with a regular flood of tears. Then he clasped her in his arms and kissed her hair, affected himself. “Mathilde, my little Mathilde, listen. You must be reasonable. You know, if I give a supper-party to my friends, it is to thank these gentlemen for the medal I got at the Salon. I cannot receive women. You ought to understand that. It is not
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10895
the same with artists as with other people.” She stammered, in the midst of her tears: “Why didn’t you tell me this?” He replied: “It was in order not to annoy you, not to give you pain. Listen, I’m going to see you home. You will be very sensible, very nice; you will remain quietly waiting for me in bed, and I’ll come back as soon as it’s over.” She murmured:
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10900
“Yes, but you will not begin over again?” “No, I swear to you!” He turned towards M. Saval, who had at last hooked on the chandelier: “My dear friend, I am coming back in five minutes. If anyone arrives in my absence, do the honors for me, will you not?” And he carried off Mathilde, who kept drying her eyes with her handkerchief as she went along. Left to himself, M. Saval succeeded in putting everything
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10904
around him in order. Then he lighted the wax-candles, and waited. He waited for a quarter of an hour, half an hour, an hour. Romantin did not return. Then, suddenly there was a dreadful noise on the stairs, a song shouted out in chorus by twenty mouths and a regular march like that of a Prussian regiment.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10916
A tall young fellow, fair-haired and bearded to the nose, interrupted him: “What’s your name, my friend?”
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10917
The notary, quite scared, said: “I am M. Saval.” A voice exclaimed: “You mean Baptiste.” A woman said: “Let the poor waiter alone! You’ll end by making him get angry. He’s paid to wait on us, and not to be laughed at by us.” Then, M. Saval noticed that each guest had brought his own provisions. One held a bottle of wine, and the other a pie. This one had a loaf of bread, and one a ham.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10922
The tall, fair young fellow placed in his hands an enormous sausage, and gave orders: “Here, go and arrange the sideboard in the corner over there. Put the bottles at the left and the provisions at the right.” Saval, getting quite distracted, exclaimed: “But, messieurs, I am a notary!” There was a moment’s silence and then a wild outburst of laughter. One suspicious gentleman asked: “How came you to be here?”
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10927
He explained, telling about his project of going to the opera, his departure from Vernon, his arrival in Paris, and the way in which he had spent the evening. They sat around him to listen to him; they greeted him with words of applause, and called him Scheherazade. Romantin did not return. Other guests arrived. M. Saval was presented to them so that he might begin his story over again. He declined; they forced him to relate it. They seated and tied him on
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10930
one of three chairs between two women who kept constantly filling his glass. He drank; he laughed; he talked; he sang, too. He tried to waltz with his chair, and fell on the ground. From that moment, he forgot everything. It seemed to him, however, that they undressed him, put him to bed, and that he was nauseated. When he awoke, it was broad daylight, and he lay stretched with his feet against a cupboard, in a strange bed.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10934
An old woman with a broom in her hand was glaring angrily at him. At last, she said: “Clear out, you blackguard! Clear out! What right has anyone to get drunk like this?” He sat up in bed, feeling very ill at ease. He asked: “Where am I?” “Where are you, you dirty scamp? You are drunk. Take your rotten carcass out of here as quick as you can — and lose no time about it!” He wanted to get up. He found that he was in no condition to do
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10939
so. His clothes had disappeared. He blurted out: “Madame, I —— Then he remembered. What was he to do? He asked: “Did Monsieur Romantin come back?” The doorkeeper shouted: “Will you take your dirty carcass out of this, so that he at any rate may not catch you here?” M. Saval said, in a state of confusion: “I haven’t got my clothes; they have been taken away from me.”
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10944
He had to wait, to explain his situation, give notice to his friends, and borrow some money to buy clothes. He did not leave Paris till evening. And when people talk about music to him in his beautiful drawing-room in Vernon, he declares with an air of authority that painting is a very inferior art.
Short story in short- M. Saval, a notary makes many visits Paris to absorb the culture but this time is quite different.
I read this from a Delphi collection of his works.
➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10791
“Oh! yes, a genuine artist,” laying particular stress on the word “genuine.” Every time that a new work was interpreted at a big Parisian theatre M. Saval paid a visit to the capital.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10793
Now, last year, according to his custom, he went to hear Henri VIII. He then took the express which arrives in Paris at 4:30 P.M., intending to return by the 12:35 A.M. train, so as not to have to sleep at a hotel. He had put on evening dress, a black coat and white tie, which he concealed under his overcoat with the collar turned up. As soon as he set foot on the Rue d’Amsterdam, he felt himself in quite jovial mood. He said to himself:
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10796
“Decidedly, the air of Paris does not resemble any other air. It has in it something indescribably stimulating, exciting, intoxicating, which fills you with a strange longing to dance about and to do many other things. As soon as I arrive here, it seems to me, all of a sudden, that I have taken a bottle of champagne. What a life one can lead in this city in the midst of artists! Happy are the elect, the great men who make themselves a reputation in such a city! What an existence is theirs!”
❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌spoiler alert ❌❌❌❌❌❌❌
A notary from the country comes to Paris to see the latest play so he can impress his friends at home, who see him as an artist of sorts. He decides to go to a cafe to see if he might absorb and learn from the artists themselves. He finds a painter who invites him to his party but the notary soon finds out later that he is used and made fun of, waking with am extreme hangover and without clothes. He is able to finally go home but painters have a bitter taste for him.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10800
And he made plans; he would have liked to know some of these celebrated men, to talk about them in Vernon, and to spend an evening with them from time to time in Paris. But suddenly an idea struck him. He had heard allusions to little cafes in the outer boulevards at which well-known painters, men of letters, and even musicians gathered, and he proceeded to go up to Montmartre at a slow pace. He had two hours before him. He wanted to look about him. He
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10804
passed in front of taverns frequented by belated bohemians, gazing at the different faces, seeking to discover the artists.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10809
A tall young man soon came in and took a seat beside him. The landlady called him M. “Romantin.” The notary quivered. Was this the Romantin who had taken a medal at the last Salon? The young man made a sign to the waiter.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10811
“You will bring up my dinner at once, and then carry to my new studio, 15 Boulevard de Clichy, thirty bottles of beer, and the ham I ordered this morning. We are going to have a housewarming.” M. Saval immediately ordered dinner. Then, he took off his overcoat, so that his dress suit and his white tie could be seen. His neighbor did not seem to notice him. He had taken up a newspaper, and was reading it. M. Saval glanced sideways at him, burning with the desire to speak to him.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10822
M. Saval could not restrain himself any longer, and in a hesitating voice said: “I beg your pardon for intruding on you, monsieur, but I heard your name mentioned, and I would be
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10824
very glad to know if you really are M. Romantin, whose work in the last Salon I have so much admired?” The painter answered: “I am the very person, monsieur.” The notary then paid the artist a very well-turned compliment, showing that he was a man of culture. The painter, gratified, thanked him politely in reply.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10830
“It would be an extraordinary piece of good fortune for a stranger to meet at one time so many celebrities assembled in the studio of an artist of your rank.” Romantin, vanquished, replied: “If it would be agreeable to you, come.” M. Saval accepted the invitation with enthusiasm, reflecting:
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10833
“I shall have time enough to see Henri VIII.” Both of them had finished their meal. The notary insisted on paying the two bills, wishing to repay his neighbor’s civilities. He also paid for the drinks of the young fellows in red velvet; then he left the establishment with the painter. They stopped in front of a very long, low house, the first story having the appearance of an interminable conservatory. Six studios stood in a row with their fronts facing the boulevards.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10837
Romantin was the first to enter, and, ascending the stairs, he opened a door, and lighted a match and then a candle. They found themselves in an immense apartment, the furniture of which consisted of three chairs, two easels, and a few sketches standing on the ground along the walls. M. Saval remained standing at the door somewhat astonished. The painter remarked: “Here you are! we’ve got to the spot; but everything has yet to be done.”
