Boule De Suif

A patriotic woman is treated with betrayal and hypocrisy as she risks everything. Boule De Suif (1880), which is variously translated as Ball of Fat, Butterball, Tallow Ball, Dumpling, and Ball of Lard, is considered Guy de Maupassant’s best short story. End notes, discussion of themes, and a short biography follow the text. Betrayal and self-preservation become the end-all in this excellent examination of human nature in the Realist tradition.