It’s the birthday of Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893, #diedtooyoung), the greatest French short story author and perhaps best known in the U.S. for his oft-anthologized story “The Necklace.” (If you’ve never read “The Necklace,” your high school diploma is invalid. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.)

Maupassant was born near Dieppe, France, though probably not in the fancy-schmancy chateau his mother *claimed* he was born in, which tells you that while the family were technically aristocrats, they were petty aristocrats. Maupassant’s father was a womanizer (foreshadowing!) and his parents separated when he was just 11. Maupassant studied law in Paris but took a break to serve in the Franco-German War, where he gathered some fine material for his future fiction.

Once Maupassant was out of the war, his daddy arranged for him to have jobs with this and that government ministry, which Maupassant disliked but succeeded at. More importantly, in 1867 his mother had introduced him to her old pal Gustave Flaubert, who became a lifelong mentor  and father figure to Maupassant, except that Flaubert died suddenly in 1880 so “lifelong” was sadly short. But in the meantime, Flaubert gave him some great writing advice—“Write what you know”—and introduced him to folks like Émile Zola, Ivan Turgenev, and Henry James. (Of course, Henry James.) In addition to writing, Maupassant loved rowing and palling around with prostitutes—I mean, there were prodigious amounts of palling around going on—which resulted in (speaking of lifelong) a case of syphilis, for which Maupassant refused treatment. Because reasons.

Just a month before Flaubert died, Maupassant published his finest short story, “Ball of Fat,” in a volume of stories about the Franco-German War. The story tells of a prostitute traveling by coach with “respectable” but hypocritical people through occupied France. Her fellow travelers are only nice to her when she offers them food; but when a Prussian officer demands her services, and she on principle refuses, they demand she give in so the coach can proceed. The story is chock full o’ irony, and it made Maupassant’s career as a writer. He quit government and wrote full time, publishing 300 stories, six novels, and more, in just ten years.

Which is a good thing, because within a few years after that, the syphilis caught up with him, his mental and physical health tanked, and he died in an asylum. Maupassant has since had a huge influence not only over the world of literature but the world of cinema as well; he’s been called “second only to Shakespeare in his inspiration of great movies.”

Have a splendid and sunny Monday, maybe read a fantastic story or two, and stay scrupulously honest to the data.