Maupassant who died of pain and madness

 　　At about 1:3 a.m. on January 2, 1892, there were bursts of roars in Maupassant's room. The roar woke up the servant François who was sleeping in the next room through the half-open door, and he rushed to Maupassant's room immediately. He rushed in with him and Raymond, the sailor of Maupassant's "Beautiful Friend No. 2" yacht, François had already greeted him: Maupassant was seriously ill and his mind was no longer normal, so he should pay attention to his master at all times. When they saw Maupassant, they were startled: Maupassant in pajamas was covered in blood from neck to chest, his eyes were frozen, he stood beside the bed in a demented way, and murmured: "François, look at what I am doing... I hurt my neck... I'm crazy."

　　It turned out that after François put Maupassant to sleep, Maupassant tossed and turned for his painful illness. He could no longer bear the torment of the illness, so he decided to commit suicide. He picked up the pistol and shot it in the head. There was only a click, but no bullet was fired. The careful François had withdrawn the bullet from the pistol several days ago. Maupassant put the pistol aside angrily, picked up a small knife on the table, and cut everything to his throat. Fortunately, the force was not heavy, and the cut was not deep. He only injured the flesh, but blood flowed out. Maupassant was not reconciled and ran to the window to jump down, but the window was closed by the servant. So, Maupassant roared wildly.

　　Francois and Raymond hurriedly bandaged Maupassant first, and then invited the doctor to suture the wound. During the stitching, Maupassant was neither noisy nor noisy, and seemed very quiet. After the doctor left, Maupassant apologized to the servants and sailors who were taking care of him, saying that he had done a stupid thing, and reached out to shake hands with them, then he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

　　How could Maupassant, who has always given a strong impression, could not bear the torture of the disease and even committed suicide?

　　This goes back to his youth. Maupassant enjoyed rowing when he was a clerk in the Admiralty in his 20s. All he and a few friends think about all day is rowing and having fun on the Seine and going to a café called Frog Ze. By the river, in cafes and other places, there are people of all shapes and sizes gathered. Maupassant played and fooled around in such an environment. He is strong and handsome, and he is very attractive to women. And he is young and ignorant of the world, and he can easily learn the way of a playboy, and he rashly associates with some floating women, and even asks about flowers and willows. So, at the age of 26, he contracted the terrible syphilis. Maupassant was young and strong, and seemed to have not paid enough attention to the disease. He still indulged in alcoholism, and even established a "Krepitis Shrine" (Maupassant, entrusted by his mother, was worshipping Flaubert as a teacher to study and write. Therefore, he named his gang after Flaubert's novel "The Temptation of Antony", a little god known for his rude behavior, Krepitis), drinking, bragging, laughing, and laughing with his frequent friends. , molested women, and even took prostitutes on their cruise ships for fun until they were exhausted.

　　Some people criticized his debauched life, saying that he had a little taste of aristocratic children, he immediately retorted: "I read the old documents, I know our family, my ancestor Jean-Baptiste Maupassant was king. A valet, a secretary-level adviser to the king and academy adviser, was awarded the title of nobility in 1752. Otherwise, how would I be called Guy de Maupassant.” (The French nobility’s surname must be preceded by the preposition “de” – the author ) At this time, Maupassant put down the oars, put away the cruise ship, took off his dirty boat suit, put on a clean and neat dress, put on a bright tie, and went to work in the Admiralty like a gentleman, and he had no interest in it. Small staff work.

