THE TRADITIONAL NARRATIVE AS RUIN IN THE SHORT STORY BOULE DE SUIF, BY GUY DE MAUPASSANT

Abstract

From the short story Boule de Suif, written by Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), we intend to present the way the author works with two narrative levels, namely: the first level, in which he narrates a story in the context of the Franco-Prussian War in the 19^th century, and the second level, in which the author takes us back to the novelized poem of oral tradition, entitled Il était un petit navire. Such narrative, which is mentioned only in one sentence, is configured as a kind of ruin or fragment that supports the surface or first-level structured narrative. As a method of analysis, considering that we have two narrative structures, we opted for the comparative method between the narrative structures. Thus, we concluded that Ricardo Piglia’s thesis is confirmed in that every tale always tells two stories, as well as recognizes the importance of the ruin or fragment as a noble material for literary creation, as noted by Walter Benjamin on its importance in the baroque creation.