''Pierre and Jean'' () is a

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

or psycho-realist work written by Guy de Maupassant in Étretat in his native

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

between June and September 1887. This was Maupassant's shortest novel. It appeared in three installments in the Nouvelle Revue and then in volume form in 1888, together with the essay “Le Roman” ��The Novel” ''Pierre et Jean'' is a realist work, notably so by the subjects on which it treats, including knowledge of one's heredity (whether one is a legitimate son or a bastard), the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

, and the problems stemming from money.

Plot

Pierre and Jean are the sons of Gérôme Roland, a jeweller who has retired to

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

, and his wife Louise, of a middle-class French family. Pierre works as a doctor, and Jean is a lawyer. Léon Maréchal, a deceased family friend, leaves his inheritance to Jean. This provokes Pierre to doubt the fidelity of his mother and the legitimacy of his brother. Pierre discovers that his theories about his brother's illegitimacy are correct when he discovers his mother has hid and lied about an incriminating portrait of Maréchal and his love letters to her, some of which she burns when she realizes Pierre is learning of her past infidelity. This investigation sparks violent reactions in Pierre, whose external appearance vis-a-vis his mother visibly changes. In his anguish, most notably shown during family meals, he tortures her with allusions to the past that he has now uncovered. Meanwhile, Jean's career and love life improve over the course of the novel while Pierre's life gets significantly worse. Provoked by his brother's accusations of jealousy, Pierre reveals to Jean what he has learned. However, unlike Pierre, Jean offers his mother love and protection. The novel closes with Pierre's departure on an ocean liner. Thus the novel is organised around the unwelcome appearance of a truth (Jean's illegitimacy), its suppression for the sake of family continuity and the acquisition of wealth, and the expulsion from the family of the legitimate son.

Preface

An essay titled ''The Novel'' (''Le Roman'') precedes the story. Maupassant discusses the general form of the

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

, without advocating for any school of writing. Instead, he declares that a single definition can never be reached for what a novel is due to the many forms in which it can appear. (Works such as ''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

'', ''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' () is a French historical adventure novel written and published in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is the first of the author's three d'Artagnan Romances. As with some of his other works, he wrote it in col ...

'', and ''

Madame Bovary ''Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners'' (; ), commonly known as simply ''Madame Bovary'', is the début novel by France, French writer Gustave Flaubert, originally published in 1856 and 1857. The eponymous character, Emma Bovary, lives beyond he ...

'' are listed to illustrate the diversity of the form.) Maupassant advocates for a writer's freedom to write about a topic that suits their character, and urges critics to judge writing solely based on its artistic value, and whether it fulfills its aims. Maupassant also stresses that a novel should not be a perfect imitation of life, but a reconstruction using words, characters, and a narrative. A writer, he believes, should carefully pick the appropriate moments of their characters' lives in order to create a story, discarding the numerous day-to-day occurrences which serve no use to this purpose.

Adaptations

The novel was adapted into the 1926 German-Swedish film ''

Only a Dancing Girl ''Only a Dancing Girl'' (, ) is a 1926 German-Swedish silent drama film directed by Olof Molander and starring Lil Dagover, Walter Janssen and Harry Halm. It is based on the novel '' Pierre and Jean'' by Guy de Maupassant. The film's sets ...

'', the 1943 French film '' Pierre and Jean'', the 1952 Mexican film '' A Woman Without Love'', the 2000 Indian film ''

Astitva ''Astitva'' () is a 2000 Indian film made simultaneously in Marathi and Hindi languages, written and directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. The film tells the story of Aditi Pandit, a happily married woman whose husband Srikant Pandit becomes suspicious w ...

'' and the 2015 American film '' Peter and John''.

References

External links

*
Free audiobook : Pierre et Jean (in French)Free text : Pierre & Jean (in English)
* {{Authority control 1888 French novels Novels by Guy de Maupassant Naturalist novels Psychological novels Novels set in 19th-century France Novels first published in serial form Le Havre Novels about infidelity Novels set in Normandy French novels adapted into films French psychological novels