　　Later, with the help of his mentor and Flaubert, whom he regarded as his father, he was transferred to work as a staff member in the Ministry of Public Education, which was ministered by Flaubert's close friend. At this time, he worked hard to write some poems and non-fiction articles, and at the age of 29 he wrote the short story "Ball of Suet" that made Flaubert ecstatic. This novel laid the foundation for his King of Short Stories. However, he has become romantic. In the new environment, although the pleasure of boating has decreased, he has not fundamentally changed his way of life. It is just that with the increasing popularity of his fame and the endless stream of royalties, his pursuit of beauty has been replaced by the lower and middle-class society. become a lady of high society. He began to pay the price for his pleasure-seeking: his right eye was paralyzed, he had hallucinations from time to time, and he suffered from migraines and vertigo. Doctors said his disease was genetic. But genetics is only one aspect. Rondo, a famous ophthalmologist, believes that Maupassant's eye paragangliopathy starts at the age of 30, sometimes more like a brain cell nuclear lesion, which is very consistent with the infection of syphilis on the nervous system. Maupassant began to appear some abnormal phenomenon. More than once his servant François saw him cut off abruptly before he finished speaking, his eyes staring blankly in the air, frowning as if he was listening to something; In his portrait asked: Who is staring at him? And Maupassant himself also realized that he was a strong foreigner and a cadre, so he decided to treat and recuperate when the intense writing came to an end. In addition, other irrational behaviors also happened to him from time to time. On one occasion, he absurdly asked a friend to visit one of his heterosexual partners. The heterosexual partner was provoked and shot at him. He wounded his hand when he grabbed her pistol, falsely claiming to be a disgraced husband. He shot. Once again, he inexplicably suspected that the poor image of a character in the book of a young mischievous writer was alluding to him, and he took the gun to a duel with the writer, forcing the young writer to say that the character in the book was definitely not him, and apologize.

　　

　　Maupassant's nerves and anomalies continued to develop, and his writing became more diligent. By 1897, whether consciously or unconsciously, he suddenly wrote a novella "Diary of a Madman" while writing other works, narrating as a deranged person and analyzing the process of his illness. When he had finished writing, he said: "I sent the original of The Diary of a Madman to Paris. Within a week all the papers will call me a lunatic. Let them do as they please. I am sane." Just this year, his symptoms of mental disorder became more obvious. Short stories, absurd stories, fantasy and horror written as he has experienced since then.

　　Coincidentally, Maupassant's younger brother, Elvie, was not mentally normal. Maupassant and his mother were worried. One night, Alvey suddenly fell ill, completely lost his mind in a rage, and wanted to kill his wife. Maupassant had to trick him into a mental hospital. When Maupassant left the hospital, the younger brother, who felt deceived, cried and roared miserably under the forcible stop of the paramedics: "Maupassant! You bastard, you are a lunatic!" Maupassant heard the pitiful cry of his younger brother, The whole body shuddered, and the spirit was extremely nervous. He felt sorry for his brother. He later went to the hospital to visit his brother several times, hugging his poor brother, who doesn't seem to know him anymore. He decided to go to Italy and Tunisia to relax his nerves. But in Florence he fell ill: 6 days of high fever, internal bleeding, relapse of eye disease, migraine and rheumatism. He had to go home. Regardless of his own condition, he visited his mother who was in poor health, and then went to the hospital to visit his brother who was hopeless. A few days later, his 33-year-old brother died in a mental hospital. Maupassant poured his love into his brother's wife and daughter, and he covered their entire living expenses. The death of his younger brother further stimulated Maupassant's nerves and aggravated his mental illness. When he saw the words "Helvé de Maupassant" on the tombstone, he was stunned for a moment. He asked if the person buried below was himself, and then he wept bitterly.

　　Maupassant's illness was more frequent. The severe headache made him unable to think, the rheumatism pain made him shiver, his eyes suddenly became invisible, and his speech was chaotic. He was cupping and taking narcotics, but it didn't work well. Once, when he came home, he fell to the ground because of dizziness, and his headache was worse than before. He said he wanted to take a shot in the head to relieve the pain. However, in order to be able to continue his beloved literary creation, he fought tenaciously against the disease.

　　After Maupassant resigned from the Ministry of Education, he wrote one novel after another, and his career was flourishing. He said with pride: "My novels are translated into various languages ​​all over the world...the royalties and royalties are the highest. The novels are 1 franc per line, and the short stories I have signed are 500 francs each... My book's The number of publications is second only to Zola." "I am the number one French writer, with an average circulation of 13,000 novels each... I am paid the highest price in France." One by one the ladies directed Maupassant Come, Maupassant is also happy to deal with it, but he never married.

