La Paternité illégitime
Illegitimate paternity

Summary/Abstract: In this article, we intend to analyze this part of paternity which gives birth to a natural son. Maupassant’s biography could sometimes render clear the opinions attributed by the writer to his heroes. But going from the biography towards the text is the only one to have in view? Could the texts not bring their light in order to understand Maupassant’s biographical data? His works present the father with an extreme, paradoxal face. Socially speaking, during a century when legal heritage given to illegitimate children was forbidden, Maupassant wants to help them by defending their cause and he convinces by his manner to write. Speaking from the point of view of the text, the father suffers a crisis and tries to reduce damages and to avoid scandal – and this creates a history. Giving birth to a child, even outside the rules, generates a text, being thus a source of creation.

• Details
• Contents