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10841
Then, examining the high, bare apartment, its ceiling disappearing in the darkness, he said: “We might make a great deal out of this studio.” He walked round it, surveying it with the utmost attention, then went on: “I know someone who might easily give a helping hand. Women are incomparable for hanging drapery. But I sent her to the country for to-day in order to get her off my hands this evening. It is not that she bores me, but she is too much lacking in
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10845
the ways of good society. It would be embarrassing to my guests.” He reflected for a few seconds, and then added: “She is a good girl, but not easy to deal with. If she knew that I was holding a reception, she would tear out my eyes.” M. Saval had not even moved; he did not understand. The artist came over to him. “Since I have invited you, you will assist ma about something.” The notary said emphatically:
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10850
“Make any use of me you please. I am at your disposal.” Romantin took off his jacket. “Well, citizen, to work!’ We are first going to clean up.” He went to the back of the easel, on which there was a canvas representing a cat, and seized a very worn-out broom. “I say! Just brush up while I look after the lighting.” M. Saval took the broom, inspected it, and then began to sweep the floor very awkwardly, raising a whirlwind of dust.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10855
Romantin, disgusted, stopped him: “Deuce take it! you don’t know how to sweep the floor! Look at me!” And he began to roll before him a heap of grayish sweepings, as if he had done nothing else all his life. Then, he gave bark the broom to the notary, who imitated him. In five minutes, such a cloud of dust filled the studio that Rormantin asked: “Where are you? I can’t see you any longer.” M. Saval, who was coughing, came near to him. The painter said:
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10860
“How would you set about making a chandelier?” The other, surprised, asked: “What chandelier?” “Why, a chandelier to light the room — a chandelier with wax-candles.” The notary did not understand. He answered: “I don’t know.” The painter began to jump about, cracking his fingers. “Well, monseigneur, I have found out a way.” Then he went on more calmly:
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10865
“Have you got five francs about you?” M. Saval replied: “Why, yes.” The artist said: “Well! you’ll go out and buy for me five francs’ worth of wax-candles while I go and see the cooper.” And he pushed the notary in his evening coat into the street.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10876
The door was opened brusquely. A woman appeared, her eyes flashing, and remained standing on the threshold. Romantin gazed at her with a look of terror. She waited some seconds, crossing her arms over her breast, and
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10878
then in a shrill, vibrating, exasperated voice said: “Ha! you dirty scoundrel, is this the way you leave me?” Romantin made no reply. She went on: “Ha! you scoundrel! You did a nice thing in parking me off to the country. You’ll soon see the way I’ll settle your jollification. Yes, I’m going to receive your friends.” She grew warmer. “I’m going to slap their faces with the bottles and the wax-candles — — “
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10883
Romantin said in a soft tone: “Mathilde — — “ But she did not pay any attention to him; she went on: “Wait a little, my fine fellow! wait a little!” Romantin went over to her, and tried to take her by the hands. “Mathilde — — “ But she was now fairly under way; and on she went, emptying the vials of her wrath with strong words and reproaches. They flowed out of her mouth like, a stream sweeping a heap of filth along with it. The
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10888
words pouring forth seemed struggling for exit. She stuttered, stammered, yelled, suddenly recovering her voice to cast forth an insult or a curse. He seized her hands without her having noticed it. She did not seem to see anything, so taken up was she in scolding and relieving her feelings. And suddenly she began to weep. The tears flowed from her eyes, but this did not stop her complaints. But her words were uttered in a screaming falsetto voice with tears in it and interrupted by
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10891
sobs. She commenced afresh twice or three times, till she stopped as if something were choking her, and at last she ceased with a regular flood of tears. Then he clasped her in his arms and kissed her hair, affected himself. “Mathilde, my little Mathilde, listen. You must be reasonable. You know, if I give a supper-party to my friends, it is to thank these gentlemen for the medal I got at the Salon. I cannot receive women. You ought to understand that. It is not
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10895
the same with artists as with other people.” She stammered, in the midst of her tears: “Why didn’t you tell me this?” He replied: “It was in order not to annoy you, not to give you pain. Listen, I’m going to see you home. You will be very sensible, very nice; you will remain quietly waiting for me in bed, and I’ll come back as soon as it’s over.” She murmured:
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10900
“Yes, but you will not begin over again?” “No, I swear to you!” He turned towards M. Saval, who had at last hooked on the chandelier: “My dear friend, I am coming back in five minutes. If anyone arrives in my absence, do the honors for me, will you not?” And he carried off Mathilde, who kept drying her eyes with her handkerchief as she went along. Left to himself, M. Saval succeeded in putting everything
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10904
around him in order. Then he lighted the wax-candles, and waited. He waited for a quarter of an hour, half an hour, an hour. Romantin did not return. Then, suddenly there was a dreadful noise on the stairs, a song shouted out in chorus by twenty mouths and a regular march like that of a Prussian regiment.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10916
A tall young fellow, fair-haired and bearded to the nose, interrupted him: “What’s your name, my friend?”
