Author Profile: Guy de Maupassant

Full Name: Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant Sanchez

Born: August 5, 1850, in Tourville-sur-Arques, Normandy, France

Died: July 6, 1893, in Passy, Paris, France

Wrote: "The Diamond Necklace"

Maupassant grew up with an excellent classical education promoted by his mother, an independent-minded woman who chose to divorce her abusive husband, an unusual act at the time. As a young man, Maupassant was taken under the wing of famous French novelist Gustave Flaubert, whose style of realism may have influenced Maupassant's own writing. Indeed, Mathilde Loisel's character in "The Diamond Necklace," bears striking similarity to Emma Bovary's in Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary. Both women value status and wealth over the common comforts of a loving husband and cozy home, and because of that both meet their downfall.