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"Mademoiselle Fifi" is a short story by French writer Guy de Maupassant, published in 1882 in a collection of the same title. Like many of his short stories, such as Boule de Suif and Deux Amis , the story is set during the Franco-Prussian War and explores themes of class barriers, contrasts between the French and German participants, and the pointlessness of the war.
The story takes place in Normandy in the winter of 1870, in a fictional chateau which is being used as a headquarters by Prussian officers. The main characters of the story are quickly introduced: the Major, a dignified and cultured German aristocrat; his Captain, a boorish and lecherous minor Prussian landowner; two lieutenants from the Prussian bourgeoisie; and the title character, a handsome but arrogant and extremely unpleasant German sub-lieutenant known to his comrades as "Mademoiselle Fifi" due to his effeminate manner.
The officers have been quartered in the chateau for several weeks, and as they are far away from the fighting and do not want to go out due to the endless rain, the officers are desperately bored. They have been spending their days drinking, gambling, and destroying the chateau's paintings, furniture and other fine objects. After a boring lunch, the aristocratic captain suggests a dinner party, and sends an army transport wagon to the local town to bring back some prostitutes to keep the officers company. In the evening, the party begins, and soon the officers and prostitutes are drunk and in high spirits. The officer known as Fifi, who has taken a Jewish prostitute called Rachel, starts smashing things and making violent sexual advances on Rachel. The party-goers start telling dirty jokes in bad French, and the officers make a variety of slurred speeches praising German military prowess, which makes Rachel increasingly angry. When Fifi makes a speech proclaiming that France is crushed and that all of France, including all French women, are now Prussian property, Rachel rebukes him. At this Fifi slaps Rachel, who becomes enraged and stabs Fifi with a cheese knife and jumps out the window. Fifi soon dies, and the major orders a search for Rachel but she is never found. The German officers become curious that the next day, the church bell in the village, which has been silent as a sign of national mourning, is suddenly ringing again. It continues to ring until the day the armistice is signed, when the German officers finally leave the chateau. At the end of the story, it is revealed that Rachel herself has been hiding in the bell tower, ringing the bell as a sign of her personal triumph over the Germans.
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Like many of Maupassant's stories, Mademoisele Fifi explores the theme of contrasting the French and the Germans. The German officers in the novel are all outrageous stereotypes; they all sport beards, have blond or bright red hair, and are depicted as pompous, uncultured men. Fifi himself combines the worst stereotypes of the Germans; he is violent, immoral, arrogant, and takes great delight in pointlessly smashing priceless antiques and objets d'art in the chateau. The German soldiers in the novel are portrayed as blindly obeying any orders and remaining stoically obedient at all times, whilst at the same time being fairly unprofessional soldiers, two of them being killed by accident whilst searching for Rachel after the party.
Maupassant's story has been adapted for the stage. There is Oscar Méténier's play of 1896, as well as Russian composer César Cui's opera based on both the story and the play.
It has also been adapted to film, serving as part of the inspiration for Val Lewton's 1944 film Mademoiselle Fifi .
Ada Galsworthy published an English translation Mademoiselle Fifi and Other Stories in 1919. [1]
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a 19th-century French author, celebrated as a master of the short story, as well as a representative of the naturalist school, depicting human lives, destinies and social forces in disillusioned and often pessimistic terms.
John Galsworthy was an English novelist and playwright. He is best known for his trilogy of novels collectively called The Forsyte Saga, and two later trilogies, A Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter. He was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in Literature.
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"Boule de Suif", translated variously as "Dumpling", "Butterball", "Ball of Fat", "Ball of Lard", or "Small Ball", is a short story by the late-19th-century French writer Guy de Maupassant, first published on 15/16 April 1880. It is arguably his most famous short story and is the title story for his collection on the Franco-Prussian War, titled Boule de Suif et Autres Contes de la Guerre.
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Mademoiselle Fifi is an opera in one act, composed by César Cui during 1902–1903. The libretto was adapted by the composer from the short story Mademoiselle Fifi (1882) by Guy de Maupassant and the dramatized version Mlle Fifi (1896) by Oscar Méténier.
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Kurt Kreuger was a Swiss-reared German actor. Kreuger once was the third-most-requested male actor at 20th Century Fox. He starred with, among others, Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart.
Mademoiselle Fifi is a 1944 American period film directed by Robert Wise for RKO, in his solo directorial debut. It was written by Josef Mischel and Peter Ruric based on two short stories by Guy de Maupassant, "Mademoiselle Fifi" and "Boule de Suif". The film features an ensemble cast headed by Simone Simon, John Emery and Kurt Kreuger, and was produced by noted B-film producer Val Lewton. The movie is set during a time when the Prussian Army occupied part of France in 1870. Since it was produced in Hollywood during the Second World War, in the same year Paris was liberated from Nazi rule, it contains elements of wartime propaganda, evoking Jeanne D’Arc among other heroes of French history, and holding up French people in occupied territory who follow orders as objects of pity or outrage, depending on their circumstances.
The Greater Good, or the Passion of Boule de Suif is an opera in two acts by contemporary American composer Stephen Hartke, with an English libretto by Philip Littell, based on the short story Boule de Suif by Guy de Maupassant. It was commissioned by the Glimmerglass Opera, and premiered on 22 July 2006 at Glimmerglass, in Cooperstown, New York.
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Prince George of Prussia was a member of the House of Hohenzollern.
Boule de Suif is a black and white 1945 French drama film directed by Christian-Jaque and starring Micheline Presle, Berthe Bovy and Louise Conte.
Ada Nemesis Galsworthy was an English editor, translator, writer and composer. She was married to Nobel Laureate for Literature John Galsworthy.