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10917
The notary, quite scared, said: “I am M. Saval.” A voice exclaimed: “You mean Baptiste.” A woman said: “Let the poor waiter alone! You’ll end by making him get angry. He’s paid to wait on us, and not to be laughed at by us.” Then, M. Saval noticed that each guest had brought his own provisions. One held a bottle of wine, and the other a pie. This one had a loaf of bread, and one a ham.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10922
The tall, fair young fellow placed in his hands an enormous sausage, and gave orders: “Here, go and arrange the sideboard in the corner over there. Put the bottles at the left and the provisions at the right.” Saval, getting quite distracted, exclaimed: “But, messieurs, I am a notary!” There was a moment’s silence and then a wild outburst of laughter. One suspicious gentleman asked: “How came you to be here?”
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10927
He explained, telling about his project of going to the opera, his departure from Vernon, his arrival in Paris, and the way in which he had spent the evening. They sat around him to listen to him; they greeted him with words of applause, and called him Scheherazade. Romantin did not return. Other guests arrived. M. Saval was presented to them so that he might begin his story over again. He declined; they forced him to relate it. They seated and tied him on
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10930
one of three chairs between two women who kept constantly filling his glass. He drank; he laughed; he talked; he sang, too. He tried to waltz with his chair, and fell on the ground. From that moment, he forgot everything. It seemed to him, however, that they undressed him, put him to bed, and that he was nauseated. When he awoke, it was broad daylight, and he lay stretched with his feet against a cupboard, in a strange bed.
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10934
An old woman with a broom in her hand was glaring angrily at him. At last, she said: “Clear out, you blackguard! Clear out! What right has anyone to get drunk like this?” He sat up in bed, feeling very ill at ease. He asked: “Where am I?” “Where are you, you dirty scamp? You are drunk. Take your rotten carcass out of here as quick as you can — and lose no time about it!” He wanted to get up. He found that he was in no condition to do
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10939
so. His clothes had disappeared. He blurted out: “Madame, I —— Then he remembered. What was he to do? He asked: “Did Monsieur Romantin come back?” The doorkeeper shouted: “Will you take your dirty carcass out of this, so that he at any rate may not catch you here?” M. Saval said, in a state of confusion: “I haven’t got my clothes; they have been taken away from me.”
Highlight (Yellow) | Location 10944
He had to wait, to explain his situation, give notice to his friends, and borrow some money to buy clothes. He did not leave Paris till evening. And when people talk about music to him in his beautiful drawing-room in Vernon, he declares with an air of authority that painting is a very inferior art.
August 22, 2023
AKA: Une soirée
Maître Saval, a Norman notary well-known locally for his musical talents and his passionate love of music, goes to Paris to hear a new opera and has dinner in a café in Montmartre where he thought he might meet artists or musicians. He takes the opportunity to rub shoulders with famous artists in the cafés of Montmartre where he spots one named “The Dead Rat,” and, allured by the name, he entered. He does in fact meet a notable artist there named Romantin and gets an impromptu invitation to a house-warming party nearby. However, the party doesn’t turn out to be as much fun as he was expecting. His host vanishes unexpectedly and M. Saval is left in charge of the occasion.
When the guests arrive, they mistake him for the waiter and from there things only get worse.
Maître Saval, a Norman notary well-known locally for his musical talents and his passionate love of music, goes to Paris to hear a new opera and has dinner in a café in Montmartre where he thought he might meet artists or musicians. He takes the opportunity to rub shoulders with famous artists in the cafés of Montmartre where he spots one named “The Dead Rat,” and, allured by the name, he entered. He does in fact meet a notable artist there named Romantin and gets an impromptu invitation to a house-warming party nearby. However, the party doesn’t turn out to be as much fun as he was expecting. His host vanishes unexpectedly and M. Saval is left in charge of the occasion.
When the guests arrive, they mistake him for the waiter and from there things only get worse.
May 22, 2024
A story about trying to get rid of a dilettante aspiring to be a celebrity amidst a atmosphere of overall dissimulation. In France, of course, where artists from far away like Strindberg would stay for some time. Imagine if Maupassant saw the beginning of the Hollywood golden age. Actually, America would have writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Nathanael West at that time as well but, anyway, I just realized that a common theme in Maupassant is his alienation of the orgiastic, highly-industrialized modern society where he lived and his implicit longing for the lethargy of provincial regions which surprisingly worried him if those places weren't stagnated enough, while contemporary writers such as Dostoyevsky show continual frustration for the lack of real development and modernization on his backward country. France and Russia, both in a more or less stagnation now, are still noteworthy countries, each on their own ways, to this day.
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