Guy de Maupassant, Pierre et Jean [Pierre and Jean]

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Pierre et Jean

, Maupassant’s shortest novel, was written in Étretat in his native Normandy between June and September 1887. It appeared in three instalments in the

Nouvelle Revue

and then in volume form in 1888, together with the essay “Le Roman” [“The Novel”].

Pierre and Jean are, or so it seems, the two sons of M. Roland, a jeweller who has retired to Le Havre, and his wife Louise; one has trained as a doctor, the other as a lawyer. By the end of the novel, which covers a few weeks in the family’s life, Jean is engaged to Mme Rosémilly, a young widow, and Pierre has left as a ship’s doctor on a transatlantic liner. These superficially normal events in a respectable middle-class setting conceal a family crisis, provoked by the legacy left by a former family friend, Léon

2292 words

Citation: Cogman, Peter. "Pierre et Jean". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 January 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11359, accessed 19 March 2024.]

11359 Pierre et Jean 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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