　　Maupassant was almost terminally ill in his 40s, and he was unable to cope with the women who had brought him joy. However, the beauty known by his loyal servants as "Madame in Grey" still haunts Maupassant. She chases from Paris to Divonne, from Divonne to Cannes, and even to Maupassant's seclusion. Until Maupassant is caught. The servants called her a vampire and wanted to drive her out, but the master was so fascinated by her intelligence and celestial beauty that he couldn't refuse. In the past, the strong and handsome Maupassant frequently pursued beautiful women and obtained passion, inspiration, material and stories from them; now, the weak and sickly Maupassant seems to be revengeful, but is chased by women frequently, pushing him to the brink of death. The light of his genius that shone on the French literary scene was prematurely extinguished.

　　Maupassant often took ether and morphine, and the amount became larger and larger, so that there was no medicine that could relieve Maupassant's pain. He said to people: "I want to kill myself to survive... This is the way to escape from this world." He also said to the doctor who treated him: "Between mental illness and death, my choice has been made." Eighteen days before he cut his throat to commit suicide, he drafted his will, but he stopped when he suddenly remembered that he would spend Christmas with his mother (later changed to New Year's Day). However, all kinds of drugs and various treatments have been used, his mind is confused, and he is full of hallucinations. He has been devastated by the disease. Finally, Maupassant committed suicide by cutting his throat at night after spending New Year's Day with his mother.

　　Doctors believe that in order to prevent Maupassant from committing suicide again, he can only be hospitalized. After Maupassant was hospitalized, his condition did not improve. Sometimes he was manic, sometimes calm. When he was calm, François and the nurse accompany him to walk and chat in the courtyard, enjoy the warm sunshine outdoors, and feel the natural beauty of flowers and trees. When he was manic, he didn't recognize anyone, and the doctors and nurses couldn't do anything about him. He was often in delirium, he accused the cook of poisoning him, the doctors and nurses were crazy, François stole 800 million francs from him, and so on. He said that he was the Son of God, that Jesus Christ slept with his mother and gave birth to him. The doctor fed him with a catheter, he said the catheter would bring "black sores", and he passed the "black sores" to God and let God die. The doctor catheterized him, and he shouted that he would not urinate, saying that urine was a diamond and should be hidden in the safe. Sometimes he suddenly became violent, shouting and scolding, and once jumped out of bed in the middle of the night and shouted "War! War" and ordered François to prepare for the expedition. Almost a year and a half after being admitted to the hospital, Maupassant had epileptic seizures again. He was too sick to stand, and sometimes, when left unattended, he fell on the ground and licked the wall with his mouth. After many convulsions and convulsions, he fell into a state of shock, his nerves completely paralyzed, and he let out a feeble hoarse sigh with a dull, dull eye. On July 6, 1893, the genius novelist Maupassant, who was only 43 years old, was killed by the mental illness caused by syphilis infiltrating the brain and taking away his life in his prime and his prosperous career. In just 10 years, Maupassant left 6 novels, more than 300 short stories, 3 travel notes, 1 play, 1 poetry collection and many essays to the treasure house of world literature. The amount of creativity is amazing.

　　French literary circles mourned Maupassant's death. On behalf of the French writers, Zola said bitterly: "God! Farewell! He suffered from insanity, and all happiness was destroyed by it!" But Zola spoke highly of Maupassant and said: "He has the soul of the French nation, is Dedication and noble quality to this nation. People understand him because he is bright, simple and bold." "Let him rest in peace! It was bought with life, and let the works he left last forever! His The work will live on and be passed on from generation to generation! Those of us who knew him will always have a strong and painful image of him in our hearts. And in the future, those who don't know him will love him through the works because he sings of eternal love , sings about life."